On the limits of labour mobility within the EU

• Thesis title in Czech: On the limits of labour mobility within the EU
• Thesis title in English: On the limits of labour mobility within the EU
• Key words: Evropská unie, Pracovní síla, Migrace, Incentivy k mobilitě
• English key words: European Union, Labour force, Migration, Mobility drivers
• Academic year of topic announcement: 2012/2013
• Thesis type: diploma thesis
• Thesis language: angličtina
• Department: Institute of Economic Studies (23-IES)
• Supervisor: PhDr. Wadim Strielkowski, M.Sc., Ph.D.
• Author: hidden - assigned by the advisor
• Date of registration: 12.02.2013
• Date of assignment: 12.02.2013
• Date and time of defence: 28.01.2014 00:00
• Venue of defence: IES
• Date of electronic submission: 10.01.2014
• Date of proceeded defence: 28.01.2014
• Opponents: prof. RNDr. František Turnovec, CSc.

Guidelines

First, the paper will discuss the actual benefit of labour mobility. Using a two-country model, it will try to demonstrate that countries are better off when the labour is free to move between countries.
Then, the paper will comment on the differences in wages amongst the EU Member States indicating that production factor (labour force) is not freely mobile.
The main value-added of the thesis will be the regression analysis of labour flows. It will use the data of 25 EU countries ranging from 2004 to 2012 and mapping the migration flows and the most important economic, cultural and social indicators. Provided with vast and solid data for a relevant analysis, the paper will seek to determine what factors affect the labour mobility by means of both OLS and SUR regression methods.
Finally, based on findings of the analysis it will indicate whether the labour mobility in the EU has reached its "natural" limits or whether there is still some potential to improve the labour market in terms of cross-border mobility.

References

Balch A. (2010): Managing Labour Migration in Europe, Manchester University Press

Brücker H. (2009): Labour mobility in the enlarged EU: causes, constraints and potential, The integration of European labour markets. Cheltenham, p. 67-109

Elsner B., Zimmermann K. F. (2013) 10 years after: EU enlargement, closed borders, and migration to Germany, IZA Discussion Paper No. 7130, http://ftp.iza.org/dp7130.pdf

Galgóczi B., Leschke J., Watt A. (2009): EU labour migration since enlargement, Ashgate Publishing

Heinz F. F., Ward-Warmedinger M. (2006): Cross-border mobility within an enlarged EU, Occasional paper seriers, ECB

Kahanec M., Zimmermann K. F. (2010): EU Labor Markets After Post-Enlargement Migration, Springer

Nowotny E., Mooslechner P., Ritzberger-Grünwald D. (2009): The Integration of European Labour Markets, Edward Elgar Publishing

OECD (2012): Free Movement of Workers and Labour Market Adjustment, Recent experiences from OECD countries and the European Union

Strielkowski, W., Kowalska, K. (2013), Propensity to migration in CEECs: comparison of migration potential in the Czech Republic and Poland, Prague Economic Papers, 3/2013 (forthcoming)

Strielkowski, W., Turnovec, F. (2011): Neo-classical model of labour mobility between two countries revisited: introduction of the concepts of propensity to migration and the indicator of migration cost, Economics and Management, 8 (70), pp. 3-16

Strielkowski, W., Glazar, O. (2010), Turkey and the European Union: possible incidence of the EU accession on migration flows. Prague Economic Papers, 3, pp. 218-235

Preliminary scope of work

Introduction
The introduction will specify the field of interest of this paper, which is a poor cross-border mobility of labour force in the EU

Theoretical part
This part presents a theoretical background and a literature review on how the labour force migration is favourable as it is beneficial for both source and destination country. Also, in theory, free movement of labour would lead to price equalization, but in practice, there is nothing like that, so the mobility is somehow hindered.

Empirical part
The empirical part of the paper aims to answer the question what are the main factors affecting the EU labour ability. Regression analysis taking into account all sorts of factors should determine which ones play the most important role in cross-border labour mobility.

Conclusion
The conclusion will summarize our findings and suggest some measures that can enhance the cross-border labour mobility within the EU.

References
References to used literature

Annex
Complete results of regression analysis

Preliminary scope of work in English

This Master thesis will focus on cross-border mobility of labour in the European Union. Although the freedom of movement for workers is in place since the Directive on the right to move and reside freely came into force, the labour is hardly moving from one EU Member State to the other. In fact, there is just about 2% of labour force in the EU willing to work in another Member State which is considerably lower than, for example, in the U.S. Therefore, the question is: what makes the cross-border labour mobility in the EU so low? And is there any chance of making the situation better? These are the research questions that will be tackled in this thesis.
There have been several studies trying to explain why the European labour is reluctant to migrate. Conventional surveys expected to explain the incentive to move by economic reasons. However, the models presented in these surveys met with very low explanation value. This Master thesis will try to explain the low mobility of labour in the EU by the means of a thorough regression analysis. Using the data from 25 EU countries provided by Eurostat and OECD databases, it will analyse the main factors that affect the labour mobility in the EU and determine the factors of low-skilled labour mobility. Additionally, it will consider not only economic and pecuniary indicators, but will also take into account cultural, psychological and other intangible factors predetermining this issue.