Migration in Europe

Abstract

Recent developments in the European Union have raised immigration as an issue, especially in the UK. There has been a large wave of migrants into the UK from Poland since its accession in 2004, and as Romania and Bulgaria are preparing to become members of the European Union on 1 January 2007, migration from the new member states to other EU countries has become even more a focus of attention. Concerns over potential immigration towards the old EU member states have been rising because the total population of Bulgaria and Romania is approximately 30 million, a similar size to Poland, and the standards of living in both countries are considerably lower than in the EU-15 member countries, or than in any of the current New Member States. Hence outward migration is more likely to be attractive. The scale of flows will depend upon any restrictions that might be imposed by other member states, but current estimates suggest that 2 million Romanians, for instance, are already at work in the core EU countries.

Health of Immigrants in European Countries

“…While immigration from within the European Union accounts for some of the immigration to these 11 European countries, movement of people into the Union from poorer countries characterizes a significant portion of European migration over recent decades (Massey et al ., 1993). People nearing retirement age generally migrated decades ago as migration is most likely to occur in the early working ages, often motivated by the economic possibilities at the destination (Karras and Chiswick, 1999; Barrell, Guillemineau, and Liadze, 2006). In general, immigrants have lower socioeconomic status than the populations into which they move (Ringbäck et al ., 1999).…”

Editorial

“…According to Barrell et al (2006), the number of Polish nationals registered by official German sources increased over the period 2004Á2005 from 292,109 to 326,596. In the same year the number of Polish workers registered in the UK grew from 71,015 to 127,295.…”

“…Using the National Institute macro model NiGEM, Barrell et al (2006) and Riley & Weale (2006) show that the likely effects of a shock to the labour force are complex, with mass immigration having dynamic consequences for wages, unemployment, inflation and productivity. The impact and consequences depend on the age and skill composition of the migrants, and the relationship between their tax contributions and the publicly funded social services they consume, and the impacts on indigenous workers will be variegated, depending on their job status.…”

UK Economy Forecast

“…If we were to exclude the MTIC fraud data our projections show export volume growth in 2006 was just over S per cent, while import volumes growth was around 6 per cent per annum. Barrell, Guillemineau and Liadze, 2006 expect, over the period that the current account has been in deficit the UK's net asset position has deteriorated (see figure 7). However, the UK still maintains a surplus on its income account as figure 6 shows.…”