The Effects of Emigration from Yugoslavia and the Problems of Returning Emigrant Workers

51 Pages·1972·2.619 MB·English

by  Ivo Baučić (auth.)

THE EFFECTS OF EMIGRATION FROM YUGOSLAVIA
AND THE PROBLEMS OF RETURNING EMIGRANT WORKERS
EUROPEAN DEMOGRAPHIC MONOGRAPHS
II
The Effects of EmiBration
from YUBoslavia
and the Problems of
ReturninB EmiBrant Workers
by
V I
IVO BAUCIC
University of Zasreb
•
MARTINUS NIJHOFF / THE HAGUE / 1972
© 1972 by Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands
All rights reserved, including the right to translate or to
reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form
ISBN-13:978-90-247-1305-9 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-01 0-2809-7
DOl: 10.1007/978-94-010-2809-7
This study has been prepared for the Organization for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD), Paris, which has also
authorized its publication. The author of the study is Head of the
Department for Migration Studies at the Institute of Geography,
Zagreb University (19/II Marulicev trg, YU 41001 Zagreb).
The present proportions of labour emigration and emigratory
trends since the War
The total number of about 9 million foreign workers tempo
rarily employed in European countries at the beginning of 1971
included about 660,000 workers from Yugoslavia (Table I), while
another 200,000 workers from Yugoslavia were in employment in
overseas countries (chiefly in Australia, the U.S., New Zealand,
and Canada). The number of Yufoslav emigrant workers continues
to increase, and at present (autumn 1971) totals about 920,000.
Table I Estimated numbers of Yugoslav workers in European
*
countries in early 1971
Country of Number per cent
immigration
German Federal Republic 436,000 66.1
Austria 90,000 13.6
France 57,000 8.6
Switzerland 27,000 4.1
Sweden 22,000 3.3
Italy 6,500 1.0
Holland 6,500 1.0
Belgium
3,500 0.5
Luxemburg
Denmark 3,500 0.5
Great Britain 3,000 0.5
Other European countries 5,000 0.8
Total 660,000 100.0
*
Estimates based on statistical records of countries of immigration
and the Yugoslav employment authorities.
1
Yugoslavia's latest census (March 31, 1971) enumerated 671,908
workers "in temporary employment abroad" (source: Persons in
Temporary Employment Abroad According to the 1971 Census of
Population and Houses, Statistical Bulletin No. 679, Savezni zavod
za statistiku - Federal Statistical Institute, Belgrade 1971). Accor
ding to the methodology applied in the census, only those emi
grants were to be enumerated who were regarded as staying abroad
temporarily, i.e. who were expected to return to Yugoslavia sooner
or later. According to the same methodology it had also been as
sumed that a certain proportion of the emigrant workers would
not be covered by the census since there would be nobody to
supply data on them. There is ample evidence that a considerable
number of Yugoslav emigrant workers were not covered by the
country's latest census.
The bulk of Yugoslav emigrant workers are employed in West
European countries, especially in the German Federal Republic
(66.1 0/0; Table 1)1, although there are considerable numbers of
Yugoslav workers in Austria, France, Sweden and Switzerland.
Labour emigration from Yugoslavia began about 1954 with
workers leaving chiefly for France and Germany. This spontane
ous, and to begin with mainly illegal, emigration in search for em
ployment and higher earnings took on significant proportions in
1962 (Table II). By 1964 the Yugoslav political and state authori
ties had accepted the practice of labour emigration as a necessity
in view of the country's current socio-economic conditions. Since
then the Yugoslav employment services have been co-operating
increasingly with foreign employers and labour exchanges in organ
izing the employment of Yugoslav workers in foreign countries.
As the number of Yugoslav workers in European countries in
creased, Yugoslavia entered into inter-state employment agree
ments with the individual countries of immigration in order to
regulate the employment and ensure the rights of Yugoslav workers
in these countries. To date, the Yugoslav Government has entered
into such agreements with the following countries: Austria (1965),
France (1965), Sweden (1967), Germany (1969), Australia (1969),
Holland (1970), Luxemburg (1969) and Belgium (1970).
