The labor reinsertion of returning migrants: experiences and strategies in an urban context of Ecuador

Abstract

This article shows part of the findings of a doctoral thesis about the labor reinsertion experiences of a group of Ecuadorians who lived in Spain and Italy and returned to the city of Guayaquil. The objective is to identify and understand the practices that they developed to enter the labor market, taking into account their individual conditions and the opportunities and limitations of the context. We conducted depth interviews with men and women who returned between 2008 and 2015, and we developed a typology of strategies which deepen in the actors and their vulnerability in a greater or lesser degree when confronting the structure of opportunities. The general results show that in this process had more weight the physical and economic capital accumulated or mobilized by migrants before and/or after the return for self-employment initiatives; that the skills acquired abroad did little or nothing for reinsertion; and that the human capital that helped in certain cases, was that acquired prior to emigrating to Europe, as well as that achieved after of return with the support of social capital.