PROFESSIONALS’ MIGRATIONWhere Professionals Want to Migrate within the European Union
As a driving force of economic, demographic, social, and political change, migration is a top priority for policymakers, but studies were often hampered by incomplete statistics and outdated data. A new study assessing migration interest found that fewer professionals from countries in Northern, Southern, and Western Europe want to move east. But Eastern Europe’s appeal might change in the coming years.
Eastern Europe is the region in the European Union that is least appealing to professionals as a place to settle. A study led by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Researchin Rostock that used data from the employment platform LinkedIn to gauge migration interest found that fewer professionals from countries in Northern, Southern, and Western Europe want to move east. But Eastern Europe’s appeal might change in the coming years.
As a driving force of economic, demographic, social, and political change, migration is a top priority for policymakers, but studies were often hampered by incomplete statistics, outdated data, and surveys limited in scope, the authors write in a paper, published in Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media. The team of researchers worked with the LinkedIn “recruiter” tool to search for users in the 27 countries of the European Union plus the United Kingdom who had signaled in their profiles that they were open to relocating across borders for a new job.
“Using LinkedIn enabled us to leverage a previously untapped data source to get a comprehensive look at professional migration interests,” says Emilio Zagheni, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research and one of the study’s authors. The data was collected between October 2020 and September 2021, before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“When people are surveyed, intentions to move are often vague and a move may never materialize. A key difference in our study is that we looked at behavior on LinkedIn. People who are express an interest relocating for a job tend to be at a more advanced planning stage. If the opportunity arises, they may really be open to moving,” says Zagheni. The data could thus signal future migration flows within Europe.
In absolute numbers, Northern and Western Europe are most attractive to LinkedIn users, the researchers found. Of professionals open to relocating for work about 60% wanted to head to countries such as Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, or Sweden.
Italy, Spain, and other countries in Southern Europe attracted around 40% of migration interest, while Eastern Europe appealed to only a scant third (30%).
