The mobility of employees within the EU and EFTA countries is recovering after the pandemic.

The European Commission’s 2023 annual report about labour mobility within the EU and EFTA countries - namely Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland - shows a slightly positive trend following the end of the Coronavirus pandemic. The following developments were pinpointed based on data from 2021 and 2022.

The most important target country is Germany

Among EU working age citizens (20-64 years), the number of migrants remained relatively constant at around 9.9 million. 58 % were young and male and the main countries of origin were still Italy, Poland and Romania. Every third person went to Germany. However, mobility in this group has not yet quite reached the pre-pandemic level of 2019.

Recovery in cross-border commuters, increase in secondments

The situation is somewhat different for cross-border commuters: Around 1.8 million cross-border commuters were registered in the EU and EFTA countries in 2022, which was eight per cent more than in 2021. The number of secondments has risen significantly. The total number of PD A1 portable documents issued - which prove that a seconded person is insured in the social security scheme of the country from which the secondment takes place - amounted to 4.6 million, 27 % more than in the previous year. Here, too, the majority of the increase was attributable to Germany.

Self-employment was on the rise, part-time working on the decline

With an increase of 22 % compared to 2020, the number of self-employed people has also returned to pre-pandemic levels. The proportion of EU citizens with part-time or fixed-term contracts is declining. Whereas 20 % of all EU migrants still had fixed-term employment contracts in 2017, this figure had dropped to 15 % by 2022. The education levels of those who moved also rose slightly during the same period. One third (32 %) had a rather high level of education, as compared to 29 % five years previously.

Cross-border pensions for fair labour mobility

A look at pensions is also interesting. The exporting of pensions is both a condition for labour mobility as well as its consequence. Nevertheless, and according to the report, the exporting of pensions played a key role in ensuring fair labour mobility. Their numbers have risen from 4.6 million in 2018 to 5.4 million in 2021, with a volume of over 22 billion euros. Germany is both the largest exporter and the largest importer of pensions. The situation is similar in France.

German pensioners living in Mallorca are the minority

What the report also shows: There are far fewer senior citizens outside their home countries than working age citizens. The exported pensions mainly go to mobile workers who have retired in their home countries.