This report presents the results from a project that has aimed to generate new comparative knowledge about labour migration from Central and Eastern Europe to the Nordic countries, the factors that shape wage and working conditions for labour migrants and recruitment processes and practices. In the report we: • Describe and compare patterns of labour migration between Central and Eastern Europe and the Nordic countries. • Compare the working conditions of Polish labour migrants in in Oslo, Copenhagen and Reykjavik – and analyse how their labour market situation is shaped by variations in national regulations, systems of collective bargaining and local labour market structures. • Analyse the particular role of recruitment agencies in introducing new migrants to the Nordic labour markets. The research has been conducted by a team of researchers from Fafo (Norway), FAOS (Denmark), CIRRA/MIRRA (Iceland), CMR (Poland) and SOFI (Sweden).

The economic crisis has caused a surge in intra-European labour mobility, unleashing heated debates about the consequences of large-scale labour migration. This volume improves understanding of the drivers, mechanisms, and effects of the past decade’s surge in cross-border labour mobility and work related migration within Europe.

This conference proceedings shows that the migration flows within and from the CEECs are much more complex than a straightforward westward flow towards the European Union and North America.

This publication presents recent evidence and analytical work on the impact and future perpectives of demographic trends in the workforce, taking also into account education, skills and geographical mobility.

Labour, Mobility and Temporary Migration delves into sociological research on Polish migrants who migrated to the lesser-explored South Wales region after Poland joined the European Union in 2004. At the time of enlargement, Polish migrants were characterised as being economically motivated, short-term migrants who would enter the UK for work purposes, save money and return home. However, over ten years after enlargement, this initial characterisation has been challenged with many of the once considered ‘short-term’ Poles remaining in the UK. In the case of Wales, the long-term impact of this migration is only starting to be fully realised, particularly in consideration of the different spatial areas – urban, semi-urban and rural – explored in this book. Such impact is occurring in the post-Brexit referendum period, a time when the UK’s position in the EU is itself complex and changing.

This thesis seeks to make both theoretical and empirical contributions to the understanding of intra-EU mobility, with a focus on labour migration from Lithuania to Sweden. Inspired by a critical realist perspective, the thesis aims to help to explain the dynamics and individual decision-making behind mass labour emigration from the Baltic states, its socioeconomic consequences and policy responses. Theoretically, the thesis proposes a model that synthesizes a social transformation approach with an extended version of Hirschman’s analytical framework of exit, voice and loyalty. The three empirical articles, based mainly on semi-structured interviews, are situated within this framework. Two of the articles seek to explain the migrants’ decision-making process of stay-exit-entrance in the context of the structural-institutional social changes that followed (1) independence from the Soviet Union in 1990; (2) EU accession in 2004; and (3) the 2008/2009 economic crisis with austerity. The third article brings into the debate the perspective of the sending Baltic countries, in a broader context of the East-West migration debate. The dissertation shows that the consequences of the neoliberal policies of the post-communist and post-crisis transformations, together with the construction of formal migration channels after EU accession, constitute various migrant categories. Individual strategies of actively looking for channels to exit and enter, combining them in different ways at various points of the migratory process and establishing informal social networks are re-constituting who can be and who is a migrant. Furthermore, following the economic crisis and austerity measures, the decision to emigrate extends beyond individual survival strategies, instead becoming bound to an individual’s perception of the (ine)quality of life and pursuit of a better quality of life for oneself and one’s family across time and in different places. Finally, as the interviewed Baltic experts agree, the EU’s policy of the free movement is socially and economically problematic, although the official Baltic states’ policy responses focus primarily on ‘talented’ and ‘needed’ diaspora members’ return or engagement. These policies have proved to be inadequate to address demographic and socioeconomic challenges in part brought about by emigration. The structural-institutional conditions, states’ and migrants’ strategies engender mobility as a social norm in the sending countries and promote and constitute the perpetuation of migration of both ‘precarious labour migrants’ and ‘active talented EU mobile citizens’. Avhandlingen avser att bidra både teoretiskt och empiriskt till ökad kunskap om den fria rörligheten inom EU med fokus på arbetskraftmigration från Litauen till Sverige. Inspirerad av kritisk realism som samhällsvetenskaplig metod är syftet att bidra till att förklara såväl dynamiken i som det individuella beslutsfattandet bakom den omfattande arbetsutvandringen från de baltiska staterna samt att diskutera dess socioekonomiska konsekvenser och politiska inverkan. Teoretiskt utgår avhandlingen från en modell som syntetiserar social transformation med en utsträckt version av Hirschmans analytiska ramverk för ‘sorti’, ‘protest’ och ‘lojalitet’. De tre empiriska artiklarna, som huvudsakligen bygger på semistrukturerade djupintervjuer, ligger inom detta ramverk. Två av artiklarna syftar till att förklara migranternas beslutsprocess i fråga om stay-exit-entrance mot bakgrund av de strukturella och institutionella sociala förändringarna som följde av: (1) självständighetsförklaringen från Sovjetunionen 1990; (2) anslutningen till EU 2004; och (3) den ekonomiska krisen 2008/2009 med följande åtstramningar. Den tredje artikeln för in de baltiska ländernas eget perspektiv i den bredare öst-västliga migrationsdebatten. Avhandlingen visar att följderna av den postkommunistiska neoliberala politiken och omvandlingen efter den ekonomiska krisen, tillsammans med uppbyggnaden av formella migrationskanaler efter anslutningen till EU, bidrar till att skapa olika migrantkategorier. Individuella strategier för att aktivt leta efter kanaler för exit och enter, kombinera dem på olika sätt och utifrån olika stadier i migrationsprocessen samt etablera informella sociala nätverk bidrar till att (re)konstituera vem som kan vara och vem som är en migrant. Vidare, efter den ekonomiska krisen och de införda åtstramningsåtgärderna, handlar beslutet om att emigrera inte bara om individuella överlevnadsstrategier, utan också om individuella uppfattningar om vad som är livskvalitet och inte, (på engelska – (ine)quality of life), liksom strävan efter en bättre livskvalitet för sig själv och sin familj över tid och rum. Slutligen, som de intervjuade baltiska experterna är överens om, är EU:s politik för fri rörlighet socialt och ekonomiskt problematiskt, även om den officiella baltiska politiken i första hand fokuserar på ‘begåvade’ och ‘nödvändiga’ diasporamedlemmars engagemang eller återvändande. Denna politik har visat sig vara otillräcklig för att ta itu med demografiska och socioekonomiska utmaningar som delvis orsakades av utvandring. De strukturella institutionella förhållandena och staternas och migranternas strategier skapar rörlighet som en social norm i länder med framträdande utvandring och bidrar till fortsatt migration, både vad gäller ‘prekära arbetskraftsmigranter’ och ‘aktiva och begåvade EU-mobila medborgare’.

