Portuguese emigration after World War II — страница 5

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rose from 5,000 in 1955-59 to 10,600 in 1960-69, clearly pointing to the greater attraction that European labor markets exerted over the urban and industrial sectors. As noted earlier, inferences from the legal registers on sex-, age-, and marital status-are risky. Nevertheless, Table 10.4 permits two conclusions. First, the flow overseas that was dominant in the 1950s was more male dominated and tended less toward family reunification than the European flow. Second, the European flow experienced a first wave in the 1960s, a flow dominated by isolated departures of single or married males in their prime, followed by a second wave in the 1970s, consisting largely of family reunification flows, as suggested by the growing share of children under 15 years of age and the number of

married female migrants. TABLE 10.4 Characteristics of Legal Migrants, 1955-1988 1955-59 1960-69 1970-79 1980-88 No. % No. % No. % No. % GENDER Male 96,357 60.35 378,080 58.44 210,347 58.79 50,253 56.11 Female 63,300 39.65 268,882 41.56 147,455 41.21 39,309 43.89 AGE -15 37,376 23.41 171,434 26.50 99,757 27.88 21,695 24.22 15-64 120,104 75.23 468,994 72.49 254,163 71.03 66,165 73.88 65+ 2,177 1.36 6,534 1.01 3,882 1.08 1,702 1.90 MARITAL STATUS S 93,066 58.29 307,161 47.48 166,593 46.56 39,545 44.15 M 63,608 39.84 329,594 50.94 185,894 51.95 47,789 53.36 Other 2,983 1.87 10,207 1.58 5,315 1.49 2,228 2.49 ECONOMIC SECTORa 1ary 43,634 56.43 140,730 50.05 54,175 32.39 6,157 16.86 2ary 20,245 26.18 105,908 37.67 84,101 50.29 23,421 64.15 3ary 13,448 17.39 34,539 12.28 28,969 17.32

6,932 18.99 TOTAL ACTIVE 77,327 100.00 281,177 100.00 167,245 100.00 36,510 100.00 INACTIVE 52,425 40.40 240,399 46.09 163,155 49.38 53,052 59.23 TOTAL 129,752 521,576 330,400 89,562 TOTAL 159,657 100.00 646,962 100.00 357,802 100.00 89,562 100.00 SOURCE: SECP, Boletim anual, 1980-81,1988. aEmignnts aged 10 or older. French sources confirm this change in composition. Between 1960 and 1971, workers represented 68 percent of the Portuguese arrivals to that country. From 1972 to 1979, on the other hand, they represented only 37 percent, and from 1980 to 1988 just 36 percent. 12 Both Portuguese and receiving country data also indicate that after 1970, a growing number of Portuguese immigrants either decided or were forced to return to Portugal. Return Migration The myth of the return

is deeply embedded in Portuguese emigrant culture. It plays a role in the decision to leave, and it is an important reason why, before World War II, men migrated while women stayed, even though many men never returned. 13 Portuguese emigration to Europe in the 1960s initially fit this traditional pattern. After a decade, however, family reunification became a new trait of Portuguese emigration because of the proximity of the host societies, new means of transportation, and labor opportunities for women in the receiving areas. 14 Yet even then, the desire to return was not abandoned. The number of returnees, their sociodemographic characteristics, their social reintegration, and its economic impact are perhaps the most researched topics in recent migration studies. 15 From these

studies, it is possible to make several observations. After ten to fourteen years of working permanently abroad, the objectives that led a significant number of men to leave Portugal, and later to call their families to join them, apparently were attained. Various factors, moreover, seem to indicate the culmination of a cycle of family migratory projects. For example, the number of yearly returnees grew: seven thousand in the 1960s, thirteen thousand in the 1970s, and fifty-two thousand in the 1980s. 16 Among the returnees, 25 percent in 1970 and 32 percent in 1980-81 were between the ages of I and 19. And 86 percent of returnees were already married when they first emigrated. Predictably, returnees were mostly male (71 percent of the total). This was because migratory flows were

male-dominated until the 1970s, and because for a significant number of migrants family reunification and second-generation educational prospects in host societies made staying there appear more favorable than returning. 17 Most returnees were originally connected to agriculture in Portugal, and 90 percent returned, if not to agriculture, at least to their communities of birth. More than half were over 45 years old, and one-third were older than 56. Of those who went to France, 56 percent worked in construction and public works. Returnees followed a dominant economic trajectory. Before emigration, 45 percent worked in agriculture and 18 percent in construction. As emigrants, 37 percent worked in construction and 32 percent in manufacturing. 18 On returning, 38 percent worked in