Greek doctors during the COVID-19 pandemic: Transnational migration or stasis?

Abstract

In this article, we investigated how the pandemic actually influenced decisions of migration/mobility of highly skilled EU migrants. We took a closer look at physicians in Greece and Germany, because they can be seen as a very mobile migrant group, which is highly demanded by the labour market of the health industry as doctors in hospitals, clinics or universities in both countries and beyond. Based on the opposed theoretical concepts of ‘transnational mobility or migration’ and ‘stasis,’ we conducted in-depth interviews with selected Greek doctors before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of this study indicate that the pandemic has mainly had little impact on the migration/mobility of interviewed Greek doctors. Rather, economic demand on the health market seems to be more important than the impact of the pandemic on mobility, long-term migration or stasis.