The Automation-Migration Interface and Migrants’ Labour Market Integration

How is automation reshaping migrants’ labour market integration? This article addresses that question by placing technological change at the centre of migration and integration research. Building on dual labour market theory, it develops the concept of the Automation-Migration Interface to explain how automation and artificial intelligence (AI) affect migrants through four linked mechanisms: task restructuring, occupational shifts, selection and matching, and institutional barriers. The analysis draws on a systematic review of academic research and selected grey literature. The review shows that the strongest evidence concerns how automation alters task demand and occupational structures, while direct evidence on migrant-specific outcomes remains more limited. Across the literature, migrants appear especially vulnerable where routine job ladders decrease, foreign credentials are weakly recognised, access to training is unequal, and algorithmic screening intensifies labour market gatekeeping. At the same time, technological change may support integration where migrants’ skills complement automation and where institutions enable retraining, recognition, and mobility. The article argues that automation does not affect migrant integration uniformly; its consequences are mediated by labour market institutions, migration regimes, and forms of digital governance. It concludes that automation should be understood not as background context, but as an emerging condition of migrant labour market incorporation.