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Cross-Border Labour Mobility in Europe: Migration Versus Commuting

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The Economic Geography of Cross-Border Migration

Part of the book series: Footprints of Regional Science ((VRS))

Abstract

Cross-border mobility is one of the most important factors to solidify European integration. On top of cross-border migrants, the number of cross-border commuters and posted workers has increased considerably over the past decade with important social and economic consequences. Although the effects are largely asymmetric across groups of individuals, with winners and losers in terms of wages, employment, housing and social welfare, the benefits of cross-border labour mobility in all its forms have been proven to be numerous both from a micro and a macro perspective and largely overcome the costs. However, large barriers to cross-border mobility in EU still exist, particularly in terms of lack of information on rights and opportunities, language differences, legal and administrative obstacles, and the recognition of professional qualifications. Reducing these barriers is then a key priority for the EU in order to enhance the integration process. Policy interventions should therefore aim at expanding the expected utility gains of mobility, reducing mobility costs for individuals, redistributing the benefits across groups of individuals and supporting the labour market and social integration of movers.

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Glossary

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  • EU-10: EU-8, Cyprus and Malta.

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  • EU-12: EU-10, Bulgaria and Romania.

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  • EU-13: EU-12 and Croatia.

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  • EU-15: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom.

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  • EU-28: EU-15 and EU-13.

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  • EFTA: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland.

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  • EMU: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

    Angela Parenti

  2. Edinburgh Business School, Department of Economics, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK

    Cristina Tealdi

  3. IZA Institute of Labour, Bonn, Germany

    Cristina Tealdi

Authors
  1. Angela Parenti
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  2. Cristina Tealdi
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Correspondence to Angela Parenti .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Jheronimus Academy of Data Science, 'S-Hertogenbosch, Noord-Brabant, The Netherlands

    Karima Kourtit

  2. McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Bruce Newbold

  3. Jheronimus Academy of Data Science, 'S-Hertogenbosch, Noord-Brabant, The Netherlands

    Peter Nijkamp

  4. The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Mark Partridge

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Parenti, A., Tealdi, C. (2021). Cross-Border Labour Mobility in Europe: Migration Versus Commuting. In: Kourtit, K., Newbold, B., Nijkamp, P., Partridge, M. (eds) The Economic Geography of Cross-Border Migration. Footprints of Regional Science(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48291-6_9

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