Slovakia

Emigration from the Slovak Republic

According to the Labour Force Survey for the second quarter of 2010 the number of Slovak citizens working abroad reached 130,500 (Statistical Office 2010b: 87). Slovaks working abroad constitute 5.6 per cent of total employed persons in the Slovak Republic. Mostly young people (up to 34 years) go abroad, who finished their education and started their careers and professional skills development.
Research by Kešelova (2007) shows that among Slovak emigrants who have an idea of their length of stay abroad (62.6%), there is almost one fifth of people who are planning to stay abroad permanently; 46.7% want to stay abroad for more than one year. Most people emigrate from the Prešov region in the Slovak Republic. This region has been – for a long time - facing the highest unemployment rate in the country and shows a high concentration of Roma citizens.

Returnees in the Slovak Republic

In 2008, a new phenomenon occurred; Slovak nationals living abroad started to return home as many of them lost their jobs due to the global economic crisis in destination countries. Lots of Slovaks returned to the eastern part of the Slovak Republic, which has been facing high emigration in the previous years. But Slovaks also returned to the cross border regions (border to Hungary), which have always been affected by commuting migration.

It is estimated that currently, 1/3 of returned migrants are registered as unemployed at Employment Offices in the Slovak Republic. Data of the National Labour, Social Affairs and Family Office (ÚPSVAR) show that the majority of unemployed returnees possess secondary or vocational education and about 6% possess tertiary educational degrees (see data in Annex 1). But formal qualifications of returnees differ strongly according to the country of destination. Slovaks returning from the Czech Republic and Hungary have in general lower educational qualifications than Slovaks returning from the UK. Returnees with lower qualifications show consequently more problems getting integrated into the local labour market than highly-skilled returnees.

Although return migration is a scarcely studied domain in the Slovak Republic, some research exists, exploring returnees’ potentials and expectations. Williams/ Baláž (2005) study three subsamples of Slovak nationals returning from the UK: professionals and managers, students and au pairs. The results of this research show that returnees from all three subsamples were able to enhance their competences, even the last group – the au-pairs, who were formally employed in low skilled, routine jobs (Williams/ Baláž 2005: 452). Further, almost one half of the returnees felt they had improved their job positions upon return. The highest positive proportion – 56 % was amongst students, but this partly reflects leaving formal education to enter employment. However, 48 percent of professionals considered they had improved their job positions since their return. Au pairs realized the least benefits in terms of enhanced jobs but, nevertheless, 34 percent claimed improvements. These findings lead to the critical question, asking for the extent to which these improvements were related to the migration experiences. Based on interviews this question was explored in relation to status and income effects. Half of the interviewees felt that they had improved their status or their income due to their stay in the United Kingdom. Even short term mobility has had the potential for all three types of migrants to realize economic benefits.

Research by Williams/Baláž (2005) also shows that a considerable number of returnees become self-employed: 9.3 percent of professionals, 10.9 percent of students and 6 percent of au-pairs established businesses upon returning from the UK. The entrepreneurs in all three subgroups stressed the importance of their visits to the UK in becoming self-employed. They highlighted that the output of staying abroad should not so much be seen in acquiring and transferring specific professional knowledge or skills, but in the broader experience of being abroad (Williams/Baláž 2005: 457). In terms of newly acquired competences and knowledge, all three groups of returned migrants stated that they had significantly improved their English language competence. The largest gains in foreign language competences were realized by au-pairs, reflecting the fact, that they had the lowest level of competence before going abroad and high rates of attendance in formal language courses. However, most interviewees considered they had improved their competences not through formal channels but through practice (Williams/Baláž 2005: 461).

Further, interviewees highly appreciated the benefits of improved self–confidence, learning new approaches to work, a greater ability to deal with new challenges and acquiring new ideas. Some returnees highlighted the fact that they had gained a deeper understanding of the institutions and practices of Western European societies. The most valued were also things such as a total change of mind, ability to manage crises, ability to communicate and independence.

