The International Migration Flow of Labor During the Process of Integration of the Republic of Moldova with the European Union

Birca, Alic Article The International Migration Flow of Labor During the Process of Integration of the Republic of Moldova with the European Union CES Working Papers Provided in Cooperation with: Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University Suggested Citation: Birca, Alic (2015) : The International Migration Flow of Labor During the Process of Integration of the Republic of Moldova with the European Union, CES Working Papers, ISSN 2067-7693, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Centre for European Studies, Iasi, Vol. 7, Iss. 4, pp. 813-823 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/198431 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. 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If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ CES Working Papers – Volume VII, Issue 4 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License 813 THE INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION FLOW OF LABOR DURING THE PROCESS OF INTEGRATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA WITH THE EUROPEAN UNION Alic BIRCA* Abstract: In this article the author debates the international migration flow of labor during the process of Republic of Moldova’s integration with the European Union. Therefore, the author presents the economic causes and effects of the international migration of workforce. Both emigration and immigration flows grouped by specific categories of persons are presented. The evolution of the number of Moldovan immigrants and emigrants in the member states is also presented. Furthermore, the article shows statistic data regarding the number of Moldovan citizens aged over 15 that are working abroad or searching for a workplace abroad. Keywords: migration; workforce; international migration; emigrant; immigrant JEL Classification: F15; F16; F22; J61 Introduction The international labor migration and the problems that it generates is becoming more and more of a concern for international organizations and worldwide governments, especially for the Member States of the European Union. Nowadays we can clearly see the discrepancy between the Member States’ right of protecting their inner workforce market and the fundamental rights of individuals that are forced to go abroad in search for a workplace. At the same time, there are states that are officially fighting illegal migration, but are tolerating it informally for several reasons. These reasons include: the need for a cheap or unqualified workforce, the possibility of reducing in a short period of time the number of immigrants through forced repatriation, and so on. This fact only leads to encouraging illegal acts and also to generating many negative consequences for immigrant employees regarding their social security rights, workforce circumstances, representation, and so on. The migration of labor also represents the element that contributes to cultural and ethnic diversity at a national and organizational level. For EU Member States’ citizens, the free circulation of human resources has been represented as one of the first rights to be recognized in the EU. This is being considered as the most important right of the individual in the legislation of the EU and an essential element for the European Union market and European citizenship (Stoica, 2001; Puwak, 2004; Stalker, 2010). There are increasing debates regarding the effects of international migration of high qualified human resources in the recent years. Thereby, Member States such as Great Britain, Germany and * Associate prof., PhD, The Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova, e-mail: [email protected] Alic BIRCA 814 France have tried to facilitate the employment of high qualified individuals, especially IT specialists, in order to ensure global competition for them. The demand for high qualified human resources can be satisfied mainly by developing countries. Thus the benefits of “brain migration” are still being highly appreciated. The import of specialists still takes place, even if its significance is reduced. This can also be confirmed by the fact that more and more head hunting businesses appear in less developed countries, in recent years. Their mission is to recruit qualified individuals, especially IT specialists for developing their activity in foreign companies. Even if the migration of employable populations has positive and negative effects in both the country of origin and the destination country, one can say that the free circulation of the workforce in the EU leads to: developing an European working lifestyle, such as learning one or more EU languages and assimilating different traditions and habits specific to multiple countries (Chirca, 2013). All of the above have a determinant role upon human resources behavior and upon their global and professional value enhancement. 