1) In the following text: Germany
2
With a popUlation of 20,504,516 (figure for March 31, 1971)
and a total of 860,000 external migrants, Yugoslavia has an emi
gration rate of 4,2%, - i.e. Europe's highest after Portugal (Por
tugal 5.7%, Italy 3.4% ).
With the number of persons employed abroad (860.000 at the
beginning of 1971) and the total number of employed within the
country (3,850,000 average 1970), Yugoslavia has a total of
4,510,000 employed persons (an employment rate of 22% ),
19.1 % of whom are employed abroad.2
Table II Number of Yugoslav workers employed in the German
Federal Republic, total number of persons registered
with the Yugoslav employment services as employed
abroad, and estimated total number of persons from
Yugoslavia employed in European countries from 1954-
1971
Number of Yugoslav Total number of persons Estimated total
workers in the German registered with the Yugo- number of per-
Year Federal Republic * slav employment services sons from Y ugo-
as employed abroad * * slavia employed
in European
countries* * *
1954 1,801 3,000
1955 2,085 3,500
1956 2,297 4,000
1957 2,778 4,500
1958 4,846 10,000
1959 7,310 15,000
1960 8,826 18,000
1961 30,000
1962 23,608 50,000
1963 44,428 90,000
1964 53,057 7,019 115,000
1965 64,060 38,019 140,000
1966 96,675 84,159 210,000
1967 97,725 93,825 220,000
1968 99,660 145,231 230,000
1969 226,290 247,266 420,000
1970 388,953 355,345 550,000
1971 415,466 660,000
3
* Source: Ausliindischer Arbeitnehmer 1970, and Amtliche
Nachrichten No 3,1971, Bundesanstalt fUr Arbeit, Niirnberg.
State: till 1960, as per end of June; 1961-1970, as per end of
June; 1971, as per end of January.
** Source: Employment in foreign countries in 1964 and 1965;
dtto. for 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969 and 1970; Federal Bureau
for Employment Affairs, Belgrade. State as per 31 December.
*** Estimates based on statistical and other data collected by the
Department for Migration Studies of the Institute of Geogra
phy, Zagreb University. State: as per end of June, and for
1971 as per end of January.
Some basic causes of labour emigration
The difference between labour-importing and labour-exporting
countries lies primarily in the structure of activity of their working
populations. A comparison of the economic activity of Yugoslavia's
population with that of Germany's, will show that in 1961 almost
57 of Yugoslavia's population was employed in agriculture,
%
while only 11.4 of Germany's working population in 1964 was
%
employed in the primary sector of the economy (Table III). De
spite the notable successes in the country's industrialization since
the war, by the end of 1970 about 50 % of Yugoslavia's total
working population was still employed in agriculture. In addition,
Yugoslavia had only 2.2 hectares of arable land per one active
agricultural worker compared with Germany's 4.9 hectares.
The tendency to give up farming as a difficult and increasingly
unprofitable activity has been growing among the Yugoslav farming
population faster than new jobs in non-agricultural activities have
been created. Since the wish to find employment in non-agricultur
al sectors of the economy cannot be satisfied within the country,
it is easy to understand the growing readiness of Yugoslavs to seek
employment abroad. The emigration of labour from Yugoslavia
can thus be regarded as a form of the movement of the inadequately
employed agricultural popUlation into other sectors of the economy.
2) According to Yugoslav official statistics the term "employed" applies to persons who
are employed in the social or the private sector and excludes private farmers. industrial
apprentices and persons running a private business (e.g. owners of craft workshops.
restaurants. etc.).
4
The economic reform, which was introduced in Yugoslavia in
summer 1965, led to increased labour emigration (Table II).
