Labour Migration and Unemployment

What Can We Learn from EU Rules on the Free Movement of Workers?

This paper examines the impact of labor migration on unemployment in the context of the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU and the EU’s rules on the free movement of workers. In particular, it addresses two questions. First, does intra-EU labor migration correlate with employment/unemployment rates in host or home member states during periods of unsettled growth? Second, how have member states reacted in terms of restricting or allowing access to their labor markets by EU-2 workers during the transitional periods?

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