Intra EU mobility at a glance: Recent Trends and Policies

Speaker notes

• Key findings from Eurofound report ‘Labour mobility in the EU: Recent trends and policies’ (2014), drawing from national reports (28 EU countries) and desk research

Changing patterns in labour mobility in the EU

Change in employment by nationality, 2008–2012, EU27 (thousands)

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012Change 08-12

EU27 migrant workers 5,771.5 5,870.8 6,073.0 6,405.2 6,599.0 14.3

Non-EU migrant workers 8,854.6 8,574.0 8,559.5 8,684.7 8,582.3 -3.1

Native born workers 206,535.0 202,930.8 201,679.5 201,851.1 200,799.0 -2.8

Source: EU-LFS, 2008–2012

EU nationals working in another Member State as a percentage of total employment, 2008–2012

EU27

PL SI EE HU CZ PT FI MT EL DK NL IT FR SE DE UK AT ES BE CY IE0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Scale of intra-EU labour mobility

Source: EU-LFS, 2008–2012

General mobility: inflow rates per 1000 (2008 and 2012) in selected EU Member States

Sources: Eurofound based on national data (Statistisches Bundesamt, Destatis; Danmarks Statistik; Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, INE; Istituto Nazionale di Statistica, Istat; Central Statistics Office, CSO; Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, CBS; long-term international migration data from the International Passenger Survey, IPS.Note: EU nationals figure excludes returning nationals.

2008 2012 2008 2012 2008 2012 2008 2012 2008 2012 2008 2012 2008 2012DE DK ES IT IE NL UK

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

EU nationalsTotal

Annual cross-border and within-region mobility as a percentage of total population, 2010

EU27: between 27 countries

Canada: between Quebec and 9 other provinces/territories

EU15: between NUTS-1 regions within countries

Canada: between 10 provinces/territories

US: between 4 main regions

Australia: between 8 states/territories

US: between 50 states

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

0.29

0.39

0.95

0.98

1.24

1.5

2.4

Labour mobility still low in international comparison

Source: OECD, 2012

• Although the data available are not always strictly comparable, the annual rate for interregional mobility is approximately 1% at NUTS 1 level

• Interregional mobility rates appear to be higher in countries with a high GDP level and lower in some of the poorer eastern European countries as well as countries that were severely affected by the crisis, such as Italy and Portugal

Interregional mobility in the EU also limited

Language hurdles: main barrier to intra-EU mobility

Practical difficulties encountered or expected in relation to working abroad (% of respondents)

Lack of language skills

Finding a job

Finding a suitable housing

Adapting to a different culture

Dealing with the necessary adinistrative formalities

Accessing health care and other social benefits

Obtaining a work permit

Finding a job for my partner / spouse

Having my educational and professional qualifications recognised

having my pension rights transferred

Problems to return home and integrate inot professional or private life

Problems with income taxes or similar

Access to childcare, school or university for your children

Other

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

52%

24%

16%

16%

13%

11%

10%

10%

10%

9%

6%

4%

4%

2%

Source: Eurobarometer, 337/ Wave 72.5

• Access to publicly-funded foreign language courses (for natives) or education in the host-nation language (for EU mobile citizens) has the potential of reducing the persistent language barrier

• Only 14 EU Member States (CZ, DK, EE, DE, IT, LV, LT, LU, MT, PT, RO, SK, SE) offer publicly funded language courses to EU mobile citizens

• In a few EU Member States (HR, EE, FR, LV, LU, PL and SI) national public employment services offer language courses to their citizens prior to departure to another country

Limited availability of publicly-funded foreign language courses

Main source of help received by working EU migrants in the host country to find current job or set up a business

Availability of information about job opportunities in EU countries

GR CY PT IE FR LU LT NL UK AT ES BE SE EU150%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Relatives/friends Public employment servicesPrivate employment services Migrant or ethnic organisationOther None

Source: 2008 ad-hoc module of the EU-LFSNotes: Data available only for selected EU countries; data refers to migrants aged 15–74 yrs.

• Evidence that EURES – through the national public employment agencies – is increasingly becoming a key provider of information on job vacancies

• Public employment services in some Member States (FR, LV, LT and SE) have established additional job search databases to promote international vacancies

• With support of ESF and in cooperation with EURES, special agreements were signed by the German government with other EU Member States (HR, DK, FR, IT, PT and ES) to attract young EU workers to Germany

• Cooperation between national employment agencies and information-sharing resources is still limited and needs to be further enhanced.

Support to cross-border matching of jobseekers and vacancies

3 months without prolongation

3 months with possibility of prolongation

6 months by default

CY, DK, FI, FR, HU, HR, IT, IE, NL, NO, SE, UK

AT, BE, BG, EE, EL, ES, DE, LU, LT, LV, MT, PL, PT, RO, SI, SK

CZ

Improving cross-border portability of unemployment benefits

Extension of export period of unemployment benefits

Source: Eurofound, based on national reports; European Commission, 2011

• Most EU countries only prescribe that the unemployed person should be willing to take up a job within a reasonable commuting distance of their home. In Norway and Sweden, unemployed people are required to be willing not just to commute but to move to another region within the country if a suitable job is available there.

• In Sweden, the public employment service provides support for relocation expenses, support for travelling costs for job interviews, and compensation for travel costs and accommodation for participants in labour market programmes. The support is provided both for interregional and cross-border labour mobility.

Measures facilitating geographical mobility within ALMPs

• Incentives often linked to regional policies preventing outflow of skilled labour from peripheral regions

• However, the main driver of other policy initiatives is social inclusion …

Other financial incentives for labour mobility

E.g. Italy, where the municipality of Parma has built public housing for both Italian and foreign mobile workers. The rent is commensurate with the income of the occupier, who can live there until they find permanent accommodation.

E.g. In Croatia, rent is almost free to teachers and healthcare professionals (only country nationals) taking up jobs in remote areas such as islands or mountainous regions, where there is high turnover and acute labour shortages in teaching and healthcare.