Migrants returning home at record pace

About 10 percent of Albanians who moved abroad since the early nineties have returned home in the past four years, prompting efforts to deal with absorbing more than 133,000 migrants, most of whom came back to escape the effects of the economic crisis in Greece and Italy.
By A. D. BALLA
When Agim Thela, a small business owner in his mid 30s, left his home of seven years in northern Italy three years ago, he knew the move would likely be permanent.
After losing his job when his Italian employer went bankrupt as a result of the economic crisis, he could not keep up with the high living expenses in the city in which he lived.
“It got really tough over there,” he said in his Tirana place of employment. “There was no more money and really no hope of supporting a family. Things are not perfect in Albania, but life is a lot less stressful, and I get to be closer to family.”
Thela is not alone. About 10 percent of Albanians who migrated abroad since the early nineties have returned home in the past four years, according to a study released this week.
More than 133,000 people have come back to Albania since 2009, marking a highest pace of return since Albania lost about a third of its population to migration in the 1990s and early 2000s, the International Organization for Migration and the Albanian Institute of Statistics, INSTAT, noted in the study, urging for better capacities to be built to reintegrate the returned migrants into Albanian society.
“The pace of return increased by about 1.5 times after 2011,” said Gjergj Filipi, the INSTAT director.
The survey found 133,544 migrants aged 18 and above returned to Albania in the period 2009-2013, with men, who were more likely to emigrate in the first place, outnumbering women at nearly three to one.
Researchers found that 95 percent of those who returned did so voluntarily, and the lion’s share came back from the neighborhood countries – 71 percent from Greece and 24 percent from Italy.
Both Greece and Italy where particularly hard-hit in the recent economic crisis, and the main reason the migrants cited for returning to Albania was economic difficulties like unemployment and lower wages in their host countries.
With an average in the late 30s, about 60 percent of Albanian migrants who have returned have settled in their previous hometowns, while 40 percent have decided to move back to one of Albania’s largest cities, primarily Tirana and Durres.
After two decades of focusing on outward migration, Albania must now start to look at the other side of the equation, said Elona Gjebrea, a deputy interior minister
“The migration policies now need to shift toward return migration, to increase positive outcomes, so Albanian society can contribute to the reintegration of those who have returned, and those who have returned can contribute in the Albanian society,” Gjebrea said.
The study found that most of the returnees were not university graduates and were long-term term migrants, with an average of seven years lived in Greece and four in Italy.
Most of these migrants were very poor before leaving Albania, and come back significantly better-off than they were before, both in terms of savings and in skills, the authors of the study note. In addition to their own savings, through the years they had also helped their families back home, sending back on average 200-250 euros per month, although that number rapidly declined in recent years due to the economic crisis.
They mostly find self-employed in agriculture or start small businesses once they returned to Albania, the study’s authors noted, adding that on average the returnees are yet to make significant investments in Albania, either because they lack the sufficient funds to do so, or because they don’t believe their investment would be safe.
The researchers found that about half of the surveyed returnees say they plan to settle in Albania permanently, while a third see the move as temporary and might migrate again should the conditions change.
Massive emigration became a permanent feature in Albania during the transition from communism to democracy, with more than a million Albanians left for other countries looking for a better life. Now a portion of that population appears to have come back.
Genta Sula, Albania’s deputy welfare minister, said even before the study came out it was clear the trend existed because many of those who returned were visiting the state’s employment offices looking for information and for help finding jobs.
“It’s a very important trend, and we have been focused on this, providing services for the past few years,” Sula said. “What we know is that most of those who have come back are of active working age and have come back to look for work.”
Zineb Touimi-Benjellounm, the UN Resident Coordinator in Albania, said that the study released this week aimed to give hard data to back anecdotal evidence of the trend of returns.
“It aims to shed light on the various factors shaping returnees’ patterns of reintegration in Albania. The evidence can further guide the provision of services in support of the reintegration of returnees,” she said.
Touimi-Benjellounm said this was part of wider story as the world witnessed the negative impact of the financial crises, which has hit a number of European Union member states that also destination countries for Albanian migrants, in particular Greece and Italy.
“As of 2010, empirical research undertaken in these countries, has shown that returns to Albania have increased and are likely to increase more, if migrants find it difficult to secure a stable job, hence sustainable income,” she said.
Backing the data from the Albanian study, official data issued by Greek authorities also show Albanian migrants and their families are leaving Greece in large numbers.
A series of reports from the country’s state statistics body, the central bank and the Greek social insurance fund shows that in 2011 and 2012, more than 100,000 Albanians left Greece, while this trend is expected to be larger during the 2013- 2014 period, but the full data is not yet available.
IKA, the Greek social insurance fund, also showed significant decrease of Albanian workers insured, down from 121,902 in 2009 to 85,893 in 2013.
The departure of Albanian migrants not only reflected in the savings they take with them from Greek banks, from where depositors from Albania have decreased significantly, according to citing data from Greece’s central bank.
Perhaps more than the money brought home, there for many of those who have returned, like Thela, have mastered new skills and a sense of entrepreneurship during their immigration years, and are now trying to put it to work in Albania.
“It’s not easy, and it’s hard to make money here, but we are working hard, and we get by,” he said. “We are better off.”