DECENT WORK IN LITHUANIA’S LOGISTICS SECTOR: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF LOCAL AND MIGRANT EMPLOYEES

Santrauka

Due to a labor shortage, more migrants are employed in the Lithuanian labor market. One of the sectors most affected is logistics, where the demand for employees, especially drivers, is particularly high. The main goal of this study is to compare the perceptions of decent work and workplace exploitation between local and migrant employees in the logistics sector in Lithuania, identifying critical attributes influencing job satisfaction, well-being, and perceived fair treatment in working conditions. The impact of various variables (decent work, job satisfaction, economic constraints and well-being) on migrant and local employees were studied for this study. A quantitative research method was used to achieve this aim. Data was collected through a survey of 300 employees working in the logistics sector in Lithuania, with 18% of participants being migrants. The industry is male dominated, therefore 79.3% of participants were male. The data was analyzed using SPSS software. The following tests were used to analyze the results for this study which include descriptive analysis, regression analysis and clustered bar charts with mean. Hypotheses H1, H2, H3 were rejected whereas only hypothesis H4 were accepted after analyzing the results. This indicates that migrant employees have low job satisfaction and experience greater economic constraints, leading to higher levels of work exploitation. However, migrant employees report lower levels of well-being compared to local employees in Lithuania's logistics sector. The main results showed that all employees identified salary and working hours as the primary factors influencing perceived exploitation. However, no statistically significant differences were found between local and migrant employees. The study recommends implementing upskilling programs and visible promotion pathways to ensure equal career progression for local and migrant employees. Additionally, there should be fair wages and working hours for migrant employees and to avoid ambiguity employee contracts should be presented in a language the worker understands and should be clearly explained. Lastly, the future directions could investigate the long-term consequences of employment precarity by analysing gender-specific experiences within the sector on migrant well-being. Additionally, for migrant employees, a comparative analysis across distinctive EU countries could also reinforce broader perceptions into local gaps in decent work measures.