Slovak Care Workers in Austria: How Important Is the Context of the Sending Country?

Abstract

This study complements the existing analyses of migration of care workers by focusing on the economic situation in the sending country. It shows that the rising popularity of care work in Austria in recent years was fuelled primarily by the crisis induced unemployment rise in Slovakia, rather than by the Austrian legalization policies. Compared to the pre-crisis situation, post-crisis care workers in Austria are more often previously unemployed and without a nursing qualification. Similarly, the earnings of the carers are strongly connected with their previous employment situation in Slovakia. We conclude that the size of the migrant workforce as well as its composition is better explained by the conditions in the sending country than by welfare policies in the destination. If care migration follows the logic of labour migration—as our results suggest—the gradual closing of the income gap between Western and Central European countries will lead to a shift in the source countries of care workers.