1. Literature review International workforce migration is determined by a series of causes and has different economic and social effects on society. After studying the phenomenon of international workforce migration from less developed countries to higher developed countries, origin countries started elaborating and bringing in practice different public politics regarding:  Economic development by attracting investments;  Regulation of illegal labor migration;  Social protection for immigrants and their families (Thery, 2011). International migration of a high qualified workforce is an actual feature of workforce migration known as „brain drain”. Labor migration represents a real loss of intellectual capital for origin countries (Frunzaru, 2009; Popa, 2013). There are two economic functions of labor migration. The first one ensures a qualitative and quantitative correlation between the workforce offer and demand. The international migration is determined, first of all, by the opportunity of finding a legal or illegal workplace in countries with a higher standard of living. On the other hand, labor emigration reduces the unemployment rate in the origin country. The second function of migration contributes to a better reproduction of the workforce at the Union level (Poalelungi, 2011; Petrescu, 2006). Thus, the immigrants help to build a better demographic image of developed countries which are affected by population gerontology. THE MIGRATION FLOW DURING THE INTEGRATION OF MOLDOVA WITH THE EU 815 In order to analyze the motivational factors that are critical for the migration phenomenon, the International Migration Organization (IMO) proposed the push-pull model. Thereby, the factors that pull are: better living standards, higher wages, other emigrants’ experience, a better workplace opportunity, individual freedom, and so on. The most important push factors for origin countries are ethnical problems and economic conditions (Feraru, 2011). Illegal migration has become more popular and more dangerous. Member States’ policies regarding migration and foreigners’ employment has become repressive against traficants, illegal employers and immigrants, as a result of the development of international human trafficking network and their increasing role in the international movement of workforce. Reducing workforce shortages and increasing competition represent favorable effects of international migration for host countries. There are both advantages and disadvantages for origin countries regarding this subject. Advantages relate to: professional and cultural value, higher incomes that are partially repatriated, investments capacity increase, and others. Disadvantages are human capital investment loss, workforce shortage in specific areas and economic stagnation. 2. Analysis of labor migration evolution in the European Union In the last 10 years societies have recorded an increase of permanent population migration and temporary workforce migration. This happened due to the intensity of EU influence, due to the developing of IT, communications, health and education fields, which require a highly qualified workforce. At the same time, there was an increase of foreign workforce demand, particularly in fields like agriculture, public works construction, and housekeeping services (see Italy, Spain and Greece). Meanwhile, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe are not only emigration countries anymore; they are immigration and transit countries for East immigrants. Central and Eastern Europe population (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Baltic Countries) migrate towards Western Europe. But they also are a destination for immigrants from countries as Republic of Moldova, Belarus or Ukraine. In recent years, both legal employees have migrated inside of UE and legal or illegal immigration from outside of the EU has increased in most of the EU countries. The migration of the population, including workforce, can go from less developed countries to the developed ones and the reverse