Inner-European Labour Mobility – Perspectives and ChallengesNew Europeans Oxford #3

February 24 2016

Laura Wiesboeck, M.A.Department of SociologyUniversity of Vienna

Background

• Enhanced mobility promoted as the way forward in EU-policy

• Idea(l) behind: Economic ‘triple- win’ situation, mobility goverened by economic demand - no integration burden, no naturalization

• Strong economic lense mainly through receiving countries‘ eye

• What are the social effects in sending region and on mobile workers themselves?

Factors influencing mobility

• Job opportunities• Higher income • Language in receiving country• Social networks• Political climate• Lifestyle• Legal circumstances• Economic crisis

Understanding official data

• No clear cut category for mobile workers (citizenship, country of birth, length of stay)

• Mainly dependently employed covered by the social security system – independently employed? Informal work?

• Demand for work?

Effects in receiving region

• Employer perspective: foreign born preferred labour force

• Social dumping / Wage dumping: no reliable data, practices difficult to reveal

• Infrastructure: governments should not only profit from macro-economic benefits but also address needs at the local level

Impact on sending region

• „Youth drain“ / „Brain drain“: may be temporary or permanent, lack of long term studies

• Skill shortages: losing workforce in certain branches like healthcare („care chain“)

• Remittances: basic gain for sending countries, may or may not be development-stimulating, can create different power hierarchies

Impact on mobile workers

• Dequalification: form of protectionism• Lack of representation: transnational

unions?• Family: „Eurogeneration left alone“• Lifestyle: adopted consumer

behaviour, new symbolic formation of classes

• Envy: jealous of newly gained economic power, social inequality between mobile and non mobile workers strengthened

Outlook

• Noticeably more hostile discourse on migration in most European countries

• Exploitative dual labour market for Eastern movers working in the west in EU?

• Focus on economic growth in EU15 countries as main lens should be challenged

• Free movement of workers one of four freedoms (goods, capital, services) – cherry pick the ones states want and leave rest?

Thank you for your attention!

Questions? Answers?laura.wiesboeck@univie.ac.at