The State, Skilled Labour Markets, and Immigration: The Case of Doctors in England

Abstract

Most recent research on skilled migration focuses on those working in the financial sectors and there has been very little work in Europe on the migration of people in welfare sectors. In this paper we seek to explore some of the complexities of shifting labour markets and immigration regulations and their influence on the geography of migration of doctors to England. We argue that state regulations, both of immigration and those governing the medical labour force, have been altered to meet the specificities of internal labour-market shortages and that the level of the state remains a useful analytical level for understanding the skilled migration of doctors.