Māris Goldmanis
The single most important host country to Latvian migrants in the 2000s, the United Kingdom (UK) is home to more than 80 000 Latvian citizens, roughly one third of the entire Latvian population outside Latvia. The present article provides a socio-demographic snapshot of the Latvian migrant community in the UK, based on the University of Latvia’s 2014 survey “The emigrant communities of Latvia: National identity, transnational relations, and diaspora politics” and on official statistics from Eurostat and the UK’s Office for National Statistics.
The Latvian community in the UK is comprised mostly of economic migrants, more specifically migrant workers, characterized by a high degree of economic activity and an extremely low unemployment rate. These individuals have emigrated from Latvia mostly due to monetary considerations especially by the prospect of substantially higher pay. The migration flows have been strongly counter-cyclical with respect to the Latvian economy. In addition, this community is largely in flux, with many individuals repeatedly moving back and forth between Latvia and the UK, some even commuting regularly between the two countries. The community’s characteristic middle-heavy population pyramid and the high proportion of child-less households are direct consequences of the economic and partially non-permanent nature of the migration. Compared to the overall UK population, disproportionally more Latvian migrants tend to be employed in low-skilled occupations. This is also true of those with a higher education, resulting in substantial over qualification and job /education mismatch. Many educated migrants are willing to take low-skilled jobs in the UK due to the extremely large differences in earnings between Latvia and the UK.
In view of these facts, it is apparent that mass return migration from the UK back to Latvia is likely to happen if and only if Latvia experiences strong and sustained economic development, particularly with regard to job creation and productivity, resulting in increased earnings. Thus, any policy aimed specifically and directly at encouraging return migration is bound to fail, unless accompanied by broad economic measures supporting entrepreneurship and fostering job creation and growth of productivity in Latvia.
CONFERENCE