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Yugoslavia Guest Workers
Besides urbanization, a second important migration trend in
Yugoslav society after World War II was the emigration of
Yugoslav guest workers and their dependents. The departure of
Yugoslavs seeking work began in the 1950s, when individuals began
slipping across the border illegally. Economic expansion in
Western Europe in the 1960s created a demand for labor that
domestic labor supplies could not fill; at the same time,
Yugoslav industries could not absorb all the workers in the
country's labor pool, including educated and highly skilled
individuals. In the mid-1960s, Yugoslavia lifted emigration
restrictions, and the number of émigrés increased rapidly. By the
early 1970s, Yugoslavia had Europe's second-highest emigration
rate, and 20 percent of the country's labor force was employed
abroad. In 1973 about 1.1 million workers and dependents were
living and working outside Yugoslavia's borders; 900,000 of these
were living in Western Europe. Restrictions on guest workers in
Western Europe curtailed the outflow of Yugoslavs in 1973 and
1974, and the somewhat reduced movement has remained steady
since. In 1985 about 600,000 Yugoslavs were working abroad,
accompanied by about 400,000 dependents. In 1987 the rate of
permanent return to Yugoslavia was about 40,000 workers per year.
In the early 1970s, a disproportionate number of émigré
workers came from Yugoslavia's economically developed northern
and western regions, including Croatia, Slovenia, eastern
Vojvodina, and northeastern Serbia. The 1981 census, however,
showed an increase in the number of guest workers from Serbia
proper, Montenegro, and Kosovo. Overall, only 30.9 percent of
émigré workers came from cities and towns. A 40 percent drop in
the number of reported Croatian guest workers caused speculation
that many Croats were adopting permanent foreign residency.
Higher wages in West European countries at first attracted
mostly city-dwelling, mature male Yugoslav workers with specific
job skills. By the mid-1970s, the attraction had spread to
peasants, unskilled workers, and women in rural areas. In the
1970s, guest workers were more likely to have completed
elementary school and vocational training than the Yugoslav
population as a whole. The outflow of skilled workers slowed
growth in a variety of Yugoslav industries. Hotels and
restaurants in Yugoslav resort areas often faced seasonal
shortages of trained caterers and waiters. Waiters would work a
single season on the Dalmatian coast to gain experience and
savings, then they would emigrate to Austria, Switzerland, or
France. Adriatic hotels usually trained a new staff each season;
ironically, some employed guest workers of their own from Poland
and Czechoslovakia.
About one-third of all guest workers were women, a percentage
that corresponded to their share in Yugoslavia's overall domestic
work force. But striking disparities in the rates at which women
emigrated from Yugoslavia's various regions reflected the
influence of the country's ethnic diversity. Slightly more than
40 percent of all emigrants from Vojvodina and Slovenia were
women, as were over a third of those from Serbia proper and
Croatia. Women from Kosovo participated in emigration least,
accounting for less than 5 percent of all émigrés from that
region.
Guest workers returned to Yugoslavia not only for economic
reasons, but also because of emotional connections with their
birthplace, family, and traditions, and a desire by parents to
educate their children in their homeland. With the reunification
of Germany and the economic downturn created by the Middle East
crisis of 1990, Yugoslavia faced a possible large-scale return of
guest workers from Western Europe. Many observers predicted that
a return of skilled workers would have a positive effect on
Yugoslavia's economy. The 1981 census showed that the bulk of the
returning guest workers (81.7 percent) continued to work; only
3.2 percent became unemployed officially. Most former peasants
and agricultural workers returned from abroad to find new
employment in non-agricultural sectors of the economy, indicating
that they had acquired other skills and job experience during
their years abroad. Returning guest workers unable to find work
were entitled to some unemployment compensation if they paid into
an unemployment compensation fund during their stay abroad. Guest
workers in the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)
automatically contributed to such funds in accordance with a
bilateral agreement.
Data as of December 1990
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