is also true: from developed to less developed. In the first case the motivation for workforce is to find a higher paid workplace. In the second case, we talk about the companies repatriating Alic BIRCA 816 specialists in the less developed countries, aiming to expand their businesses. Table 1 presents the number of emigrants for EU, during 2009-2013. Table 1 - Number and share of emigrants in UE in 2009-2013 Nr. Countries 2009 2013 Total of emigrants, persons Number of emigrants, aged 15-64, persons The share of emigrants aged 15-64 in total emigrants, % Total of emigrants, persons Number of emigrants, aged 15-64, persons The share of emigrants aged 15-64 in total emigrants, % 1. UE – 28 2 379 997 2 011 966 ... 2 814 325 2 389 139 ... 2. Austria 53 244 44 902 84,3 54 071 44 733 82,7 3. Belgium : : ... 90 800 72 901 80,3 4. Bulgaria : : ... 19 678 16 888 85,8 5. Czech Republic 61 782 58 340 94,4 25 894 23 067 89,1 6. Cyprus 9 829 9 472 96,4 25 227 22 427 88,9 7. Croatia : : ... 15 262 11 723 76,8 8. Denmark 39 899 34 550 86,6 43 310 37 662 87,0 9. Estonia 4 658 3 866 83,0 6 740 5 148 76,4 10. Finland 12 151 10 072 82,9 13 893 11 391 82,0 11. France 264 631 225 728 85,3 300 760 254 740 84,7 12. Germany 286 582 232 204 81,0 259 328 213 012 82,1 13. Greece : : ... 117 094 104 619 89,3 14. Ireland 69 672 66 157 94,6 83 791 75 820 90,5 15. Italy 80 597 64 274 79,7 125 735 98 021 78,0 16. Latvia 38 208 : ... 22 561 18 921 83,9 17. Lithuania 38 500 33 270 86,4 38 818 33 174 85,5 18. Luxembourg 9 168 7 277 79,4 10 750 8 463 78,7 19. Malta 3 868 3 411 88,2 5 204 4 729 90,9 20. Great Britain 368 177 340 929 92,6 316 934 297 129 93,8 21. Holland 92 825 76 459 82,4 112 625 93 015 82,6 22. Poland 229 320 190 602 83,1 276 446 225 339 81,5 23. Portugal 16 899 13 924 82,4 53 786 49 698 92,4 24. Romania 246 626 213 211 86,4 161 755 135 566 83,8 25. Slovakia 4 753 4 267 90,0 2 770 2 231 80,5 26. Slovenia 18 788 17 089 90,9 13 384 11 049 82,6 27. Spain 380 121 321 117 84,5 532 303 445 014 83,6 28. Sweden 39 240 31 628 80,6 50 715 39 774 78,4 29. Hungary 10 483 9 217 87,9 34 691 32 885 94,8 Source: Elaborated by the author based on EU statistics Table 1 shows that the number of emigrants is different for the various countries, depending upon their size and level of development. The reason why the author puts emphasis on 15-64 aged people is because they represent a potential workforce for employers from different EU countries. Also Table 1 reveals that, in 2009, the share of 15-64 aged emigrants in total of emigrants varies from 79.4% in Luxembourg, to 79.7% in Italy, 95.0% in Ireland, reaching 96.4% in Cyprus. Also, in 2013, compared to 2009 the share of 15-64 aged emigrants in the total of emigrants varies from 76,4 in Estonia, to 76.8% in Croatia, 93.8 in Great Britain, and reaches 94.8% in Hungary. Also, while some countries such as Cyprus, Czech Republic, Ireland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania and others record a decrease of 15-64 years aged emigrants’ share in 2013 compared to 2009, other countries (Portugal, Hungary, Great Britain) show an increase of the mentioned above share. THE MIGRATION FLOW DURING THE INTEGRATION OF MOLDOVA WITH THE EU 817 The share of 15-64 years aged emigrants has significantly increased from 2009 to 2013 in countries such as Hungary, France, Spain, Portugal, and so on. Also there was a significant decrease in the number of emigrants aged 15-64 in countries such as Romania, Slovenia, and Czech Republic. Therefore, the 2008 crisis affected the whole European space, leading to the increase in the number of emigrants aged 15-64 for some countries, and its’ decrease in other countries. The population of the countries that recorded an increase emigrated in more developed countries of the EU hoping to find a workplace. The population of the countries that recorded a considerable decrease was determined to stay in the country due to the reluctance regarding a better opportunity in another country. It is of high interest to study the number of immigrants for the same period of time (20092013) in Table 2. Table 2 - Number and share of immigrants in the UE in 2009-2013 Nr. Countries 2009 2013 Total of immigrants, persons Number of extra EU immigrants, persons The share of extra UE immigrants in total immigrants, % Total immigrants, persons Number of extra UE immigrants, persons The share of extra UE immigrants in total immigrants, % 1. UE – 28 3 023 656 1 360 422 ... 3 273 898 1 683 213 ... 