The J-1 Summer Work Travel Visa: “A Poster Child of the Fissured Workplace?"

• In Event: 3222 - Organizations, Occupations, and Work: Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 min): Table 18: Employment Practices

Abstract

Since the mid-1990s, the J-1 Summer Work Travel (SWT) program has quadrupled in size. While many J-1 visa holders travel to the United States to study or conduct research under the auspices of U.S.-based cultural exchange programming, critics contend that the primary activity of SWT participants is contingent, low-wage labor. In my current dissertation chapter, I explore the relationship between the SWT program’s proliferation and the growth of precarious, arms-length employment arrangements. Relying on interviews with SWT program stakeholders and SWT labor market data, I argue that increased employer reliance on the SWT program is emblematic of changes in the social contract between employers and workers in at least two ways. First, the SWT program model itself creates distance between workers and employers by insulating participating employers from immigration and workplace regulations. On a second level, my data shows that SWT participants are disproportionately represented in workplaces where the practices of sub-contracting, franchising, and outsourcing are pervasive. Beyond the obvious human rights challenges the SWT program poses, it also offers a valuable case study for scholars interested in how changes in the structure of work intersect with debates about immigration.

Author

• Catherine Griebel Bowman, Austin College