Old Wine in New Bottles? Comparing the Post-War Guest Worker Migration and the Post 1989 Migration from CEE-Countries to EU-Member Countries

This chapter compares the movement of workers from Central and Eastern European countries to European Union member states after 1990 (CEES) with the Guest Worker System of the period 1955–1974 (GWS). Three factors are essential for the emergence and continuation of these migration systems. The first factor refers to the economic push-pull factors of labour migration. When measured in terms of GDP differentials between sending and receiving countries, of wage differentials and of work opportunities - these turn out to be quite comparable in both migration systems. The second factors specifies how individuals enter into a labour migration system: the information of migration alternatives that migrants have, the networks that may help them and the intermediaries and facilitators that take away barriers. In this respect, there seem to be some significant differences between the two systems. The third factor is related to the regulatory systems of international migration. Here the differences between the two systems are fundamental: GWS developed into a highly regulated system of labour migration, while migration in the CEES system prospered due to the unrestricted free movement within the EU in a neoliberal economic climate with less labour market regulation. It is the combination of differences in the latter two factors that makes for a different selection of who is moving and for what purpose and, ultimately, for a greater unpredictability of the CEE migration.