Labour Migration Trends in the Slovak Republic

Abstract

IntroductionThe origins of scientific research which can be traced back to second half of 19th century mark beginning of exploring other sciences, both social and economic ones. In this period of time, empirical science research was developed, such as ethnography, geography, political science and many others that laid foundations for exploration of a number of theories of international human migration and made them interdisciplinary in character. In 1885, E. G. Ravenstein published a paper entitled Laws of Migration. Having utilized statistical data on British migration, he inferred laws of migration, such as for instance distance, types of migrants, gender-specific motives for migration, etc. (Ravenstein, 1885; Gress, 2014).Ageing population, in particular in EU countries made investigation of labour migration, as well as its causes and effects for individual labour markets of primary concern (Cajka et al., 2014). There are various reasons for labour migration. Generally, there are two reasons for international migration, i.e. economic and non-economic ones. Economic reasons include differences between wages, searching for farmland and striving to acquire new skills in labour market. Non-economic reasons include political, religious, racial or ethnic motives (Muchova et al., 2011, p. 102; Kumpikaite, Zickute, 2012).Approaches of countries to migration (Czaika, de Haas, 2013; Sadova, 2010) will depend on whether or not there is a need for migrants in a given country. Presently, need is mainly associated with maintaining economic performance of country and demand for workforce from either quantitative or qualitative perspective.Effective management of migration processes has become a political priority in most countries. There has been an overwhelming consensus on migration - if managed effectively, it can be greatly beneficial to countries of both and destination (Lipkova et al., 2011, p. 331; Bilan, 2014; Streimikiene et al., 2016).Migration is a relatively complex concept which refers to several different types of human movements, such as for instance change of residence, labour migration, seasonal migration, circular migration, etc. The most common categorization takes into account geographical aspect of human mobility, and thus international migration, internal migration and cross-border migration are distinguished. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) defines international migration as the movement of a person or a group of persons from one geographical unit to another across an administrative or political border, for temporary or permanent settlement, in a place other than their place of origin (IOM, 2003; Divinský, 2009; Vojtovic, 2013; Thomas, 2016).Therefore, term international migration will be used throughout paper. In paper, motivating factors of Slovak citizens to move abroad for employment purposes were examined. The issue of migration of Slovak workers to other EU countries seems to be a problem for Slovak economy. That is why Slovak government are preparing measures to tackle it. Apparently, there are no exact and real data on number of labour migrants, so extent and seriousness of problem cannot be judged objectively. Surveys conducted on migration of Slovak citizens for employment purposes abroad provide only a vague picture of development of problematic issue. There are several reasons why there is a lack of clear and unambiguous data: plurality of migration channels (through which Slovak citizens seek and find employment abroad - EURES, agencies offering jobs abroad, temporary employment agencies, individual job search etc.), variety and incompatibility of methodological approaches (immigration cards, personal identification numbers, residence permits, work permits - changing jobs often requires a new registration in register of immigrant workers, when quitting jobs, leaving labour market or country, there is no need to get unregistered), periodicity of statistical data and their nature (terms of processing and publishing data on migrant workers differ across EU). …