Labour Migration from Eastern Europe and the EU’s Quest for Talents

This article investigates the determinants of temporary migration and the destination choices of migrants from a geopolitically important region in eastern Europe that borders Russia and the enlarged EU. We present empirical evidence from a novel survey simultaneously conducted in Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, five countries that share a common institutional and linguistic heritage with Russia. Temporary migrants from eastern Europe are less well educated than non-migrants. While the least educated migrants head for Russia, the higher educated move to the EU and the best educated to overseas destinations. According to unique information on pre-migration training courses, a non-negligible fraction of eastern European migrants to the EU is well-equipped with language skills and qualifications. However, since many labour migrants suffer from occupational downgrading or skill waste in the destination, the EU seems to fail in fully benefiting from the potential of eastern European migration despite the geographic proximity.