Labour Mobility in the EU: facts, figures and way forward How to Improve Intra-European Mobility and Circular Migration? Fostering Diaspora Engagement. Riga, 11-12 May 2015 http://euromonde.eu

1. Social Europe
Labour Mobility in the EU: facts, figures
and way forward
How to Improve Intra-European Mobility and
Circular Migration? Fostering Diaspora Engagement.
Riga, 11-12 May 2015
Jörg Tagger, Deputy Head of Unit: "Free Movement of Workers and
Coordination of Social Security Systems"

2. 2
10.6 million economically active third-country
nationals living in the EU (4.3% of total labour force in EU)
8 million economically active EU citizens living in
another MS in 2013 (3.3% of total labour force in EU)
20% of EU citizens interested to move to another
country – but only1.2% with firm intentions (planning to
move in next 12 months)
1.2 million frontier workers
1.3 million certificates for posted workers
Mobility
Key Figures

3. FREE MOVEMENT OF
WORKERS
EU rules on labour mobility

4. EU/EFTA citizens have the right to:
 look for a job in another EU/EFTA country
 work there without the need for a work permit
 reside there for that purpose
 stay there after employment has finished
 enjoy equal treatment with nationals in access to
employment, working conditions and all other social and
tax advantages
 as workers, be joined by family members who have derived
rights

5. What about jobseekers?
 Same assistance from national employment office
as nationals of that Member State
 Right to reside in Member State for job-seeking
 Unconditionally during first 6 months
 Beyond 6 months: they must prove that they are continuing to
seek employment and that they have a genuine chance of being
engaged
5

6. COORDINATION OF
SOCIAL SECURITY
SYSTEMS
EU rules on labour mobility
6

7. Legal framework
19591959 19721972 2010201019681968
Regulation 1612/68
Social
security
coordination
Free
movement
of workers
20042004
Reg 987/2009
Reg 987/2009
Reg 1408/71
Reg 883/2004
Regulations 3 & 4
Directive 2004/38
Reg 859/2003
Reg 1231/2010 Extension to 3rd
country nationals
Reg 574/72
Directive 68/360
Regulation 1251/70
Reg 492/2011
Reg 492/2011
Dir, 2014/54
Dir, 2014/54
20142014

8. Social security coordination rules
 They protect citizens' social security rights when moving within
Europe
 They concern statutory schemes (pensions, sickness benefits,
family benefits, unemployment benefits, maternity and paternity
benefits…)
 They cover EU citizens and their family members
 They apply also to citizens from Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and
Switzerland
 They apply also to third country nationals who are legally residents
and in a cross-border situation

9. Social Security Coordination Principles
 Only one legislation applicable
 Equality of treatment
 Export of cash benefits
 Aggregation of insurance periods
 Assimilation of facts

10. Social Europe
Labour Mobility in 2015
• Labour Mobility overall positive
• Obstacles remain
• New challenges for Member States of origin and
destination
• Intense public and political debate

11. Social Europe
MOBILE EU CITIZENS &
WORKERS
Facts & figures

12. Social Europe

13. Social Europe
Main reason to move: WORK
Main reasons to move to another MS (% of
Eurobarometer respondents)

14. Social Europe
EU mobile citizens are more likely to
be economically active
Source: Eurostat, LFS

15. Social Europe
… and because of their young age and employment status they tend to be less
likely to claim benefits than nationals

16. Social Europe
AN OVERALL POSITIVE
IMPACT…
Facts & figures

17. Social Europe
The positive impact of labour
mobility
 It helps correct imbalances between high and low
unemployment regions
 It promotes the dissemination of knowledge and
innovation across Europe.

18. Social Europe
Countries of destination…
 positive contribution to the skill mix
 fill labour shortages
 GDP of EU-15 estimated to have increased by almost 1% in the
long-term as a result of post-enlargement mobility (2004-2009)
 Migrants tend to be financial NET contributors to the budget of
host state (true for all migrants, and even more so for EU
migrants; source: OECD)

19. Social Europe
… countries of origin
 It helps mitigating unemployment
 Gives the possibility to workers:
• to look for better job opportunities;
• to send remittances home; and
• to come back with additional experience, skills or savings to invest.

20. Social Europe
… BUT CHALLENGES
EXIST
Facts & figures

21. Social Europe
In countries of destination…
 Pressure on local services
 Health services
 Schools
 Housing
 Transport
 Socio-economic integration of mobile EU workers and their
families
 Risk of abuse of mobile workers (and consequent risk of social
dumping)

22. Social Europe
… and in countries of origin
 Can be negative on GDP owing to large population outflows
 But impact on GDP per capita is smaller
 Many young people have left their country of origin
 But they send remittances to country of origin
 And mobility is not necessarily a one-way street: many mobile
workers return with additional experience
 While there is no overall brain-drain effect
 Percentage of tertiary educated has increased in the last decade
 But impact on certain sectors may be significant (e.g. health sector)

23. Social Europe
A BALANCED APPROACH
TO LABOUR MOBILITY
Recent and upcoming activities by the Commission

24. Social Europe
Communication on free movement of
EU citizens and their families: 5
actions to make a difference (1)
 Clarification of EU citizens' rights to free movement and
access to social benefits, acknowledging concerns raised by
some Member States in relation to the challenges that
migration flows can represent for local authorities.
 Five concrete actions to support Member States' efforts to
uphold EU citizens' rights to live and work in another EU
country, strengthening the right to free movement, while
helping Member States to reap the positive benefits it
brings

25. Social Europe
Communication on free movement of
EU citizens and their families: 5
actions to make a difference (2)
1.Help Member States fight against marriages of convenience
(handbook).
2. Practical guide to clarify the application of "habitual residence" test.
3.As from 01/01/2014 : 20% of European Social Fund assigned to
promoting social inclusion, combating poverty and discrimination.
4.Address local authorities' needs by promoting exchanges of good
practices (conference with mayors).
5.Help local authorities apply free movement rules on the ground:
development of an online training tool on free movement rights;
proposal to facilitate exercise of rights of mobile EU workers; proposal
to modernise EURES.

26. Social Europe
Jean-Claude Juncker
Political Guidelines for the new Commission (15 July 2014)
• Free Movement of Workers: one of the key
pillars of the internal market
• Right of national authorities to fight abuse
of fraudulent claims
• Targeted review of Posting Directive to
ensure "that social dumping has no place in
the European Union
• Free movement is an economic opportunity
and not a threat (vacancies and skill
matching)

27. Social Europe
Commission Work Programme 2015
• "It will be important to support labour mobility, especially
in cases of persistent vacancies and skill mismatches,
including across borders, while supporting the role of
national authorities in fighting abuse or fraudulent claims"
• The action aims
• (priority 4 "A Deeper and Fairer Internal Market with a Strengthened Industrial
Base", point 8).

28. Social Europe
Labour Mobility Package 2015 (1)
A Balanced Approach
Lifting remaining obstacles to free movement of workers
and promoting labour mobility, especially in fields with
large skill mismatches or unfilled vacancies
Improving Member States' capacity to prevent and fight
social dumping, frauds and abuse, as regards the posting
of workers and the access to welfare benefits.

29. Social Europe
Labour Mobility Package 2015 (2)
 Revision of Social Security Coordination Rules
 Targeted Review of the Posting of Workers Directive
 Other possible components still to be decided
 Subject to a thorough Impact Assessment (collection of data
and figures)
 Consultation with stakeholders (Member States, social
partners, public consultation…)
 Planned adoption date: December 2015