Samenvatting

This article describes the social position of Central and Eastern European (CEE) migrants in the Netherlands, in particular their labour and housing position, using the results of recent Dutch research by three different groups of scholars. We cannot speak of a homogeneous group of migrants. The prevailing image of the hard-working labour migrant, doing low-qualified and often low-paid work (even though many of them are highly skilled) and faced with poor working and living conditions is largely confirmed by the available research. However, there are also knowledge workers (‘kennismigranten’) among the migrants from CEE-countries working in the Netherlands. In addition, the authors also found partners and children of previous migrants from CEE-countries, and students. This diversity of the new group of migrants from CEE-countries forms a challenge for local governments to find appropriate instruments to lead integration on the right track.