EU Labor Markets after Post-Enlargement Migration

摘要

The year 2009 saw the first lustrum of eastern enlargement of the EU, indeed a very important event in the history of the Union. Early in advance of the date the Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs of the Commission had commissioned research studies analyzing the economic impact and consequences of the enlargement process. Results were discussed at a conference late in 2008 and the revised papers are now available in the Keereman-Szekely volume under review. One of the research teams, based at the Institute for the Study of Labour (IZA) at Bonn, has collected their material in a separate volume, the second under review here, edited by Martin Kahanec and Klaus F. Zimmermann and focussing on the delicate topic of post-enlargement migration. The evident problem of both volumes is time. Basically prepared in 2008, the studies can, at best, rely on preliminary data for 2007, which makes for a rather short period of observation. The situation improves because many of the effects of enlargement started to work in anticipation of the accession dates due to the association and Europe agreements with potential new members in Eastern Europe. For migration, however, the legal changes as of May 1, 2004, and January 1, 2007, were decisive and patterns of migration have changed with these dates.