Temporary Migration, the Informal Economy and Structural Change: London's Bicycle Rickshaw Riders

Abstract

In the context of social, economic and political change, and of a continuing fall in the real cost of travel, temporary migrations to London, as to other major cities in the global North, have become increasingly common. Indeed, some have speculated that they may come to replace permanent migrations. This trend has intersected with ‘informalization’ of lower-status jobs in some cities of the global North, including London, and the general depression of migrant wages in low-end jobs in the formal sector. In this context, debate has developed about the role of temporary migrations in migrants’ long-term and short-term strategies, and about their impact on host societies. Drawing on a sustainable livelihoods approach the short-term and long-term life strategies and livelihood strategies of 60 Colombian and Polish bicycle rickshaw (‘pedicab’) riders in London are analysed and compared. Despite the differences in the status of the two groups, findings are that both groups develop and draw on cultural and social capital in the workplace to facilitate dealings with the local economy and polity; both have had an influence on the local economic sector in which they operate; and both migrate temporarily as part of a life strategy at home, as part of which their migrations have a touristic and cultural, as well as instrumental purpose.