New member state workers in Western European labour markets. Are they civically stratified?

Abstract

[EN]This study applies the theory of civic stratification to analyse how the integration of EU-10 and EU-3 immigrants into the labour markets of six European countries – France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom – has evolved between 2005 and 2016. Special attention is paid to the effect of the moratoria on the free movement of workers, which lasted between 0 and 7 years. Data from the EU-LFS is used in two mixed effects logistic regression models for each country, using the following dependent variables: having employment and if that employment matches the qualifications of the worker. The interaction between nationality (own-country, EU-10, EU-3 and EU-15) and whether or not a moratoria exists is used to compare the level of labour integration of the EU-10 and EU-3 groups with that of national populations and EU-15 immigrants. Our results show that during the moratoria EU-10 and EU-3 immigrants have had a much lower labour market performance than people with full European citizenship. This gap has decreased drastically, without disappearing in many cases, after the moratoria ended.