You Don’t Know What You’ve Got Till It’s Gone. The Oslo Taxi Industry: an Immigrant Niche in Rapid Transition

Abstract

This dissertation delves into the specific case of the Oslo taxi industry while speaking to larger topics on altering labor relations, digitalization of work, dual labor markets, and integration. I investigate work relations and dynamics in the taxi occupation in a period of industry transitions where deregulations were followed by the immediate re-entry of Transportation Network Companies (TNCs), such as Uber. I use this transition as an analytical opportunity to explore the content and value of the traditional taxi occupation. Value and meaning can be discovered through loss, which is the point in the title of my dissertation, a line from the song Yellow Big Taxi by Joni Mitchell. Furthermore, I emphasize the experience of immigrant drivers, as the taxi occupation has become an immigrant niche. The industry’s position as an immigrant niche is relevant to the position and status of the occupation before deregulation. It also relates to what is cherished about taxi work, and it is important because altering work relations largely affects an immigrant population. To explore this case, the thesis relies on 29 in-depth interviews with taxi drivers and industry representatives from the Norwegain Taxi Association and Labor Union. The study is also based on multiple hours of participant observation and informal conversations with drivers. My findings reveal that a vast majority of Oslo drivers are highly critical of deregulations and the reentry of TNCs. They anticipate decline in income, working conditions, social capital, and work autonomy. Faced with this change, drivers articulate what they appreciate and value in the traditional taxi occupation. The findings are presented in three papers, which in different ways discuss work relations and the dynamic of the taxi occupation, how industry transitions are perceived by migrant taxi drivers, and how these alterations stand to influence their professional and personal lives. The first paper explores what taxi drivers value in the taxi occupation, and how certain perks are of specific importance to immigrant drivers. Though the taxi occupation is placed in the secondary sector of the dual labor market, drivers find value in the form of social capital and work autonomy. While previous research has described TNC entry as a financial blow to the taxi industry, this article discusses what stands to be lost beyond the economic realm, emphasizing how drivers' work autonomy and social capital are perceived as challenged. In the second paper, I describe what I refer to as an ethnic hierarchy between Somali and Pakistani drivers in the Oslo Taxi industry. Applying theoretical perspectives from Waldinger and Rath (1999, 2001), I argue this ethnic hierarchy relates to how long Pakistanis as a group have been in the industry compared to Somalis, and to industry regulations. I suggest deregulations challenge the ethnic hierarchy but also the social mobility of both Somali and Pakistani taxi drivers. The third paper discusses taxi drivers' critique of and concerns over deregulations, accompanied by TNC re-entry. Vassenden and I relate drivers' perspectives to political context, specifically deregulations as a neoliberal feature, and historical context, notably to long-lasting occupational status decline. Overall, this dissertation illuminates the nuances of work in the secondary sector, highlighting both challenging and valued aspects. It serves as a contribution to the existing literature by illustrating how labor market alterations, in this case deregulations and platform labor, can challenge traditional occupations in the secondary sector. I emphasize what drivers perceive as threatened beyond the financial realm. Furthermore, it investigates the taxi occupation within the framework of immigration, focusing on the taxi industry as an immigrant niche. It explores how the perks of working in the industry often relate to drivers' immigrant backgrounds. As an immigrant niche is made subject to platform work, this thesis provides a fuller picture of how the transition influences immigrant taxi drivers' experience of socioeconomic, cultural, and social integration in the Norwegian labor market and society at large.