IFL - Leibniz-Institute for Länderkunde

With the accession of the New Member States in 2004 and 2007, competition for qualified labour increased within the European Union. Many – particularly rural – regions in Central Europe were confronted with massive emigration of young and skilled people towards economically more prosperous regions in Western Europe. In the sending regions this emigration caused a lack of skilled labour which impacts on economic and social development. Given the above average ageing and shrinking of the population, Central European rural regions face strong challenges to maintain their prosperity and social vitality.

Headed by the IfL as a Lead Partner, a transnational group of scientists is studying the potential of returning migrants for knowledge-based regional development. The Re-Turn project deals with the following questions:

• How can these (future) returning migrants be characterized?
• Can return migration be understood as a permanent decision, or is it rather an episode in a more complex, circular migration biography?
• How can policy makers and regional stakeholders in the sending regions attract qualified returning migrants?
• How can (intercultural) knowledge and skills brought from abroad be capitalized on in the home regions?
• Which strategies and concepts exist to enhance return migration in the case study regions? How can these strategies be improved and be transferred into pilot measures, which are to be tested during the project?

In Germany the two Landkreise Görlitz and Harz were selected as case study regions. The Re-Turn team at IfL will coordinate a series of interviews with migrants and entrepreneurs from the region and supervise the test of pilot measures from a scientific perspective. Both these German case study regions will lose another 20% of its populations by the year 2025. This shrinkage is driven by continuous emigration of young people and low birth rates. While confronted with partly different structural contexts, also the other case study regions suffer from labour shortages: Piedmont (Italy), Ustecky (Czech Republic), Mid-Pannon (Hungary), Lodz (Poland), Swietokrzyskie (Poland), and Podravska (Slovenia).

The Re-Turn scientific study starts from the observation that all case study regions suffer from emigration of young and skilled people. It aims at raising the awareness among stakeholders in the sending regions for the development potentials that are linked to return migration. With the testing of pilot measures to re-attract, re-integrate and re-employ returning migrants, the project will develop a set of transferable tools and strategies for policy makers at the regional and local level. Involving actors from public administration, planning departments and labour offices in each of the case study regions, Re-Turn will experiment with online platforms, telephone hotlines, welcome agencies and professional trainings in order to support returning migrants’ reintegration back home.

Comparative Report on Re-Migration Trends in Central Europe »
(pdf 700 kb)
Rückwanderung nach Ostdeutschland – Interim Analysis Online Survey »
(pdf 450 kb)
Migrant Survey Report » (pdf 8 mb)
Business Survey Report » (pdf 2 mb)

The results of the Re-Turn Online Survey among emigrants and return migrants from Central Europe are not only of interest within the scientific community. Various national and international newspapers, radio and TV stations covered these results:
German media (selection): 
Die Zeit » / Die Welt » / Tagesspiegel » / DRadio Wissen »
International media (selection):
Los Angeles Times » / Le Nouvel Observateur » / Radio France Inter »

Conferences and meetings:
From 27 February to 1 March 2013 the transnational mid-term conference of the Re-Turn project took place in Domodossola in the Italian case study region. Project partners discussed results with policy makers and experts and identified opportunities, challenges and innovative solutions related to return migration.
Please find the welcome note of the Re-Turn coordinator Dr. Thilo Lang here »

The next project meeting will take place from 11 to 13 September 2013 in Kielce in the Polish case study region Swietokrzyskie. During this meeting, project partners will discuss the results of testing pilot measures to support returning migrants. Based on these discussions, innovative solutions for the improvement of regional and transnational political strategies should be developed. You are warmly welcome to participate in the public debate on 12 September 2013.

ZSI – Centre for Social Innovation, Vienna (Austria); International Organization for Migration, Prague (Czech Republic); Requalification and Information Centre, Most (Czech Republic); Association for Social and Labour Market Integration, Merseburg (Germany); Ministry of labour and social affairs Saxony-Anhalt, Magdeburg (Germany); Mid-Pannon Regional Development Company, Székesfehérvár (Hungary); University of Szeged (Hungary); National Union of Mountain Municipalities, Communities and Authorities – Piedmont Delegation, Turin (Italy);Lodz Region - Board of the Region - Marshal's Office, ?ód? (Poland); Marshall Office of the Swietokrzyskie Voivodship, Kielce (Poland); University of Maribor (Slovenia)

Thilo Lang
T_Lang(at)ifl-leipzig.de
Tel.: +49 341 600 55-159
Robert Nadler
R_Nadler(at)ifl-leipzig.de

Project website »
Project flyer »