Free Movement of Workers Good for Europe's Economy - Report

Politics » BULGARIA IN EU | November 19, 2008, Wednesday // 00:00

The European Commission (EC) published on Tuesday a report showing that migration workers from countries that joined the European Union in 2004 and 2007 have had a positive impact on Member States' economies and have not led to serious disturbances on their labor markets.

Workers from the EU-8 as well as Bulgaria and Romania have made a significant contribution to sustained economic growth, without significantly displacing local workers or driving down their wages, the report says.

Both for the EU as a whole and for most individual countries, labour flows have been limited compared to the size of labor markets and to inflows from non-EU countries.

"The right to work in another country is a fundamental freedom for people in the EU. Mobile workers move to where there are jobs available and this benefits the economy," VladimГ­r Е pidla, Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities said.

"I call on Member States to consider whether the temporary restrictions on free movement are still needed given the evidence presented in our report today," the Commissioner added. "Lifting restrictions now would not only make economic sense but would also help reduce problems such as undeclared work and bogus self-employment."

The EC report finds that mobile workers from Bulgaria, Romania and the EU-8 have made a significant contribution to sustained economic growth over recent years, by addressing labor market shortages, without making heavy demands on welfare states while there is little evidence that workers from the new Member States have displaced local workers or driven down their wages in a serious way, even in those countries where the inflows have been greatest, although there have been some temporary adjustment problems in specific areas.

Member States' population statistics show that by the end of 2007 the population share of Bulgarians and Romanians living in the EU-15 increased from 0.2% to 0.5%. The majority of mobile workers from the new Member States which joined in 2004 - mostly from Poland, Lithuania and Slovakia - went to Ireland and the UK, while Spain and Italy have been the main destination countries for Romanians. Yet, with the exception of Ireland, post-enlargement flows from the new to the old Member States have been significantly outnumbered by recent immigration of non-EU nationals.

Evidence also suggests that many EU mobile workers go to another Member State on a temporary basis but do not intend to stay permanently.

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