Transnational Labour Mobility in Europe in the 21st Century

This chapter examines the extent and labour market dimension of intra-European migration. It distinguishes between three phases of mobility. The first phase covers the 1990s to the beginning of the 21st century, which was characterized by a moderate increase in cross-border migrations. The second phase includes Eastern enlargement since 2004, which triggered a previously unknown dynamic of labour mobility and overlaps with the third phase, which began with the economic and financial crisis in 2008/09 and included a diversion effect towards Northern Europe. It is shown that the extent of intra-European migration is influenced by relatively strong economic push and pull factors, which interact with the EU free movement regime and new transport and communication opportunities. With regard to the labour market integration of mobile EU citizens, it is shown that they found employment in both skilled and less skilled occupations. There is so far no clear evidence that this migration has led to greater disruptions in host country labour markets. However, it has probably exacerbated a shortage of workers and a demographic crisis in some countries of origin.