IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jcmkts/v52y2014i2p183-199.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Labour Migration from Eastern Europe and the EU's Quest for Talents

Author

Listed:
  • Alexander M. Danzer
  • Barbara Dietz

Abstract

This article investigates the determinants of temporary migration and the destination choices of migrants from a geopolitically important region in eastern Europe that borders Russia and the enlarged EU. We present empirical evidence from a novel survey simultaneously conducted in Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, five countries that share a common institutional and linguistic heritage with Russia. Temporary migrants from eastern Europe are less well educated than non‐migrants. While the least educated migrants head for Russia, the higher educated move to the EU and the best educated to overseas destinations. According to unique information on pre‐migration training courses, a non‐negligible fraction of eastern European migrants to the EU is well‐equipped with language skills and qualifications. However, since many labour migrants suffer from occupational downgrading or skill waste in the destination, the EU seems to fail in fully benefiting from the potential of eastern European migration despite the geographic proximity.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexander M. Danzer & Barbara Dietz, 2014. "Labour Migration from Eastern Europe and the EU's Quest for Talents," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(2), pages 183-199, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:52:y:2014:i:2:p:183-199
    DOI: 10.1111/jcms.12087
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.12087
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jcms.12087?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alexander Libman & Evgeny Vinokurov, 2012. "Regional Integration and Economic Convergence in the Post‐Soviet Space: Experience of the Decade of Growth," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 112-128, January.
    2. Stark, Oded & Bloom, David E, 1985. "The New Economics of Labor Migration," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(2), pages 173-178, May.
    3. Fidrmuc, Jan, 2003. "Economic reform, democracy and growth during post-communist transition," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 583-604, September.
    4. Daniel Chiquiar & Gordon H. Hanson, 2005. "International Migration, Self-Selection, and the Distribution of Wages: Evidence from Mexico and the United States," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(2), pages 239-281, April.
    5. Lehmann, Hartmut & Pignatti, Norberto & Wadsworth, Jonathan, 2006. "The incidence and cost of job loss in the Ukrainian labor market," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 248-271, June.
    6. A. D. Roy, 1951. "Some Thoughts On The Distribution Of Earnings," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 3(2), pages 135-146.
    7. Larry A. Sjaastad, 1970. "The Costs and Returns of Human Migration," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Harry W. Richardson (ed.), Regional Economics, chapter 9, pages 115-133, Palgrave Macmillan.
    8. Chiswick, Barry R, 1978. "The Effect of Americanization on the Earnings of Foreign-born Men," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(5), pages 897-921, October.
    9. Nannestad, Peter, 2007. "Immigration and welfare states: A survey of 15 years of research," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 512-532, June.
    10. Stark, Oded & Taylor, J Edward, 1991. "Migration Incentives, Migration Types: The Role of Relative Deprivation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 101(408), pages 1163-1178, September.
    11. Michel Beine & Fréderic Docquier & Hillel Rapoport, 2008. "Brain Drain and Human Capital Formation in Developing Countries: Winners and Losers," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(528), pages 631-652, April.
    12. Lundberg, Shelly, 1985. "The Added Worker Effect," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(1), pages 11-37, January.
    13. Wido Geis & Silke Uebelmesser & Martin Werding, 2011. "Why Go to France or Germany, if You Could as Well Go to the UK or the US? Selective Features of Immigration to the EU ‘Big Three’ and the United States," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(4), pages 767-796, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Christina Diane Bastianon, 2019. "Youth Migration Aspirations in Georgia and Moldova," Migration Letters, Migration Letters, vol. 16(1), pages 105-121, January.
    2. Michael Fertig & Martin Kahanec, 2015. "Projections of potential flows to the enlarging EU from Ukraine, Croatia and other Eastern neighbors," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-27, December.
    3. Tamar Khitarishvili, 2016. "Gender Dimensions of Inequality in the Countries of Central Asia, South Caucasus, and Western CIS," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_858, Levy Economics Institute.
    4. Tani, Massimiliano, 2018. "Selective immigration policies, occupational licensing, and the quality of migrants’ education-occupation match," GLO Discussion Paper Series 206, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    5. Alexander M. Danzer & Carsten Feuerbaum & Fabian Gaessler, 2020. "Labor Supply and Automation Innovation," CESifo Working Paper Series 8410, CESifo.
    6. Milena Nikolova, 2015. "Migrant well-being after leaving transition economies," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 195-195, October.
    7. Konara, Palitha, 2020. "The role of language connectedness in reducing home bias in trade, investment, information, and people flows," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    8. Ayhan, Sinem H. & Gatskova, Kseniia & Lehmann, Hartmut, 2017. "The Impact of Non-Cognitive Skills and Risk Preferences on Rural-to-Urban Migration: Evidence from Ukraine," IZA Discussion Papers 10982, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Semiv, Sergiy & Berezivskiy, Yaroslav & Baranyak, Ihor & Mulska, Olga & Ivaniuk, Ulana, 2021. "Priorities and tools of regulation of external migration in the Carpathian region of Ukraine," Agricultural and Resource Economics: International Scientific E-Journal, Agricultural and Resource Economics: International Scientific E-Journal, vol. 7(2), June.
