South-North Migration of EU Citizens in Times of Crisis by Jean-Michel Lafleur & Mikolaj Stanek

Author:Jean-Michel Lafleur & Mikolaj Stanek
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

Activity rate all populations

Activity rate age group 25–64

Unemployment rate age group 25–64

Southern EU

33.5 %

63.5 %

12.9 %

EU-12

50.0 %

64.7 %

5.9 %

EU neighbour

34.6 %

58.6 %

11.4 %

Other EU

32.2 %

48.7 %

6.8 %

Third country nationals

43.1 %

58.3 %

20.1 %

Belgium

43.7 %

87.7 %

7.6 %

Total

43.0 %

81.6 %

8.9 %

Source: Banque Carrefour de la Sécurité Sociale

Yet, compared to migrants from other EU countries, Southern Europeans are also at higher risk of being unemployed. This phenomenon can be explained, on the one hand, by the obstacles faced by newcomers in the initial process of adjusting their skills to Belgian labour market needs. On the other hand, it is also possible that the new wave of Southern European migrants lacks the support structures and social networks that helped the incorporation of their predecessors into the labour market because of the considerable time gap between the old and the new migration waves (see discussion on this below).

Interestingly, the obstacles in the process of the labour market integration of new Southern European migrants have had no significant effect on their use of the Belgian non-contributory welfare system. As can be observed in Tables 7.8 and 7.9, Southern Europeans rely only to a modest degree on benefits provided by the social integration income (RIS) scheme, which is the main form of non-contributory social assistance in Belgium (see footnote 2). After initial increases in 2008 and 2009, the share of beneficiaries of this scheme among Southern EU migrants has been constant and has not exceeded 2 % of this population. It is, however, higher than the share of Belgians and migrants proceeding from neighbouring countries. On the other hand, the share of Southern Europeans who take up social benefits from the RIS scheme within the total population of Belgium has remained stable, at approximately 3 %. It remains to be seen, however, whether the limited use of non-contributory benefits by Southern EU migrants is related to the restrictions and controls implemented by the Belgian authorities against EU citizens in recent years (Mussche et al. 2013).Table 7.8Proportion of beneficiaries of the social integration income (RIS) scheme within each nationality

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