Examining labour market hierarchies in Slovakia from the perspective of intra-EU migration and return

This paper applies the concept of hierarchised mobility to study return migration in Slovakia in the context of the country's EU accession. The analysis is based on the national Labour Force Survey dataset, covering a decade of labour migration and return between the 2008/2009 financial crisis and the Covid pandemic, concentrating in particular on the short-term labour market outcomes for less skilled return migrants. It is found that even under improved economic conditions, patterns of labour mobility set in the aftermath of the EU's Eastern enlargement continued to persist, together with structural inequalities in the Slovak labour market. Returnees in Slovakia face a markedly higher unemployment rate relative to stayers, and are less likely to be self-employed shortly after their return to Slovakia, compared to stayers or migrants. Returnees were also more exposed to instability in their jobs than migrants and stayers. From this perspective, return migration itself is a reflection of hierarchised mobility, as returnees clearly occupy the least stable jobs, and are the most exposed to instability in their employment. It appears that migration patterns from and to Slovakia are ingrained within the broader functioning of the European labour market.