Who Counts as Skilled? Comparative Perspectives on High-Tech Migration and Labor Market Stratification

• In Event: Mobility Regimes in the World-System

Abstract

This paper examines how states define and deploy the categories of skilled worker and skills shortage in the context of high-tech labor migration, and what the implications of these constructions are for labor market stratification and migrant workers' access to rights. In different countries, claims that knowledge-intensive sectors face persistent shortages of skilled labor are based on social and political constructions rather than universally agreed-upon definitions or empirical labor market realities. Through comparative analysis of the United States, Germany, and Costa Rica—three countries occupying different positions in the global division of labor—the study demonstrates that skill categories emerge from distinct institutional logics, political coalitions, and developmental trajectories. Drawing on more than forty semi-structured interviews with policymakers, employers, trade union officials, immigration attorneys, recruiters, and migrant workers conducted between 2023 and 2024, alongside documentary research and observation, the paper traces how each country constructs, measures, and mobilizes these categories differently. In the United States, educational attainment defines high-skilled workers, yet programs like H-1B often secure compliant labor while leaving workers in liminal legal statuses. Germany's broader definition reflects its dual vocational education and training system, creating stratified access to rights. Costa Rica's FDI-dependent economy produces a skills regime responsive to global capital, where skill becomes a moving target defined by shifting corporate demands. Three key patterns emerge: states lack clear empirical grasp of the shortages they address; national responses reflect distinct configurations of global economic integration, domestic institutions, and bargaining power vis-à-vis transnational capital; and these varied constructions produce different forms of labor market stratification and differential access to rights among migrant workers.

Author

• Daniela Mia Campos Ugaz, Emory University