Can we get them moving? The impact of mobility assistance on cross‐country migration of young adults in Europe
| Published date | 01 April 2022 |
| Author | Lukas Fervers,Lena Ilg |
| Date | 01 April 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12872 |
222
|
International Migration. 2022;60:222–237.
wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/imig
Received: 11 Decem ber 2020
|
Revised: 22 March 2 021
|
Accepted: 4 May 2021
DOI: 10.1111/imig.12872
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Can we get them moving? The impact of mobility
assistance on cross- country migration of young
adults in Europe
Lukas Fervers1| Lena Ilg2
This is an open ac cess article und er the terms of the Crea tive Commons Attr ibution- NonCommercial- NoDerivs License, which
permits us e and distributio n in any medium, provid ed the original wor k is properly cited , the use is non- commercial and no
modificat ions or adaptatio ns are made.
© 2021 The Author s. International Migration published by John Wil ey & Sons Ltd on behalf of In ternational Org anization for
Migration
1University of C ologne - Institut e for
Sociology a nd Social Psychol ogy, Institute
for Applied Eco nomic Research ( Tübingen),
DIE - Leibniz Ce ntre for Life- long Learning,
Köln, Germany
2Porsche AG - Advanced Analytic s and
Smart Data D epartment, B ietigheim-
Bissingen, Germany
Correspondence
Lukas Ferve rs, Albertus- Magnus Platz,
50923 Cologne , Germany.
Email: fervers@wiso.uni-koeln.de
Funding information
There is no fun ding to report for th is
publication.
Abstract
Cross- country migration i n Europe can have multiple ad-
vantages. Among othe rs, it can function as a buffer against
economic downturns that come along with inferior em-
ployment and education opportunitie s, especially for
young adults. However, cros s- country mobility of young
adults in Europe remai ns low, as language barriers, the loss
of soc ial tie s or cultu ral dif feren ces crea te obst acles fo r mi-
gration. Ag ainst this background, Germany has launched a
mobility assist ance programme that supports you ng adults
from EU member s tates who wish to e nter the du al edu-
cation s ystem in Germ any. To as sess the caus al impact of
this progr amme, we compare migration flows to Germany
from par ticipating and non- participating countries i n a
difference- in- differences framework. Our results reveal a
substantial programme effect that is larger for countries
with ab ove- average youth u nemployment rates. These
results ad d to previous migr ation research and reveal that
migration flows are indeed sensitive to p olicy initiatives
aimed at increasing migr ation.
KEYWORDS
migration poli cy, mobility programme s, determinants of
migration, intra- EU migration, difference- in- dif ferences
|
223
CAN WE GET TH EM MOVING? THE IMPACT OF MO BILITY
ASSISTANCE ON CR OSS- COUNTRY MIGR ATION OF YOUNG
ADULTS IN EUROPE
INTRODUCTION
During the last years and decades, legal restr ictions for intra- European migration h ave been s trongly redu ced,
culminating in the free m ovement of labour wi thin EU member st ates. The reasons for the implementation of
free movement of labour are manif old. From a struct ural perspecti ve, they include a positive expected effect on
structur al aspects such as inn ovation, produc tivity or a shortage of skilled wo rkers (Lacomba & Cloquell, 2017;
Recchi, 20 09; Salaris & Tedesco, 2020). From a shor t- or m edium- t erm perspective , intra- EU migration has been
expected to function as a shock absorbe r in times of eco nomic crises, wh en citizens from more heavily affe cted
countries can (temporarily) find employment opportunities in other, less affecte d member states (Barslund &
Busse, 2016; Beets & Willekens, 2009; Recchi & Salamońska, 2015; Zimmermann, 2005). This debate has gained
increasing attention during th e global financial crisis at the end of the 2000 s, when intra- EU d isparities have
sharply increased. Th is accounts to youth u nemployment in particular. T he latter has fallen below ten per cent
in Germany a nd Austria in 2013, wh ereas more than hal f of young workers were unemployed in Croati a (50.0%),
Spain (55.5%) an d Greece (58.3%; (Eurostat, 2015)). W hile the long- term con sequences of inter regional mobilit y
on regional dispar ities are more controversial (Ni ebuhr et al., 2012; for a review see Faggian e t al., 2017), it seems
reasona ble to argue th at higher intr a- EU mobility of young workers co uld be a promisi ng way to mitigat e the neg-
ative short- term consequ ences on young people and yo uth labour markets from m ost heavily affecte d countries.
At the same time, previous rese arch shows that cross- country mobility per se, that is wit hout any incentives,
continues to be low (Che ng et al., 2 014; Hadler, 2006; Re cchi, 2009; Z aiceva & Zimme rmann, 2008). This holds
true for younger workers in non- te rtiary educ ation in partic ular for whom cr oss- co untry mobility is almost non-
existing (see se ction 4). Given the potential ga ins just outlined, this rais es the question whethe r targeted mobility
programmes could be a means of cutting down the national bord ers between youth labo ur markets in Europe,
hereby improving emp loyment and training opport unities for young workers from countrie s in crisis. In this paper,
we therefore analyse whether a targeted mobilit y programme from Germany designed to attract young workers
from European c ountries has increase d migration flows to Germ any. The programme offer s financial, logistic and
social support for young EU- citizens (below the age of 27) who wish to join the dual educa tion system in Germany.
Participa nts are actively recrui ted via several channels in all EU co untries. The implemen tation of the programme
is based on the assump tion that migration comes alo ng with monetary and non- monetary costs (e.g. lo ss of social
ties, lang uage barriers in the country of destination) whi ch are not easy to overcome. The mere existence of job
opportuni ties or apprenticeship posi tions may not be enough to compensate fo r these costs if no further su pport
is provided. Cor respondingly, assessing th e causal impact of the pr ogramme on migration infl ow into the German
dual educatio n system is the key contribut ion of this paper.
From a methodologic al point of view, the crucial challenge is that a cer tain number of programme par ticipants
as such doe s not necessaril y indicate a caus al programme ef fect. In contr ast, participat ion may be a dea dweight
effect, that is parti cipants would have come to Germany even without the programme and have pocketed the sup-
port of the programme. Therefore, we compare the development of worker flows to Germany from participating
and non- participating count ries and from before to afte r the impleme ntation of the programme in a difference-
in- differences fram ework. We hereby control for general time ef fects and structur al differences between par tic-
ipating and non- participating countr ies and account for possible d eadweight effects .
Our resul ts point to a remarkable effect on worker inflow and hereby co nfirm that th e programme has suc-
cessfully removed obsta cles to cross- country mobilit y of young workers in Eu rope, implying that cross- country
mobility responds to tar geted polic y initiative s. Supplem entary a nalyses reve al that this ef fect is stronger for
countries with higher youth unemployment rates and therefore worse employment prospects in the country of or-
igin, implying that push and pull fac tors do not only matter as separate determinants but also moder ate the impact
of migration policies. These find ings are relevant to at least two fields of migration rese arch. First, they deepen our
understanding of migration decisions and the d eterminants of migration as such (e.g. Assirelli et al., 2019; Borjas,
1989; Burker t et al ., 2008; Flahaux & Vezzoli, 2018; Herman, 2006; Hof fmann- Nowotny, 1981; Ho oghe et al.,
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