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 researchLabour mobility in the EU: Recent trends and policies

Changing patterns in labour mobility in the EU Change in employment by nationality, 2008–2012, EU27 (thousands) Change EU27 migrant workers5,771.55,870.86,073.06,405.26, Non-EU migrant workers8,854.68,574.08,559.58,684.78, Native born workers206, , , , , Source: EU-LFS, 2008–2012

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

Annual cross-border and within-region mobility as a percentage of total population, 2010 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) 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 Source: 2008 ad-hoc module of the EU-LFS Notes: 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.