Gross Worker Flows Estimation at European Level

Labour, 1990

The structure of the European labour market is highly differentiated by geographical area. If the 1992 integration is likely to induce short-medium term adjustment effects on employment, these will mostly affect regional labour markets. Negative adjustments will follow different distribution patterns, probably exacerbating current regional disequilibria. On the other hand, still little known are the geographical features of the European economic, social and production structures. Although many studies have recently concentrated on the analysis of local labour markets, few of them have addressed the issue of Community regions. Through multivariate and cluster analyses of structural data on regional labour markets, the paper offers a confirmation of the explanatory power of local market analysis, as applied to the European area. The structural features of each elementary area are captured by three factors only, that allow the construction of a coherent classification of EEC regions in four major clusters. This classification is used to identify the "weak areas" that, after a reconsideration in unified terms of European cooperation policies, should be the object of new development interventions.

The EU's Eastern enlargement has triggered a substantial labor migration from the new into the old member states of the EU. In this chapter, we analyze the im-pact of this change in labor supply on macroeconomic aggregates and the distri-bution of earnings and employment opportunities. For this purpose, we employ two general equilibrium models which analyze the migration impact in a setting with imperfect labor markets. The first model is based on a nested production function, which enables us to examine the migration effects on wages and unem-ployment in the different cells of the labor market. The second model is based on CGE framework, which allows considering the restructuring of sectors and the in-teraction of migration with trade and capital movements. Both models assume that capital stocks adjust to labor supply shocks. Based on scenarios of labor migra-tion from the EU8 into the EU15 from 2004 to 2007, we find substantial gains of migration for the enlarged EU: the aggre...

The migratory labour flows in Europe are significantly affected by the dissolution of the Eastern block and, in particular, by the fact that some of those Eastern block countries will become member states of the EU. Therefore, there is a real need to study the specific characteristics of these new migratory flows which, because of their origins and specific effects on the labour markets – and on the societies, in general – of the EU will demand new migration and integration policies both in the EU countries as well as in their countries of origin.

2015

The analysis of the international migration flows, their determinants and the impact on host countries' labour markets is of great interest in the context of current European developments. This paper analyses the role of EU labour market mobility, specifically cross-border mobility by migrants, in labour market adjustments and, vice versa, how labour market developments across the EU in terms of relative wage differences, differences in activity rates, in labour productivity differentials and in human capital structures affect labour mobility. The analysis is carried out in the context of estimating a panel Vector Auto Regressive (pVAR) model involving bilateral net migration flows and cross-country differences in the above variables. It is estimated for the period 2000 to 2012, thus capturing also the two waves of accession of Central and Eastern European new Member States (NMS). The estimations are performed for cross-border mobility patterns for the EU as a whole, as well as ...

2009

This paper proposes an empirical assessment of economic interactions between the labour markets of the integrating EU over the period of time 1995-2005. Drawing on recently made available industry statistics, we provide a sector level study (13 tradable sectors, including manufacturing and services), analysing the contemporary evolution of domestic and trade partners' employment levels. Given the intensification of trade relations as a result of ongoing integration process, we build a sector-specific measure of economic interdependency, based on information on labour markets' performance and weighted by the magnitude of intra-EU trade flows (imports). The estimates of a dynamic empirical model confirm the interactions between employment levels in different Member States. Domestic employment in NMS-5 is rather positively affected by the expansion of labour markets in other EU's trade partners (domestic employment levels in NMS-5 countries improve in parallel to the increase in foreign tradable sectors' employment). The opposite holds true for EU-15 domestic labour markets that are rather challenged by the expansion of tradable sectors in their EU trade partners.

IZA Journal of Migration, 2016

This paper assesses macroeconomic determinants of labour mobility and its role in the adjustment to asymmetric shocks. First, the paper develops stylised facts of mobility at the national and sub-national levels in the EU. Then, it explores the macroeconomic determinants of bilateral migration flows. Econometric evidence suggests that labour mobility increases significantly when a country joins the EU. While euro area membership seems not to be associated with an overall rise in the magnitude of mobility flows, workers do appear more ready to move from countries where unemployment is high to those where it is lower. Thirdly, the paper looks at mobility as a channel of economic adjustment by means of a VAR analysis in the vein of . Results indicate that mobility absorbs about a quarter of an asymmetric shock within 1 year. Movements in response to shocks have almost doubled since the introduction of the euro. Real wages have also become more responsive to asymmetric shocks during the same period.

While financial fragmentation is in the spotlight and significant tools for a banking union (such as the Single Resolution Mechanism and the Resolution Fund) are being designed to deal with it, employment fragmentation should also be tackled by the EU. As shown in the 2010 unemployment map of the European Commission, the crisis has exacerbated imbalances on the labor market in the Eurozone (EZ). Spanish unemployment rate is estimated at 26.9% in 2013 versus 5.6% in Germany.

2009

Labor Mobility and the Integration of European Labor Markets This paper outlines the importance of labor mobility for the improvement in allocating and distributing economic resources. We are faced with an increasing lack of skilled workers and a growing tendency of unemployment amongst the low-skilled. A central political objective for the future will not only be education policy but also the recruitment of high-skilled workers from international and European labor markets. Additional skilled labor increases well-being and reduces inequality. However, internal European barriers to mobility are difficult to break through. An improved transparency of the European labor market, a greater command of languages and a standardization of the social security system can strengthen mobility. The key to mobility is in promoting the integration of international workers in the European migration process, which can be strengthened through circular migration. The European "blue card" initiative and the opening of labor markets to foreign graduates who have been trained in Europe could set a new course.

2011

Abstract: In the European Union, the most important labour market models that have been proposed for labour market reform are flexicurity and the transitional labour market. In this position paper, we conceptualise the models of flexicurity and the transitional labour market, and we outline potentially relevant research questions.