Escalator London? A Case Study of New Zealand Tertiary Educated Migrants in a Global City DAVID CONRADSON* & ALAN LATHAM School of Geography, University of Southampton, UK ABSTRACT In this paper we consider whether London functions as an ‘escalator region’ for international migrants in the same way that has been suggested for domestic migrants. Our case study focuses on New Zealand tertiary educated migrants who move to London for a period of work and travel. We propose a four-fold typology of these movers, seeking to tease out the different motivations and aspirations behind their global mobility, and the different ways in which they make use of London’s opportunities. Our findings have broader ramifications for studies of skilled migrants between global cities. Introduction London is by many indicators Europe’s premier global city (Sassen, 2001; Taylor, 2004). It is a city, or more accurately a city region, defined not only by an extraordinarily prosperous economy, but also by a notably dynamic and fluid demographic structure. At the start of the millennium, over 350 thousand people were moving to London every year. And each year nearly as many were leaving. 1 This is a remarkable amount of movement, representing an annual population turnover of over 5%. Furthermore, a substantial proportion of these in- and out-flows are made up of international migrants. Between 1998 and 2002, the last 4 years for which official data are available, international migrants constituted over half of London’s flow of in-migrants. And over the decade 1992–2002, the proportion of international in-migrants in this flow only once fell below 40%, and then just barely (Table 1). That migration flows constitute an important element in the development of global cities has long been recognised. In their widely cited analysis of the social structure of global cities, Castells and Mollenkopf (1991) argued that migration contributes to distinctively polarised occupational structures in such places (see also Mollenkopf, 1993; Sassen, 1988, 1991). At the peak of the occupational structure, they suggested that the economic command and control functions of global cities generate a range of well remunerated, high status jobs. In turn, the demand for service staff such as cleaners, secretaries and child 1478-2804 Print/1478-2790 Online/05/020159-14 q 2005 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/14782800500212376 *Correspondence Address: David Conradson, School of Geography, University of Southampton, Southampton S017 1BJ, UK. Email: d.conradson@soton.ac.uk Journal of Contemporary European Studies, Vol. 13, No. 2, 159–172, August 2005