Guestworker Programs : Lessons From Europe
Author: Martin, Philip L.
Date Published: 1980
This is the fifth in a series of occasional monographs in which the Department of Labor reports on international labor developments that could affect the United States. Few challenges facing the United States are more complicated or more baffling to most Americans than the subject of guestworkers, legal and illegal, documented and undocumented. Proponents of an American guestworker program, modeled on the European system, argue that a government-regulated flow of "migrant workers" can be a solution to our problem of illegal immigration. Others disagree, claiming that Europe's experience should be a warning to the United States. This monograph examines the problem which European guestworker programs have faced, and the policies with which the host countries tried to cope with those problems. The forward by Secretary of Labor Ray Marshall stresses the value of studying the European experience before making any policy decisions for the United States.
Date Published: 1980
This is the fifth in a series of occasional monographs in which the Department of Labor reports on international labor developments that could affect the United States. Few challenges facing the United States are more complicated or more baffling to most Americans than the subject of guestworkers, legal and illegal, documented and undocumented. Proponents of an American guestworker program, modeled on the European system, argue that a government-regulated flow of "migrant workers" can be a solution to our problem of illegal immigration. Others disagree, claiming that Europe's experience should be a warning to the United States. This monograph examines the problem which European guestworker programs have faced, and the policies with which the host countries tried to cope with those problems. The forward by Secretary of Labor Ray Marshall stresses the value of studying the European experience before making any policy decisions for the United States.