    10. Vasyltsiv, Taras & Lupak, Ruslan & Kunytska-Iliash, Marta & Levytska, Olha & Mulska, Olha, 2020. "Інструменти Регіональної Політики Збереження Людського Ресурсу Засобами Регулювання Зовнішньої Міграції Молоді Сільських Територій Карпатського Регіону," Agricultural and Resource Economics: International Scientific E-Journal, Agricultural and Resource Economics: International Scientific E-Journal, vol. 6(3), September.
    11. Lupak, Ruslan & Mizyuk, Bohdan & Zaychenko, Volodymyr & Kunytska-Iliash, Marta & Vasyltsiv, Taras, 2022. "Migration processes and socio-economic development: interactions and regulatory policy," Agricultural and Resource Economics: International Scientific E-Journal, Agricultural and Resource Economics: International Scientific E-Journal, vol. 8(1), March.
    12. Nikolova, Milena & Graham, Carol, 2015. "In transit: The well-being of migrants from transition and post-transition countries," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 164-186.
    13. Tani, Massimiliano, 2018. "Selective Immigration, Occupational Licensing, and Labour Market Outcomes of Foreign-Trained Migrants," IZA Discussion Papers 11370, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Ayhan, Sinem H. & Gatskova, Kseniia & Lehmann, Hartmut, 2020. "The impact of non-cognitive skills and risk preferences on rural-to-urban migration in Ukraine," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 144-162.
    15. Massimiliano Tani, 2021. "Occupational Licensing and the Skills Mismatch of Highly Educated Migrants," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(3), pages 730-756, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mariele Macaluso, 2022. "The influence of skill-based policies on the immigrant selection process," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 39(2), pages 595-621, July.
    2. Christian Dustmann & Ian P. Preston, 2019. "Free Movement, Open Borders, and the Global Gains from Labor Mobility," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 11(1), pages 783-808, August.
    3. Milo Bianchi, 2013. "Immigration Policy and Self-Selecting Migrants," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 15(1), pages 1-23, February.
    4. Gordon H. Hanson, 2006. "Illegal Migration from Mexico to the United States," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 44(4), pages 869-924, December.
    5. Dustmann, Christian & Glitz, Albrecht, 2011. "Migration and Education," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 327-439, Elsevier.
    6. Gröger, André, 2021. "Easy come, easy go? Economic shocks, labor migration and the family left behind," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    7. Jens Ruhose, 2015. "Microeconometric Analyses on Economic Consequences of Selective Migration," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 61.
    8. Rojas Valdes, Ruben I. & Lin Lawell, C.-Y. Cynthia & Taylor, J. Edward, 2017. "The Dynamic Migration Game: A Structural Econometric Model and Application to Rural Mexico," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 259184, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    9. Akee, Randall K. Q., 2007. "Who Leaves and Who Returns? Deciphering Immigrant Self-Selection from a Developing Country," IZA Discussion Papers 3268, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Hagen-Zanker, Jessica, 2010. "Modest expectations: Causes and effects of migration on migrant households in source countries," MPRA Paper 29507, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Fernández-Huertas Moraga, Jesús, 2013. "Understanding different migrant selection patterns in rural and urban Mexico," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 182-201.
    12. Martin Junge & Martin D. Munk & Panu Poutvaara, 2013. "International Migration of Couples," Norface Discussion Paper Series 2013018, Norface Research Programme on Migration, Department of Economics, University College London.
    13. Bertoli, S. & Fernández-Huertas Moraga, J. & Ortega, F., 2013. "Crossing the border: Self-selection, earnings and individual migration decisions," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 75-91.
    14. Abramitzky, Ran & Boustan, Leah Platt & Eriksson, Katherine, 2013. "Have the poor always been less likely to migrate? Evidence from inheritance practices during the age of mass migration," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 2-14.
    15. Parag Mahajan & Dean Yang, 2020. "Taken by Storm: Hurricanes, Migrant Networks, and US Immigration," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 250-277, April.
    16. Catia Batista, 2008. "Why Doesn't Labor Flow from Poor to Rich Countries? Micro Evidence from the European Integration Experience," Economics Series Working Papers 402, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    17. Quinones, Esteban J. & Barham, Bradford L., 2018. "Endogenous Selection, Migration and Occupation Outcomes for Rural Southern Mexicans," Staff Paper Series 587, University of Wisconsin, Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    18. Juliano Junqueira Assunção & Leandro S. Carvalho, 2005. "Financial constraints, migration and inequality," Textos para discussão 498, Department of Economics PUC-Rio (Brazil).
    19. Chein, Flávia & Assunção, Juliano Junqueira, 2016. "How does Emigration affect Labor Markets? Evidence from Road Construction in Brazil," Brazilian Review of Econometrics, Sociedade Brasileira de Econometria - SBE, vol. 36(2), November.
    20. Zaiceva, A. & Zimmermann, K.F., 2016. "Migration and the Demographic Shift," Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, in: Piggott, John & Woodland, Alan (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 119-177, Elsevier.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:52:y:2014:i:2:p:183-199. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0021-9886 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.