To sum up, Williams/Baláž (2005) show that foreign work experiences can have a positive impact on personal development and career opportunities. But when considering returnees’ chances for the successful re-integration into the local labour market, crucial factors that have to be considered are local power structures, traditions and the institutional openness towards newly acquired knowledge.

These aspects are explored in another research undertaken by Williams/Baláž (2008) which focuses on the learning and knowledge transfer experiences of mobile doctors in the Slovak Republic. The theoretical basis of this research is Blackler’s (2002) typology of knowledge (embrained, embodied, embedded, and encultured) and the main research question is whether internationally mobile doctors have the potential to learn and transfer distinctive knowledge, different to that available in the origin or the return setting. The majority of doctors interviewed were overwhelmingly positive (14 out of 19) about how international experiences had influenced their work after returning to the Slovak Republic. Regarding knowledge transfers to Slovakian colleagues after returning, the authors state that tacit-to-tacit transfers were most common, for example in seminars, or simply by talking to colleagues. Further, the authors highlight that there are differences in the degree to which organizations were open to external knowledge. Junior – and sometimes even senior colleagues – complained about the difficulties they had in introducing new ideas to systems characterized by strongly embedded knowledge and infused by centralized power structures. But generally, interviewees stated that knowledge transfers were possible, ranging from minor changes within existing systems to replacing whole systems.

The growing number of returnees in the Slovak Republic has gained the attention not only of public bodies but also of private initiatives, trying to facilitate the effective exploitation of returnees’ human capital. One example is the project SlovenskoCalling (www.slovenskocalling.sk) which had been run from 2009 to 2011. Its main goal was to explore the return potential among Slovak nationals living and working abroad. In a survey conducted by SlovenskoCalling in 2010, 401 respondents participated (female: 53%; male: 47%). Almost two thirds of them were between 25 and 35 years of age and 60% had university education. 82% of respondents lived and worked in Europe, particularly in Ireland, England, Czech Republic, Austria and Germany - and 12% lived and worked in the USA. 54% of Slovaks living and working abroad wanted to return and the main reasons for returning were reasons related to family, friends and local relations.

Literature:
Blacker, F. (2002). Knowledge, knowledge work and organizations’. In Choo, C. W, and Bontis, N., Editors, The strategic management of intellectual capital and organizational knowledge, Oxford University Press, New York, 47-62.
Kešelová , D. (2007): Migračný potenciál obyvateľstva SR : Sprístupnenie trhov práce vo vybraných krajinách EÚ a vývojové trendy na trhu práce v SR. Bratislava:Inštitút pre výskum práce a rodiny, 2007. URL: .
Statistical Office of Slovak Republic. 2010b. Výsledky výberového zisťovania pracovných síl za 2. štvrťrok. Bratislava: Štatistický úrad Slovenskej republiky,2010-10.Číslo:600-0146/2010. .
Williams, A.M. and Baláz, V. (2005): What Human Capital, Which Migrants? Returned Skilled Migration to Slovakia From the UK. International Migration Review 39 (2): 439-468.
Williams, A.M. and Baláz, V. (2008): International return mobility, learning and knowledge transfer: A case study of Slovak doctors. Social Science & Medicine 67 (11): 1924-1933.

Share of nationals and non-nationals among immigrants, 2009, data source: EUROSTAT, own calculations

Age structure of recent returnees (1 year upon their arrival) and stayers in LFS 2005-2008, weighted data

Recent returnees (1 year upon their arrival) according to gender, in %, LFS 2008-2008, weighted data

Educational attainment of recent returnees (1 year upon their arrival), aged 17-62, compared to that of stayers, LFS 2005-2008, weighted data

Labour market status of recent returnees (1 year upon arrival), aged 17-62, compared that of stayers, LFS 2005-2008, weighted data

Occupations of recent returnees (1 years upon arrival), aged 17-62, compared to those of stayers, LFS 2005-2008, weighted data

Recent returnees (1 year upon arrival), aged 17-62, and stayers according to sectors of employment, LFS 2005-2008, weighted data

Recent returnees (1 year upon arrival), aged 17-62, and stayers according to the area of residence, LFS 2005-2008, weighted data