Migration and precarity in labour market: Case of Cameroonian migrants in Turkey

Migration has become more than ever an important issue on the medias, on political sphere and object of several academic works. The year 2015 was punctuated by a series of migration crises, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA, 2015) reported that 244 million people, or 3.3 per cent of the world's population, lived outside their country of origin. The majority of migrants cross borders in search of better economic and social opportunities, others are forced to flee crises. By the year of 2015 the number of Syrians refugees registered by the Government of Turkey in their territory is around 3 milion. Nevertheless, Turkey is also attracted by other migrants from different countries such as Cameroon. This phenomenon impacts on the Turkish labor market leading to precarity. This paper is set to look at migration and precarity concepts in Turkish labour market. Previous researches focused on Africans in general migrating to Turkey but this research tackles the specific case of Cameroonians. The main purpose is to perceive the working condition of Cameroonian migrants workers in Istanbul. This article provides an insight on the rush of Cameroonian migrants to Turkey and contributes in understanding the precarious nature on the Turkish labor market. This involves the social, economic and legal framework of Cameroonian workers. It has been designed to investigate specific aspects such as their educational backgrounds, working conditions, ways of recruitment, professional inter-relations, legal status, challenges and vulnerability as foreign workers. The fieldwork took place from the 18th of March to 23rd, 2016. Through an empirical study 16 structured and semi structured interviews were conducted in various districts in Istanbul.