The Impact of the Recent Global Economic Crisis on Migration. Preliminary Insights from the South Eastern Borders of the EU (Greece)

Notwithstanding the difficulty of framing the topic, this study provides for a preliminary assessment of the impact of the recent global economic crisis on migration flows and employment in Greece. After providing insights into immigration stocks, incoming migration flows and their variation in Greece as well as migration-related flows, notably remittances, in recent months, the paper discusses the main lines of Greek migration policy and the political context in which it develops so as to provide for the context of both legal and irregular migration flows. Furthermore, it analyses the current economic context with a view to highlighting recent changes in the Greek labour market as regards the employment and unemployment rates of both Greeks and immigrant workers. In the concluding section, the paper evaluates to what extent the crisis has affected migration flows into and out of Greece and seeks to make predictions on how the economic crisis may further affect migration trends in Greece.