Portuguese emigration after World War II — страница 7

indeed demand-oriented, the response of each individual does not depend on the evolution of the labor market in the host country alone. Indeed, the evolution of migration after 1974 clearly reflects the impact of other factors, namely, the political sanctions of the recipient nations and the strength of migrant networks active at both ends of the trajectory. Without taking these factors into consideration, how can the extremely low migratory flows of the period be explained? Economic recession in most of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries after the mid-1970s, and conditions in Portugal in the aftermath of the 1974 Revolution, were aggravated by the forced return of four hundred thousand Portuguese from the former African colonies, along

with one hundred thousand troops. Emigration was abruptly halted by the receiving societies in the early 1970s, which aggravated the economic situation. All these factors, plus the legal prohibition of firing and dismissing employees, led the private sector to avoid new permanent labor contracts. This change, in turn, brought about major changes in the national labor market. 25 Unemployment jumped from 86,000 in 1974 to 222,000 in 1975, and continued to grow. In 1980 the number of unemployed was 340,000, and by 1983, the figure had reached 446,000 thousand, or 10.5 percent of the active population. Furthermore, as economists Jose Barosa and Pedro Pereira note, “[measured] unemployment does not tell the whole story, as a survey of the Ministry of Labor found 95,000 workers in

1983 to be wageless.” 26 As they also point out, the labor market began to show signs of recovery in 1979, after new legislation in October 1977 gave the private sector flexibility to hire workers over a fixed period. Unemployment finally decreased, dropping to 8.5 percent in 1985, to 7 percent in 1987, and to 5.7 percent in 1988. Even today, an increasing number of the new jobs are still based on short-term contracts. As noted earlier, Portuguese migratory flows to Europe peaked in 1970 and tended to decrease thereafter, but it was only after the oil crisis 1973-74 that great and sudden reductions were observed. The drop in migrant workers was even greater, at least until 1986. For France, the data indicate that workers dominated the migratory flow to that country until 1971.

Between 1972 and 1977, their relative share fell but remained significant. From 1978 to 1985, the flow was overwhelmingly composed of family members. For 1987-89, the three last years for which information is available, workers were dominant, although less than before; they represented 74 percent of the 17,000 immigrants arriving in France. Deteriorating economic conditions and mass return migration from the former colonies undoubtedly increased migratory pressure in this period; annual average departures, however, fell from 122,000 per year between 1968 and 1975 to 22,000 per year between 1976 and 1988. Economic factors alone cannot explain the contraction in flows in the latter period. Restrictive migratory policies in the traditional recipient countries and the lack of sizable

migratory networks functioning in other destinations left potential migrants temporarily without alternatives. Portuguese scholars wrote the obituary for Portuguese emigration to Europe in 1985 at an international meeting called “Portugal and Europe: The End of a Migratory Cycle.” 27 It was too soon, however. Indeed, Portuguese emigration to Europe is, once again, a significant phenomenon. In fact, a new European migratory cycle, this time mainly directed to Switzerland, took off during the 80’s. Just between 1986 and 1993 more than 117,000 Portuguese permanent immigrants entered that country. 28 It should come as no surprise if in some years’ time, we see the Portuguese landscape enriched with a new set of houses, perhaps labeled Swiss houses. When they appear, they will

once again give evidence of Portugal’s most constant modern historical phenomenon: emigration. TABLE 10.6 Portuguese Emigration by Destination, 1950-1988 Brazil USA Canada Total Overseas France Germany Other Europe Total Europe Total % 1950 14,143 938 – 21,491 319 1 81 401 21,892 1.83 1951 28,104 676 – 33,341 418 2 254 674 34,015 1.98 1952 41,518 582 – 46,544 650 4 209 863 47,407 1.82 1953 32,159 1,455 – 39,026 690 – 246 936 39,962 2.34 1954 29,943 1,918 – 40,234 747 4 205 956 41,190 2.32 1955 18,486 1,328 – 28,690 1,336 – 121 1,457 30,147 4.83 1956 16,814 1,503 1,612 26,072 1,851 6 167 2,024 28,096 7.20 1957 19,931 1,628 4.158 32,150 4,640 5 99 4,744 36,894 l2.86 1958 19,829 1,596 1,619 29,207 6,264 2 l27 6,393 35,600 17.96 1959 16,400 4,569 3,961 29,780 4,838