Dynamics of Transnational Labour Migration Revisited from a Crisis Complex Perspective

This article uses the notion of crisis complex to analyse the relationship between labour migration and crisis from an institution- and process-oriented perspective. Such an interrogation is timely, given the increasingly crisis-prone dynamics shaping global labour systems and migration governance – including recruitment, skills recognition and the political privileging of temporary labour – all reinforcing a structural reliance on migrant workforces in capitalist development. Temporary labour migration from the global South is framed as a development ‘solution’ to both unemployment in origin countries and labour and skills shortages in the global North, while aligning with rising anti-migrant rhetoric and economic nationalism. These schemes reflect the unequal exchange between Southern and Northern regions, contributing to the exploitation and protracted precarity of migrant workers. Drawing on empirical evidence from a 2024 pilot project, this article examines how temporary labour migration is shaped by a broader crisis complex – understood as a policy solution that has emerged through a multilayered process driven by political framings, institutional logics and actor involvement across three dimensions: skills and development, governance institutions and business models.