In spite of their small sizes, Luxembourg and Switzerland have a high demand for workers. In particular, they offer employment opportunities to people crossing the border to work. The situation in the main employment sites (Luxembourg, Basel, Geneva) – but also Ticino – is the object of the subject leaflet that 19 authors submit contributions with comparing perspectives. Under consideration of central context features and methodological considerations, the geographers, economists, sociologists and politologists considered in particular the labour market, cross-border everyday life and social perception of cross-border commuters. The multidisciplinary approach was eventually condensed by the editors into shared challenges between Luxembourg and Switzerland.
The Interregional Labour Market Observatory (IBA) is a network of specialized labor market institutes, all of which operate in the Greater Region. On behalf of the Summit of the Greater Region, the IBA collects data on labor markets in the Greater Region. This data is used to write reports on the labor market situation in the Greater Region. In addition to structural reporting based on comparable statistical data from the sub-regions of the Greater Region, the publication contains qualitative information on thematic focus areas.
Saarland’s France Strategy will be discussed in the light of different professional contexts and with the consideration of large regional, national, European and global processes. The contributions are based on a public lecture series in which cross-border realities of life, measures, cooperation and multilingualism in the border region were discussed. The German-French cooperation and the importance of the France Strategy in various fields of action will be discussed, as well as the existing opportunities and challenges, but also possible contributions from academics and society to use the potentials of the border region will be examined from different scientific perspectives.
The collection approaches the question of cross-border work from different methodological and disciplinary angles, in order to provide an overview of the research on the subject and to analyze the stakes involved in and ways of seeing this activity. The first section describes the configurations, evolution, and scope of cross-border work. The linguistic practices, displacements, and profiles of cross-border workers are elicited in order that these workers may, in the second section of the collection, be compared to others in such regions as the Upper Rhineland and the Canton of Geneva. Rather more analytical, the third section then deals with the dynamic effects of cross-border work on the development of economies, urbanization, physical spaces, and governance. Finally, the fourth and final section raises the question of the social construction of the status of cross-border workers, by way of regulations, conventions, and socio-political representations, etc.).