This report sums up the developments in labour migration from the member countries to the Nordic Region since EU enlargement in 2004, the consequences for the labour markets in both the Nordic Region and in the countries of origin, the main features of the political initiatives and adaptation strategies adopted by the Nordic countries, and the most important challenges that the Nordic countries will face in this area in the future. The report points out that Western Europe and the Nordic Region have experienced significant and increasing mobility of labour from the new member countries since 1 May 2004. It concludes that greater mobility, particularly from Poland and the Baltic countries, has been a contributory factor to higher growth and lower inflation in the Nordic countries than would otherwise have been possible in a period of prolonged economic prosperity and increasing labour shortages. It also states that the challenges in the Nordic countries have primarily been associated with the growth in in-service mobility and postings away from home. In addition, the report confirms quite significant emigration of workers from Poland and the Baltic countries since 2004, which has led to shortages of labour in those countries. It concludes that even though employment levels have risen significantly, especially in the Baltic countries, the main challenge for these countries will continue to be how to further increase domestic employment levels. This report constitutes the final product of the expert group on EU expansion set up by EK-A in 2004, the mandate for which expired on 1 December 2007.

This book gives a thorough introduction to the theoretical and practical aspects of planning, conducting and analysing data from Respondent Driven Sampling surveys, drawing on the experiences of experts in the field as well as pioneers that have applied Respondent Driven Sampling methodology to migrant populations.

Within the framework of the new European economic governance, neoliberal views on wages have further increased in prominence and have steered various reforms of collective bargaining rules and practices. As the crisis in Europe came to be largely interpreted as a crisis of competitiveness, wages were seen as the core adjustment variable for ‘internal devaluation’, the claim being that competitiveness could be restored through a reduction of labour costs. This book proposes an alternative view according to which wage developments need to be strengthened through a Europe-wide coordinated reconstruction of collective bargaining as a precondition for more sustainable and more inclusive growth in Europe. It contains major research findings from the CAWIE2 – Collectively Agreed Wages in Europe – project, conducted in 2014–2015 for the purpose of discussing and debating the currently dominant policy perspectives on collectively-bargained wage systems under the new European economic governance.

This study provides empirical evidence on the considerable but often unnoticed impact of EU accession on the mobility and integration of migrants from Bulgaria in Germany. Original data from a time-location sampling survey in Hamburg reveal that free movement not only induced a high level of mobility among EU citizens from Bulgaria after 2007 but also enabled their more permanent settlement in Germany. The study also provides statistical evidence that EU citizenship contributed to better legal integration of Bulgarian migrants in Germany, but national policies shaped to a greater extent their integration in terms of participation in the core areas of life. Restrictive policies such as transitional periods in the freedom of work hampered labour market integration and created more disadvantaged positions for workers. Inclusive policies such as the dual citizenship policy facilitated the naturalisation of settled migrants and led to exceptionally high naturalisation rates for Bulgarians that point to their successful integration in society. However, integration successes remain almost unnoticed in public discourse, which is dominated by the image of Bulgarian migration as a challenge.