Table III Comparison of Yugoslavia's & Germany's populations
according to activity
Yugoslavia German Federal
1961* Republic
1964*
Number in Number in
000 000
Total
population 17,400 100.0 58,266 100.0
Supported 9,060 52.1 31,118 53.4
Active 8,340 47.9 27,148 46.4
Agriculture
& Forestry 4,748 56.9 3,084 11.4
Industry,
Mining and 1,834 22.0 13,022 48.0
Crafts
Trade and
Transport 560 6.7 4,752 17.5
Other
activities 1,021 12.3 6,121 22.5
(services)
Unemployed 177 2.1 169 0.6
----------------------------
Total active 8,340 100.0 27.148 100.0
* Source: Statisticki godisnjak Jugoslavije 1970, Savezni zavod
za statistiku, Beograd (Yugoslav Statistical Yearbook
1970, Federal Statistical Institute, Belgrade) p. 78.
** Source: Handbook of Statistics for the Federal Republic of
Germany 1970, Federal Statistical Office, Wiesbaden,
p.50.
5
One of the objectives of the reform was to open the way for
Yugoslav products into the international market. This was to be
achieved primarily through the modernization of industries and
through more economic methods of production. As a result, the
first few years of the reform brought a drop in the number of
employed (Table IV, Fig. 1), and it was not until 1969 that the
number of employed in Yugoslavia exceeded the employment
figures for 1965. From 1966-1970 the country's employment
services could provide jobs for only 13.6 % of the people who
were seeking employment within the country. The disproportion
between the number of vacancies and the number of persons
seeking employment would no doubt have been much greater if
large numbers of workers had not taken employment abroad (see
Table II). In 1968 and 1969 the number of vacant jobs increased
but, due to the simultaneous increase in the demand for jobs, the
disproportion continued (see Fig. 1). It was not until 1970 that
the number of persons seeking employment in Yugoslavia began
to decrease for the first time following the introduction of the
economic reform (see Table IV). However, this too may be re
garded as an effect of labour emigration.
An additional explanation for the growing labour emigration
in the initial stages of the reform will be found if the number of
people reaching working age is compared with the number of
people who were able to find jobs within the country (Table V).
The number of people who reached working age but could not
find employment within the country in the years 1966-1970
totalled 291,000 (an annual average of 58,000).
The employment rate after 1965 could not ensure enough jobs
for all those who had reached working age, even with the existing
small proportion of employed (18.8 in 1965). In addition,
%
among the inadequately employed agricultural workers there was
an increasing realization of the advantages offered by other sectors
of economic activity.
Since the wages offered by foreign labour markets, especially
for certain types of job, considerably exceed those paid in Yugo
slavia, Yugoslav emigrant labour includes a considerable proportion
of skilled workers and persons with university training, i.e. persons
who were employed, or could have easily found employment, in
Yugoslavia.
6
h -
g z
seeking employment throu Number of vacant jobs in proportion to number of persons seeking employment 37.1 29.9 24.4 34.1 39.1 22.5 17.0 12.5 11.4 13.1 14.5 njak Jugoslavije 1971, Save
of persons s Chain index 96 101 135 105 64 52 76 81 121 107 sticki godis
er ob ati
mb nt j (St
u a e
the n0* Vac mber 092 136 805 605 067 304 677 531 505 202 293 elgrad
via, 197 Nu 5957577883534333354346 e, B
n Yugoslaobs 1960- Chain index 120 124 97 92 111 109 104 116 106 97 al Institut
mployed if vacant j eking ment l Statistic
mber of e number o Persons seemploy Number 159230 191283 236563 230272 212486 236969 257607 269067 310997 330626 319586 71, Federa
Survey of trends in the total nuthe employment services, and the Total number of employed Number Chain Rate in 000 index of employ-ment 2972 16.2 3242 110 17.4 3318 102 17.6 3390 102 17.8 3608 106 18.7 3662 101 18.8 3582 18.2 98 3561 17.9 99 3587 101 17.8 3706 103 18.2 3850 104 18.9 Yugoslav Statistical Yearbook 19ni zavod za statistiku, Beograd).
V e: -l
I c
Table Year 1960. 1961. 1962. 1963. 1964. 1965. 1966. 1967. 1968. 1969. 1970. * Sour