2. Austria 69.295 24.068 34,7 101 866 34 354 33,7 3. Belgium : : ... 118 256 42 652 36,1 4. Bulgaria : : ... 18 570 14 328 77,2 5. Czech Republic 75.620 38.374 50,7 30 124 14 174 47,1 6. Cyprus 11.675 : ... 13 149 6 067 46,1 7. Croatia : : ... 10 378 7 603 73,3 8. Denmark 51.800 16.287 31,4 60 312 29 611 49,1 9. Estonia 3.884 1.186 30,5 4 109 2 144 52,2 10. Finland 26.699 11.331 42,4 31 941 15 420 48,3 11. France 296.970 113.759 38,3 332 640 196 556 59,1 12. Germany 346.216 140.332 40,5 692 713 283 575 40,9 13. Greece : : ... 57 946 20 764 35,8 14. Ireland 50.604 8.847 17,5 59 294 28 725 48,4 15. Italy 442.940 270.592 61,1 307 454 215 495 70,1 16. Latvia 3.731 : ... 8 299 3 505 42,2 17. Lithuania 6.487 1.405 21,7 22 011 5 797 26,3 18. Luxembourg 15.751 2.667 16,9 21 098 1 849 8,8 19. Malta 6.161 2.680 43,5 8 428 4 180 49,6 20. Great Britain 566.514 303.120 53,5 526 046 30 6377 58,2 21. Holland 122.917 32.921 26,8 129 428 58 336 45,1 22. Poland 189.166 34.147 18,1 220 311 78 269 35,5 23. Portugal 32.307 10.303 31,9 17 554 7 579 43,2 24. Romania 135.844 6.040 4,4 153 646 24 936 16,2 25. Slovakia 15.643 7.568 48,4 5 149 1 062 20,6 26. Slovenia 30.296 25.490 84,1 13 871 9 270 66,8 27. Spain 392.962 241.352 61,4 280 772 178 523 63,6 28. Sweden 102.280 56.615 55,3 115 845 76 989 66,4 29. Hungary 27.894 11.338 40,6 38 968 15 073 38,7 Source: Elaborated by the author based on EU statistics We notice from Table 2 that most developed EU countries registered an increase in the number of immigrants in 2013 compared to 2009, with the exception of Great Britain and Italy. It should be Alic BIRCA 818 mentioned that Germany saw the greatest increase in the number of immigrants during this period, with the number in 2009 doubling in 2013. The labor migration does not take place only between EU member countries, in fact most immigrants come from countries outside of this EU. In 2013 the largest shares of extra-EU immigrants were recorded in Bulgaria – 77.2%, Croatia – 73.3%, Italy – 70.1%, Slovenia – 66.8%, Sweden – 66.4%, Spain – 63.6%, and Great Britain – 58.2%. This is due to the perceptions that they are more attractive countries or easier to reach illegally. Luxembourg has registered only 8.8% of extra-EU immigrants, Romania – 16.2%, Slovakia – 20.6% and Lithuania – 26.3%. In 2013 we also find an increase in immigration to Poland and Ireland, compared to 2009. 3. Analysis of the autochthonous labor migration in EU countries We cannot say that the Republic of Moldova is not a part of the European context at present. On the contrary, a large portion of the employable population of Moldova has crossed the national border a long time ago in order to find opportunities for higher salaries abroad. This has allowed this generation to adapt to different European cultural backgrounds, which is characterized by more diverse cultures. This reality is also confirmed by the EU statistics. Table 3 will show the immigrants’ and emigrants’ flow of Moldavians between the ages of 15 to 64 to EU Member States. Though not all EU Member States have statistical data concerning the evolution of Moldovan immigrants or their number is very small, nevertheless we can observe Moldavians’ tendencies and preferences regarding the migration toward European countries. Considering the period analyzed in Table 3, EU countries registered the highest number of Moldovan immigrants in 2010, after which there was a decrease in the immigration of citizens from the Republic of Moldova towards EU countries. Due to the similarity between those two cultures, the possibility to quickly learning the Italian language and the unproblematic method of obtaining residence permit, Italy is being considered the most attractive country for Moldovans. In 2010, Italy recorded 23 523 Moldovan immigrants. In 2013 this number has decreased to 1424. This happened due to the fact that Moldovans felt the effects of the 2009 crisis only in the following years, fact which can be reflected in the decrease of Moldovan immigrants’ number in the EU. Also, something to be mentioned is the fact that Romania became very attractive for the autochthonous workforce (the number of Moldovan immigrants reached 18913 in 2013). It is assumed that Romania will become even more attractive for the Moldovan workforce due to fact that the two countries share the same cultural and linguistic space. THE MIGRATION FLOW DURING THE INTEGRATION OF MOLDOVA WITH THE EU 819 However, in 2013, 157 145 persons were in Italy, 59 670 persons – in Romania, 16 986 – in Spain and 6285 – in Czech