Restricted  Mobilities In-Between the COVID-19 Pandemic and Brexit

One of the central arguments of this book is that the EU free movement regime structurally promotes mobility. But what are the consequences for employment when this regime is suspended? This will be examined in more detail in this chapter using the example of an exogenous shock (the COVID-19 pandemic) and a politically induced shock (Brexit). Using three case studies on German agriculture, Austrian 24-hour mobile care, and the British transport sector, the “systemic importance” of migrant labour becomes apparent as well as more broadly the importance of freedom of movement for relatively frictionless transnational labour mobility.