The changing characteristics and the maturity of Albanian emigration to Greece

Abstract

This paper examines the ‘maturing’ process of the large-scale Albanian migration to Greece. Various typologies of migration and settlement are derived from the general migration literature, including the three-fold typology of labour migration: permanent settlement, temporary emigration, and seasonal cross-border moves. Greece has a particular migratory profile – moving from mass emigration to mass immigration – like other Southern European countries, but also different from the others in the dominance of one nationality, Albanians. The empirical part of the paper compares two surveys, taken in 2005 and 2008, to demonstrate evidence of a maturing process, with migrants staying longer, improving their income and employment conditions, and becoming increasingly oriented to permanent settlement rather than return. Policy implications of this transition are discussed in the conclusion.

Notes

¹ R. Fakiolas, ‘Migration and unregistered labour in the Greek economy’, in R. King, G. Lazaridis and C. Tsardanidis (eds), Eldorado or Fortress? Migration in Southern Europe, Macmillan, Palgrave Basingstoke, 2000, pp. 57–78.

² G. Lazaridis and E. Wickens, ‘“Us” and the “Others”: ethnic minorities in Greece’, Annals of Tourism Research, 26(3), 1999, pp. 632–55.

³ See for example, D. Massey, J. Arango, G. Hugo, A. Kouaouci, A. Pellegrino, J. E. Taylor, ‘Theories of international migration: A review and appraisal’, Population and Development Review, 19(3), 1993, pp. 431–66.

⁴ See W. Glaser, The Brain-Drain: Emigration and Return, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1978; S. Djajic, ‘Migrants in a guest-worker system: a utility maximisation approach’, Journal of Development Economics, 31(2), 1989, pp. 327–39.

⁵ The classic studies on the ‘maturing’ or ‘self-feeding’ nature of guest worker migration were carried out by W. R. Böhning in the 1980s. See especially his Studies in International Labour Migration, Macmillan, London, 1984. Also, J. Salt and H. Clout (eds), Migration in Post-War Europe: Geographical Essays, Oxford University Press, London, 1976. For the Greek perspective see T. Lianos, ‘Illegal migrants to Greece and their choice of destination’, International Migration, 39(2), 2001, pp. 3–28; I. Emke-Poulopoulou, The Emigration Challenge, Papazisis, Athens, 2007 [in Greek].

⁶ S. Robolis, Migration from and to Greece, Epikentro, Thessaloniki, 2007 [in Greek].

⁷ N. de Zwager, I. Gedeshi, E. Germenji and C. Nikas, Competing for Remittances, International Organization for Migration (IOM), Tirana, 2005.

⁸ C. Nikas, The Movements of Labour from Greece to the E.C. Countries in the Period After the End of World War II, unpublished DPhil thesis, University of York, York, 1991, p. 89.

¹¹ Institute of Immigration Policy, 2007, available online at: < http://www.imepo.gr/documents/Spiropoulos.pdf>, (accessed 22 November 2007).

⁹ R. King, A. Fielding and R. Black, ‘The international migration turnaround in Southern Europe’, in R. King and R. Black (eds), Southern Europe and the New Immigrations, Sussex Academic Press, Brighton, 1997, pp. 1–25; R. King, ‘Southern Europe in the changing global map of migration’, in King et al., Southern Europe and the New Immigrations, op. cit., pp. 1–26; R. King and E. Zontini, ‘The role of gender in the South European immigration model’, Papers: Revista de Sociología, 60, 2000, pp. 35–52. A recent paper by King and Thomson has also added Cyprus to this Southern European model. See R. King and M. Thomson, ‘The Southern European model of immigration: do the cases of Cyprus, Malta and Slovenia fit?’ Journal of Southern Europe and the Balkans, 10(3), 2008, pp. 265–91.

¹⁰ D. Christodoulou and C. Nikas, International Economics in the Globalisation Era, Giourdas, Athens, 2004 [in Greek], pp. 129–30.

¹² Lazaridis and Wickens, op. cit.; G. Lazaridis, ‘The helots of the new millennium: Ethnic Greek Albanians and “other” Albanians in Greece’, in F. Anthias and G. Lazaridis (eds), Into the Margins: Migration and Exclusion in Southern Europe, Ashgate, London, 1999, pp. 83–103.

¹³ K. Kanellopoulos, ‘Characteristics and participation of immigrants in the labour force’, in IMEPO, Emigration to Greece, Athens, Institute for Migration Policy (IMEPO), 2008 [in Greek], vol. 1, pp. 154–73.

