Labour Mobility and Transationalism in the Nordic-Baltic Region 7 March 2014, Tallinn Transnationalism in the Nordic-Baltic Region Hargmaisus Põhjala-Balti piirkonnas Tiit Tammaru Professor of Population and Urban Geography Centre for Migration and Urban Studies Department of Geography University of Tartu www.cmus.ut.ee The world connected: global population networks http://news.utoronto.ca/diaspora-nation-economic- Author: Kamran Khan potential-networks#! Diasporas and transnational ties: Challenges Global security threat The new order of social inequalities Family members left behind Diasporas and transnational ties: Opportunities Alleviating social problems in the sending country Betterment of ones life chances Increased tolerance towards diversity Innovation diffusion: knowledge and skill transfer Opportunities can be better harnessed and challenges are easier to overcome within a regional context Outline of the talk Transnationalism: The concept Transnational institutional arrangements in the EU and in the Nordic-Baltic region Migration, cross-border commuting and return migration in the Nordic-Baltic region Policy challenges: A sending country perspective Transnationalism: The concept (as related to spatial mobility of people) Transnationalism (Glick Schiller et al. 1992; 2006; Vertovec 2005; Faist 2006; King et al. 2013) Transnationalism is most often defined as the outcome of the process by which immigrants link together their country of origin and their country of destination To be transnational means to belong to two or more societies at the same time Transnationalism is also as much about the people who stay behind―e.g., family members of migrants left behind―as it is about those who move Three founding mechanisms for the transnational mobility to emerge Immigration: Change of residence to another country with strong social ties remaining to the sending country Temporary forms of migration Work related commuting: Change of workplace to another country without changing residence Three types of transnational networks People -based networks Organisation-based networks Issue/project-based networks Transnational institutional arrangements in the EU and in the Nordic-Baltic region Pan -European view Market integration has always been one of the key objectives of the European Union since the Treaty of Rome (1957) Labour mobility is an integral part of the discourse on market integration and global competitiveness in an aging Europe Pan-European initiatives The Europe 2020 Strategy calls for the promotion of labour mobility across Europe through various initiatives such as “Youth on the move” Move to achieve degree, new job, training, own business Every year the European Union supports more than 400,000 young people to work, train and study abroad European Employment Strategy (EES) aims to create more jobs throughout the EU Annually, the Member States and the European institutions agree on “employment packages” EURES – The European Job Mobility Portal Examples of Nordic-Baltic transnational labour initiatives The Baltic Sea Labour Forum — promotes continuous transnational cooperation between labour market actors in the region, such as “Balticlab” EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EU-SBSR) — includes horizontal actions such as “Spatial Planning” and “Neighbours”. The latter prioritizes (1) Fostering labour market related activities in the cross- border context (2) Promoting youth and student exchanges and co- operation in the Baltic Sea Region The Central Baltic programme 2014–2020 for Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Sweden, including a Southern Finland-Estonia sub-programme Migration, cross-border commuting and return migration in the Nordic-Baltic region In-migration rate from Baltic to Nordic countries , ‰ 6 5 4 3 migration rate, ‰ rate, migration - 2 Norway In Denmark 1 Sweden Finland 0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Year Source: Friberg and Eldring 2013 Out-migration rate from Baltic to Nordic countries, ‰ 6,0 5,0 4,0 3,0 migration rate, ‰ rate, migration Estonia - 2,0 Out Latvia 1,0 Lihtuania 0,0 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Year Source: Friberg and Eldring 2013 Frequency of visits of Estonian migrants in Finland to Estonia, % 50 40 , % 30 Share 20 10 0 At least once a Several times Several times Less month in 6 months a year frequently Frequency of visits to Estonia Source: Survey among Estonian migrants in Finland Frequency of visits to Estonia and intentions of return migration, % 50 40 30 , % 20 Share Yes 10 May-be No 0 At least once Several times Several times Less a month in 6 months a year frequently Frequency of visits to Estonia Source: Survey among Estonian migrants in Finland Share of workers with experience of Share workers Share, % 10 12 14 0 2 4 6 8 Ireland Slovakia Poland (%), all workers abroad Norway Switzerland Sweden ESTONIA Belgium Portugal Cyprus Source Iceland Kosovo : Bulgaria European Spain Netherlands Czech Republic Social United Kingdom Denmark of Survey Finland Germany working Israel 2012 Slovenia Russia Share of workers with experience of Share workers Share, % 10 12 0 2 4 6 8 abroad (%), abroad Slovakia Poland ESTONIA Ireland Portugal Sweden Bulgaria Iceland native Kosovo Czech Republic Source Norway Netherlands born : Belgium European Switzerland Denmark Finland workers Social Spain Germany of Survey Israel Cyprus working 2012 United Kingdom Slovenia Russia Share of people visiting Finland (%), 2011 Tallinn Rest of Harju county Tartu county Pärnu county Lääne-Viru county Viljandi county Ida-Viru county Rapla county Saare county Jõgeva county Võru county Järva county Põlva county Lääne county Valga county Hiiu county 0 10 20 30 40 50 Share, % Source: Silm et al. 2012 Policy options: A sending country perspective Examples of diaspora policies with an eye on return migration (Gamlen 2006) Symbolic policies Language and education abroad Citizenship Knowledge transfer policies Remittances and investments Wrapping up Conclusions The pan-European view: transnational mobility is one of the key factors that makes European labour markets more dynamic and competitive Regional Nordic-Baltic transnational policies aim to confine transnational mobility within the region A range of policy options could be found for sending countries to maintain ties with diaspora communities Labour Mobility and Transationalism in the Nordic-Baltic Region 7 March 2014, Tallinn Thank you! [email protected] Centre for Migration and Urban Studies Department of Geography University of Tartu www.cmus.ut.ee .