This tendency was unveiled in an analysis commissioned by the Ministry of Education, and based on research from the National Statistics Institute. Despite not appearing to be particularly good news, one positive signal is perceived changes to the social structure of emigration.
If in the past the economic migrants were mainly people with degrees from higher education, such professionals now prefer to stay at home, the research found. The new emigrants of Bulgaria are those who have few or no professional qualifications.
A similar conclusion was drawn from a study commissioned under the previous government of Sergei Stanishev, who was prime minister until July. According to the study, some 80% of Bulgarians have no intention of moving to another country and live there permanently. Only 5% of those interviewed, mainly students or young people who have just finished secondary school, indicated such intentions.
The findings helped to prepare a strategy for migration policy under the Stanishev cabinet. However, the only concrete action taken by the government as a result of that strategy was the hosting of job fairs in Spain and Greece, where the biggest Bulgarian diaspora in the EU live.
According to official statistics, more than 110,000 Bulgarians are residents of the two countries. The aim of the strategy was to link migrants with Bulgarian employers, who offered them job opportunities back home.
'Minister for Bulgarians abroad'
The new government of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov includes a novelty: a minister responsible for Bulgarians living and working abroad. However, no real strategy for the migrants has been discussed so far. In a broader context, due to the economic crisis, the social ministry is primarily striving to preserve existing jobs in companies operating in Bulgaria.
Meanwhile, many Bulgarians working in Western European countries have lost their jobs due to the recession in their adopted countries. In 2008, the National Employment Agency frequently announced seasonal agricultural positions for Bulgarians in Spain and Germany, for example. Nothing of the kind has happened this year.
Economic migration has also been hampered by decisions by the Bulgarians' preferred destination countries not to open their job markets to Bulgarian and Romanian citizens. Germany, Austria, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom and Malta have all kept their general restrictions, although some accept certain categories of workers.
On the opposite side, some EU countries have completely lifted barriers for citizens from the EU's latest newcomers. Spain, Greece, Portugal and Denmark have announced that there will not be any more restrictions on Bulgarian and Romanian citizens. The Greek labour ministry explained that the move will reduce the phenomenon of wage dumping caused by clandestine workers.
Internet forums provide an insight into the state of mind of migrant workers. Many Bulgarian nationals who went to Spain or to other countries write that they would not return to Bulgaria, despite having lost their jobs during the crisis. Others said they had returned home but then left again, because they consider the crisis in Bulgaria to be worse than it is in the Western countries.
According to some Spanish politicians, such decisions will not pose problems for the labour market. They even expect that due to good economic growth in Bulgaria and Romania, immigrants will go back to their countries of origin.