¹⁴ World Bank, Migration and Remittance Factbook 2011, World Bank, Washington DC, 2011, pp. 145, 207, 227.

¹⁵ M. Baldwin-Edwards, Statistical Data on Immigrants in Greece. An Analytic Study of Available Data and Recommendations for Conformity with European Union Standards, Mediterranean Migration Observatory, Athens, 2004.

¹⁶ R. Fakiolas, ‘Regularising the undocumented migrants in Greece: procedures and effects’, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 29(3), 2003, pp. 535–61. Many of these expulsions were of the same individuals who, once repatriated, would re-enter Greece again to seek work.

¹⁷ de Zwager et al., op. cit., p.15.

¹⁸ Fakiolas, 2003, op. cit.

¹⁹ de Zwager et al., op. cit., p.15.

²⁰ D. Kule, A. Mançellari, H. Papapanagos, S. Qirici and P. Sanfey, ‘The causes and consequences of Albanian emigration during transition: evidence from micro-data’, International Migration Review, 36(1), 2002, pp. 229–39.

²¹ R. Gropas and A. Triandafyllidou, ‘Overview of Country Reports’, prepared for the POLITIS project Building Europe with New Citizens? An Inquiry into the Civic Participation of Naturalised Citizens and Foreign Residents in 25 Countries, ELIAMEP, Athens, 2005.

²² The figure quoted here was confirmed by the Greek authorities before a Parliamentary Committee in the summer of 2006. See M. Baldwin-Edwards and K. Apostolatou, ‘Greece’, in H. Fassmann, U. Reeger and W. Sievers (eds), Statistics and Reality: Concepts and Measurements of Migration in Europe, Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam, 2008, pp. 233–62; J. Vullnetari and R. King, Albanian Migration Remittances and Development: A Gendered Perspective, UNDP-INSTRAW project report on ‘Gender and Remittances: Building Gender-Responsive Local Development’, Sussex Centre for Migration Research, Brighton, 2009, p. 25.

²³ C. Kasimis, ‘Recent migration flows to Greece. Evidence from the 2001 Greek Census’, in The International Conference on New Perspectives on Albanian Migration and Development, Korçë, Albania, 2004.

²⁴ de Zwager et al., op. cit.

²⁵ D. Aspasios, The Evolution of the Albanian Emigration to Greece, unpublished MA dissertation, Department of Balkan Studies, University of Western Macedonia, Florina, 2008 [in Greek].

²⁶ de Zwager et al., op. cit., p. 54.

²⁷ Vullnetari and King, op. cit., p. 39.

²⁸ de Zwager et al., op. cit.

²⁹ L. Labrianidis, A. Lyberaki, P. Tinios, and P. Hatziprokopiou, ‘Inflow of migrants and outflow of investment: aspects of interdependence between Greece and the Balkans’, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 30(6), 2004, pp. 1183–208. This analogy with Germany's guest worker regime is only partly valid, however. Immigrant workers in Germany worked mainly in factories and had formal, albeit short-term, contracts, often of more than one year's duration. Albania's migration to Greece in the 1990s was much more seasonal and circular, linked to agricultural seasons not to industrial employment.

³⁰ Vullnetari and King, op. cit., p. 59.

³¹ We cannot discount the fact that the nationality of the interviewers (Greek) might have influenced this response pattern.

³² C. Nikas and G. Baklavas, ‘Savings and remitting attitudes of Albanian emigrants. An exploratory data analysis’, Southeast Europe and Black Sea Studies, 9(4), 2009, pp. 481–95.

³³ C. Nikas, ‘Aspects of labour mobility between Eastern and Western European countries’, European Research, 2(6), 1991, pp. 1–5.

³⁴ K. Barjaba, ‘Labour emigration: from political will towards collaboration of migratory markets’, in IOM (ed), Workshop on the National Strategy on Migration: Selected Papers, IOM, Tirana, 2005, pp. 33–42.

³⁵ See for example the opening speech of the former President of the Republic of Albania, Mr. Alfred Moisiu, in IOM, op. cit., pp. 9, 11.

³⁶ According to the IOM study Albanians living in Greece visit Albania more than three times a year on average–typically in the summer, for Christmas and at Easter. de Zwager et al., op. cit., p. 35.

³⁷ C. Nikas and R. King, ‘Economic growth through remittances: lessons from the Greek experience of the 1960s applicable to the Albanian case’, Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 7(2), 2005, pp. 235–57.