Publication

This brief discusses labor mobility in the EU, with a particular focus on 1) how it has been affected by eurozone financial crisis; and 2) the long term effects of mobility. The authors argue that 1) the economic and financial crisis has affected mobility patterns by redirecting labor flows away from the EU's periphery and toward northern European countries; 2) east-west mobility has not been fundamentally affected by the crisis; 3) the long-term economic effects of mobility are uncertain, but potentially more negative for countries that send workers than those that receive them; and 4) the lessons learned from the financial crisis mean the European Commission should adopt a longer-term approach to dealing with labor mobility.