Description:
Expanded employment opportunities across
the continent have been one of the most significant changes
to have taken place in Europe during the past 50 years.
Since the inception of the European Economic Community in
1957 involving 6 countries (Belgium, France, Italy,
Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany) with a
combined population of less than 200 million, the European
Union (EU) has grown to encompass nearly 500 million people
across 27 member countries that produce, in total, about 30
percent of the world's total gross domestic product.
May 2010 marked the six-year anniversary of the inclusion of
eight countries from Central and Eastern Europe (Czech
Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the
Slovak Republic and Slovenia) into the EU, followed by
Romania and Bulgaria in January 2007. An important
consequence of these 10 new member states (henceforth EU10)
joining the EU has been to expand the internal EU labor
market, albeit to varying extents for nationals of different
member countries. Migration flows out of the EU10 following
the 2004 enlargement is hampered by various technical and
data constraints. As a result, the policy debates on the
welfare consequences of migration following enlargement for
both the host and sender countries have often been based on
speculation and ideology rather than on the empirical
evidence per se. Following the accession of EU10 countries
to the EU, how large were the ensuing flows of migrant
workers, and what were their main socio-economic
characteristics?-in particular, how do migrants from within
the EU compare to those from countries outside the EU? Are
migrants poorer than the native-born population?-do they
impose a high economic and social burden on the countries
where they currently reside? Addressing these and other such
key issues of policy interest are among the main questions
addressed by this report. Using information from a variety
of data sources, it takes stock of the nature, extent, and
impact of EU migration following EU10 accession, and
synthesizes the main lessons from this experience for future
migration policy. In particular, the report highlights the
positive contributions made by migrants in their host
countries, as well as documents the growing importance of
remittances in receiving countries.