Portuguese and Tamils: case studies in the nuances of integration

The previous chapters have highlighted the complexity of integration and the range of facilitators that are needed to ensure it, for both children and adults. This chapter examines the integration of two national groups: Portuguese in the east of England and Sri Lankan Tamils in London. It reviews the evidence about the social and economic aspects of their integration and looks at how policy can better support those who are being left behind, who include super-mobile Portuguese workers who engage in circular migration strategies. A central argument of Moving Up and Getting On is that workplace experiences affect integration, and for some among the Portuguese and Sri Lankan Tamils, their present employment conditions have a negative impact on their future career progression and social lives. Integration policy, therefore, needs to consider migrants already in work and to engage with employers. Portuguese migration Portugal, with a present population of 10 million, has a long history of migration. Between 1850 and 1974 over 2.6 million people left Portugal, for Brazil, Portugal's African colonies, the USA, Canada and later France and Germany (Anderson and Higgs, 1976; Nunes, 2003). Despite attempts to control emigration, one million people left Portugal in the 1960s alone, the majority of whom came from rural central and northern Portugal. Today, Portugal remains one of the poorest countries in Europe and has suffered badly in the recent recession, a factor that has driven further migration. Until recently, the UK's Portuguese community was small in comparison with those of France and Germany, comprising about 4,000 persons in 1975 (Barradas, 2005). Generally, this group has arrived in a number of waves: the 1960s, the 1980s, the early years of the 21st century and, most recently, ‘austerity migrants’. Census data puts the Portuguese-born population at 88,169 in England and Wales in 2011, but the population has grown since then, as a consequence of the economic crisis in Portugal, with the 2013 Annual Population Survey suggesting 107,000 Portugal-born people in the UK. In addition to migrants from Portugal, there is a Brazilian population in the UK, some of whom possess Portuguese passports acquired through their forebears. Unlike those from Portugal, Brazilians largely reside in London, with clusters in Brent, Kensington and Chelsea and in Southwark.

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