Republic. This number has decreased for other European countries (16). Also, the number of Moldovan emigrants from the EU is very low compared to the number of immigrants. The reason why Moldovans are determined to continue their activities in the EU is because the Republic of Moldova has not recorded sufficient economic progress in the recent period (it actually even displayed an economical regression). Table 3 - Evolution of the number of Moldovan immigrants and emigrants between the ages of 15 to 64 to EU member states, during the period 2009 – 2013 (persons) Nr. EU countries Immigrants Emigrants 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 1. UE - 28 21061 28820 25894 10725 22215 1588 2032 1405 1524 1593 2. Austria 114 : 73 80 : 138 : 74 26 : 3. Belgium : 153 216 156 52 : 29 : 43 7 4. Bulgaria : : : 125 335 : : : 185 124 5. Czech Republic 2 312 275 131 187 401 : : : : : 6. Cyprus : : : : : : : : : : 7. Croatia : : 6 10 9 : : : 2 4 8. Denmark 38 25 48 36 56 29 25 : 13 28 9. Estonia 10 4 11 8 17 2 1 : : : 10. Finland 10 11 9 11 18 2 1 : 2 1 11. France : : : : : : : : : : 12. Germany : : : : : : : : : : 13. Greece : : : : : : : : : 14. Ireland 36 44 44 62 167 190 186 223 220 : 15. Italy 14 048 23 523 12 495 7 200 1424 419 719 : 986 407 16. Lithonia : : : : : : : : : : 17. Lithuania 43 16 11 14 51 189 88 40 57 62 18. Luxembou rg 9 8 6 7 40 3 4 : 3 13 19. Malta : : : : : : : : : : 20. Great Britain : : : : : : : : : : 21. Netherland 52 44 43 49 37 23 24 21 25 : 22. Poland : : : : : : : : : : 23. Portugal : : : : : : : : : : 24. Romania 3 162 3 704 1 944 1 841 18 913 94 120 166 120 : 25. Slovakia 21 10 1 : : 13 13 : 1 : 26. Slovenia 74 42 22 24 23 40 30 : 16 23 27. Spain 1 026 874 877 815 533 1 026 874 877 815 908 28. Sweden 52 35 23 41 83 2 12 : 4 9 29. Hungary 54 52 34 59 46 15 8 4 6 14 Source: Elaborated by the author on the basis of EU statistics Also, something to be mentioned is that most of the time, a large share of the autochthonous labor emigrates illegally. This is the reason why the EU Member States’ statistics are not sufficient for the accurate recording of the autochthonous labor emigration flow tendencies. According to a Alic BIRCA 820 Labor Force Survey, realized by the National Bureau of Statistics, the number of Moldovans to be registered as living abroad is much larger and is referred to both EU countries and the countries outside of it. In Table 4 the top 9 countries where Moldovans are developing their professional activity are presented. Table 4 - Population of the Republic of Moldova aged over 15 working abroad or in search for a workplace abroad during 2009-2014 (thousands of persons) Nr. Countries 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 1. Total 294,7 311,0 316,7 328,1 332,2 341,9 2. Greece 3,2 2,6 2,4 2,1 1,5 2,0 3. Israel 8,4 8,2 6,5 7,9 7,1 8,4 4. Italy 54,7 57,5 58,3 54,4 50,7 49,6 5. Portugal 6,3 5,1 4,4 3,3 3,9 2,0 6. Romania 2,3 2,2 2,4 2,9 3,5 3,8 7. Russian Federation 177,1 191,8 204,7 223,3 223,4 232,8 8. Turkey 8,4 9,1 7,3 5,8 7,6 7,5 9. Ukraine 8,6 6,6 5,1 3,9 5,4 4,4 10. Other countries 25,5 27,0 25,5 24,1 29,0 31,4 Source: Elaborated by the author, based on NBS dates The data presented in Table 4 prove that a large share of the Moldovan workforce is living abroad in search of work or working legally or illegally. The biggest share of people aged 15 years and older is found in the Russian labor market. In 2009, the Russian Federation hosted 60.9% of the total emigrants aged 15 and over, in 2014 this share reached 68.1%. This can be explained by the easy access to Russian Federation, knowledge of the Russian language, which allows a faster integration of Moldovan citizens in the Russian labor market. For the most part, the economic crisis in 2008 led to a higher unemployment rate in EU countries. This forced the Moldovan workforce to reorient itself away from the EU space towards the Russian Federation. Beginning with April 28, 2014, since the liberalization of the visa system and due also to integration citizens in the market to the profound economic crisis in the Russian Federation, it is possible to record a reorientation of the autochthonous workforce towards the EU, which offers better working conditions and a higher assurance and security for citizens. 4. Analysis of the evolution immigrants in Republic of Moldova Even if labor emigration is significantly higher than foreign citizens immigrating for work in the Republic of Moldova, we can still record an increase in immigration (Table 5).