C HANGES IN THE SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS AND TRANSNATIONAL NETWORKING AMONG B ULGARIAN MIGRANTS Analyses based on a national representative survey in Bulgaria, financed by the Swiss-Bulgarian Cooperation program Dr. Dotcho Mihailov, Agency for Socioeconomic Analyses

M ETHODOLOGY National representative survey with a sample of 3907 people aged Distribution by planning regions Northwest - 428, North central - 457, Northeast - 520, Southwest (including Sofia), South central - 787, Southeast 558 Model: Two-stage probability cluster sample, stratified by place of residence with a Kish selection at the last step (nearest birthday method) Maximal margin of error at a 50% relative frequency: 1,57% nationally, about 3,8% regionally Data collection: Interviewers of the Agency for socioeconomic analyses through standardized questionnaire Data collection period: November 2013 Data control Data entry through a mask, ensuring minimum operator errors; Local and central 10% telephone direct check ups Sample peculiarities of the presented data: Return migrants data based on 15,5% (606 respondents) Potential migrants (24,9%) Preliminary data

E MPLOYMENT SHIFTS Economic activity abroad: Most of the migrants (74,5%) work; only 2,8% are unemployed Unemployment back home is particularly typical for the unqualified labour force; freelancers and state officials recover better after going back home Migration decreases unemployment but returning home puts an even bigger burden on unemployment

R ETURN MIGRANTS ’ OCCUPATIONS ABROAD agriculture - 21,1% construction - 19,6% hotels and restaurants - 14,0% household/family activities - helper, caretaker, cook, garden - 13,1% By qualification groupsBy economic activity

P ROFESSIONAL SHIFTS By economic activitiesBy qualification groups

S HIFTS IN INCOMES The median income surges 4 times abroad cannot recover when coming back home Being abroad decreases income inequality and social contrasts The decile dispersion ratio is the lowest abroad No differences between Roma and Bulgarians when they are abroad: BGN 2000 versus BGN 500/300

I NSURANCE STATUS Social benefits abroad 3,4% granted 2,1% rejected Social benefits back home - 40,3% (36% unemployed) Working migrants without contracts – 46,1% Social insurance deteriorates when going back home (58,8% abroad – 54,4% back home) Deteriorated access to health services back home (rejected health services 3,1% abroad / 11,2% back home) Sustained low health insurance levels - 62,6% versus 69,6% back home, but still under the 84,5% nationally (age 15-65) Higfher social benefits back home Deteriorated access to services back home

N ETWORKING WHILE ARRIVING ABROAD Individual networking via close relatives (22,8%) Group networking via colleagues/friends and people from the home town, typical for lower social strata (24,3%) How - mostly via group networking (48%) Bulgarian colleagues / acquaintances 34,7% people from the home town 13,3% What jobs Via group networking – low qualified jobs Via internet and agencies – better off social groups; better jobs Initial travelFinding a job

N ETWORKING WITH HOME AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES Networking with Bulgaria less dependent on travel: Skype (70,8%) - the most frequent channel of communication, typical for active social strata Travel (37,9%) - typical for lower social strata, indicating insecure jobs abroad Networking is focused on Bulgarians: Interactions with the local community is much lower than with the Bulgarians - 66,9% / 80,8% Addressing Bulgarians or locals in a problematic situation: 45,9% / 15,5% Interactions focused on interactions with Bulgarians - typical for lower social strata though the opposite is not verified for the richer Relative self-categorisations in lower social strata 80,8% - the Bulgarians are of the “same” social status as me 49,7% - I am of lower social status than the locals

S ELF - IDENTITY SHIFTS AMONG RETURN AND POTENTIAL MIGRANTS About 1/3 (29,4%) of the Bulgarians at national have other than national Bulgarian identity Who are the that do not feel Bulgarian: 46,7% of the potential emigrants and 45,4% of the circular migrants feel either EU and World citizens young, educated and richer people, coming from bigger settlements

S ELF - IDENTITY SHIFTS, RESULTING FROM THE MIGRATION EXPERIENCE The multicultural (World) identity dramatically surges from 6,2% (national sample) to 15,9% (return migrants) Multicultural identity - based on active socio- economic and demographic profiles Lower dependency on ethnic identity: Turks are the strongest “Europeans” (25,5% EU identity), the Bulgarians are the biggest Wold citizens (17,8%) the Roma are the biggest “Bulgarians” (59,1%) – bigger than the ethnic Bulgarian themselves (49,4%)

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