Research project The "New Green North" is attracting significant investments to northern Sweden, aiming to become a driving force for green innovation. A crucial part of this transformation involves the construction of factories and infrastructure, where temporary migrant workers play a central, yet often invisible, role. This project highlights their importance and analyses the infrastructures enabling and shaping this temporary labour migration, focusing on sustainable strategies for fair working conditions.
The project "Ignored Work: Channelling Temporary Migration to the 'New Green North'" investigates how temporary construction workers contribute to northern Sweden’s green transition and how migration infrastructures are shaping their working conditions, social rights, and the creation of new places. By analysing working conditions and migration infrastructures, the project provides a foundation for strategies that promote a socially sustainable and inclusive labour market in Sweden's emerging green industrial region.
Despite their vital role, temporary migrant workers are among the most vulnerable groups in society. Due to their short-term contracts, they often face precarious employment and difficult working conditions. This project highlights how structures for temporary labour influence both the workforce and society in the long term, even though the migrants themselves are only present for a limited period. We explore migration infrastructures—such as institutions, recruitment agencies, and housing solutions—and their lasting effects on local communities.
By analysing the dependency of the green industrial expansion on temporary labour, the project sheds light on the challenges of social sustainability and workers’ well-being. A key question is how the region can maintain green and economically sustainable growth without creating social and legal risks for temporary migrant workers. The project provides critical insights for policymakers and labour market stakeholders to ensure the green transition does not come at the expense of social justice.
Sweden faces the dual challenge of enabling a green transition while managing a growing demand for labour in a region with demographic challenges. Temporary migration plays a crucial role but often lacks strategic consideration in national and regional planning. This project aims to deliver concrete recommendations to establish sustainable and fair conditions for temporary migrants in the green industrial sector, reducing workers' vulnerability and improving their working conditions.
Furthermore, the project contributes to:
By examining the invisible workers behind the green transition, the project critically engages with the role of migrant workers in the construction of the ‘New Green North’, as well as contributes to the discussion about the multiple dimensions of sustainability in the green neo-industrialisation of Northern Sweden.
