Lost potential: Hurdles for skilled immigrants in Vienna

A physician not permitted to work as a doctor in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic; a scientist working as a kindergarten assistant; a businessman hardly ever allowed to speak to clients. These are just a few examples of how migrants from Central and Eastern Europe living and working in Austria are affected by "deskilling." The project "Investigating the social construction of deskilling among 'new' EU migrants in Vienna (DeMiCo)", financed by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), takes a closer look at the personal stories behind this phenomenon. The Rudolphina spoke to two sociologists involved in the project, Clara Holzinger and Anna-Katharina Draxl.

Rudolphina: Your project focuses on highly qualified academics from EU member states in Central and Eastern Europe who live and work in Vienna and are employed in a position below their qualification level. Can you briefly explain the idea behind the project?

Clara Holzinger: Although there are statistical surveys on the phenomenon of deskilling, these are mostly quantitative. They tell us how many people are affected and in which kinds of jobs, but we know little at the qualitative level, i.e., how these people experience their situation themselves. This individual perspective is precisely what our project is all about.

Rudolphina: Your project looks exclusively at migrants from Central and Eastern European countries. Why this particular group?

Anna-Katharina Draxl: This group is interesting because they experience relatively few bureaucratic hurdles – compared with others, these migrants are relatively privileged when it comes to finding work in the EU. At the same time, studies show that many of the people who come to Austria from these countries are particularly highly qualified, but very often work in jobs that are below their level of education. In a nutshell, although people from CEE countries who come to Austria are often better educated than average, they are also affected more than average by the phenomenon of deskilling.

Rudolphina: Are there differences between men and women from CEE countries?

Clara Holzinger: Yes, there are indeed big differences. Due to the traditionally female nature of care work, women are particularly affected by deskilling – not least because, while working, they have less time and money available to them to requalify. Pregnancy also plays a role, be it due to actual maternity leave taken to look after children or prejudices among potential employers who are reluctant to employ a woman out of concern that she gets pregnant.

Rudolphina: Having interviewed a lot of different people, what have you identified as the main reasons for deskilling?

Anna-Katharina Draxl: Unsurprisingly, language is of course a major factor. But if you take a closer look, you find a more nuanced picture. Many of the people in our sample work in English, but knowledge of German is still very important, especially at an informal level. Some interviewees also experienced discrimination due to their accents, which often has negative connotations, especially in contact with clients and customers. We had an interviewee who has lived and worked in Austria for over 20 years, speaks perfect German, but has an audible accent. He talked about difficulties in his current job due to his accent because he realised that he was utilized less in situations where he would have to speak to customers. From his perspective, speaking German with an accent has had a negative impact on his career. With regard to accents in particular, we see that linguistic and racist discrimination are often intertwined and interviewees experience stereotypes relating to Eastern Europeans as a factor holding them back in their careers. 

Clara Holzinger: Another factor for deskilling is the recognition of professional qualifications. Official recognition of qualifications is generally only required for people from non-EU countries, but in certain professions, such as healthcare and education, EU citizens also have to get their qualifications recognised by the Austrian state. In sectors like healthcare and education, EU citizens from Central and Eastern Europe often have to complete additional courses in Austria for their qualification to be considered equivalent.

Rudolphina: Do many ultimately give up because of such bureaucratic hurdles?

Anna-Katharina Draxl: Yes, some do, but the bigger problem is that getting qualifications recognised can be a very long and expensive process. There are bureaucratic fees and the translations of the necessary documents are very expensive. A trained physiotherapist with a master's degree from Romania told us that she has been trying for a year now to have her master's qualification recognised here. The authorities keep asking for new documents, which in turn have to be translated. When we spoke in our interview, this process had already cost her several thousand euros – she was only able to afford it because her husband had been the main breadwinner during this time. In such situations, it is often the case that one partner becomes financially dependent on the other. 

Clara Holzinger: Recognition of professional qualifications is also quite difficult for doctors – in Austria a C1 language certificate is required to work as a physician. It was not easy for some of our interviewees to reach this level of language proficiency without being able to work. One woman from our sample tried it for three years but eventually ended up going back to her country of origin. She works in a laboratory and said she could not waste any more time or she would lose her technical skills. She added that she felt she had to go back to her home country when she did, because otherwise she would have lost touch with developments in her field. Another important point is that it is not just about formal recognition, but also about the prestige of qualifications. Several interviewees reported their educational qualifications being less valued by employers in Austria.

Rudolphina: Can you give us a few examples of your interviewees – what kind of qualifications did they have and which 'deskilled' professions did they end up working in here in Austria?

Clara Holzinger: For example, we spoke to a scientist with a master's degree who ended up training as a kindergarten assistant on a fast-track programme run by the Austrian Public Employment Service. She struggled with this change in career and found it difficult to cope with this 'loss of status,' which is something that is true for many of the people we spoke to in our interviews. The doctor from Romania mentioned above worked as a lab assistant while waiting for her professional qualifications to be recognised, a role which was far below her level of training. Another example is a PhD candidate who was studying German language and literature at a university. She ended up dropping out of her university studies and working as a receptionist in a hotel. She spoke excellent German, but she saw her accent as a barrier.

Rudolphina: What were the main reasons your interviewees gave for coming to Austria to work?

Anna-Katharina Draxl: One reason was relationships. A lawyer we spoke to, for example, came to Austria with his wife, who had found a good position here, but he himself had less luck finding a job that matched his level of qualification. Another motivating factor was the search for a better life and the wish to earn more money due to a lack of opportunities and low salaries in their countries of origin. Austria’s location is also attractive for people from CEE countries in particular – it is in the west, but at the same time much closer to their home and family than somewhere like England or the US, for example.

Rudolphina: How do people deal with this often difficult situation?

Clara Holzinger: Many people struggle with their self-confidence. Some join groups and networks, either through their jobs or outside the working environment, where they can exchange experiences with people with similar backgrounds. Chatting about things with others who are in the same situation and have also experienced discrimination can be very helpful. People from CEE countries in particular experience ambivalent demands – on the one hand, they are often looked down on as Eastern Europeans, yet on the other hand they have a good education with a high social status. 

Anna-Katharina Draxl: This ambivalent situation means we are particularly interested in data and experiences specifically related to discrimination collected as part of the project. These data and experiences are the subject of a one-year citizen science follow-up project. We organise interpretation workshops aimed at, among others, people affected by discrimination in this context who have no training in social sciences. Instead, they contribute different experiences and viewpoints, allowing us to broaden our horizons and gain new perspectives on the data. We have already had one really interesting workshop on this and we are very excited to see how the citizen science project will develop.

Rudolphina: Thank you very much for the interview.