Migration aspirations of European youth in times of crisis

Abstract

In recent years, the European Union (EU) passed through a significant economic crisis. All across Europe, European young people are among the groups which are hit hardest, with youth unemployment rates rising to over 50% in member states such as Greece and Spain. In the classical migration literature, it is suggested that such unfavourable economic climate would make people more likely to move abroad. Whereas in press releases we are regularly confronted with stories about South European young adults with tertiary education working in bars in Northern European cities, limited empirical evidence exists as such on the relationship between the recent Euro-crisis and migration aspirations. This paper addresses this gap in the academic literature. Using data from Flash Eurobarometer 395, I investigate which micro-and macro-level characteristics influence migration aspirations of young people across the member states of the EU. The results reveal the importance of individual characteristics and feelings of discontent with the current climate in explaining migration aspirations. Furthermore, I detect a negative relationship of relative welfare levels with migration aspirations, and a positive relationship of the youth unemployment ratio. Together, the results suggest that potential young intra-EU movers are positively selected from the population.

The migration intentions of young adults in Europe: A comparative, multilevel analysis

“…The group enrolled in education tends to express a higher willingness to be mobile. Van Mol () attributes this to the fact that students are freer from the constraints of everyday life and have fewer responsibilities. In their study of students' mobility intentions in Northern Ireland, Cairns and Smyth () found that more than half of those surveyed are considering living outside Northern Ireland in the future.…”

“…And yet, other more recent studies of intended future migration among students suggest that men are relatively more numerous (Cairns & Smyth, ), possibly because of family and other social constraints (Van Mol, ). There is agreement, however, that the likelihood of migration decreases with age (Epstein & Gang, ; Otrachshenko & Popova, ; Van Mol, ), marriage (Gubhaju & De Jong, ; Otrachshenko & Popova, ), and childbearing (Agadjanian, Nedoluzhko, & Kumskov, ; Hadler, ), although how these categorisations vary within the young‐adult group is less well‐documented. Previous experience of living abroad is another important factor that is associated with higher rates of mobility (Fassmann & Hintermann, : 66; Epstein & Gang, ; Tabor et al, ).…”

“…Previous experience of living abroad is another important factor that is associated with higher rates of mobility (Fassmann & Hintermann, : 66; Epstein & Gang, ; Tabor et al, ). For example, Van Mol () demonstrates that individuals with such experiences are more than twice more likely to intend to migrate than those lacking this experience, whereas Hadler () shows that the farther individuals have previously moved, the farther they are likely to intend to move. Experimental research also suggests that individuals with histories of international mobility cope better with potential overload of, and imperfect, information about different contexts (Baláž et al, ).…”

“…There is a long‐established research interest in migration intentions which tends to peak at times of either major economic crises or of significant shifts in migration regimes, such as the eastern enlargement of the European Union (EU) (Fassmann & Hintermann, ). This has been given renewed urgency by the high and increasing levels of youth migration in Europe, following the 2008 economic crisis (Cairns, ; Van Mol, ). Debates about the likely levels of future migration have also been fuelled more recently by the 2016 Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom (UK) (Pietka‐Nykaza & McGhee, ), which took place against a background of antimigration political, media, and popular discourses, which emphasised perceived negative implications of the EU's freedom of movement provisions for national border controls.…”

The Ambiguity of Return Migration: Prolonged Crisis and Uncertainty in the Life Strategies of Young Romanian and Latvian Returnees

“…The global economic crisis (GEC) (2008 and after), European refugee crisis (2014 and ongoing), the United Kingdom's decision to leave the EU (2016 and ongoing) also had profound implications for the intra‐European migratory system over the past decade (King, ). Incorporation of the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries into the European migration system and the GEC have resulted in growing numbers of young people migrating within Europe (Cairns et al., ; Van Mol, ; King and Williams, ). Contemporary patterns reveal that migration in Europe is accelerating, including substantial return migration, and diversifying, becoming more highly variegated (King, ).…”