Why are Western EU countries focusing on hiring from outside the EU zone?
Receiving almost daily signals that certain Western EU countries are looking to relax the work visa legislation and hire from outside the EU zone, I just wanted to understand the mechanism, and the real reason for this employment direction.
This led me to a few questions:
- Is the Western EU economy growing so fast that everyone in the EU has a job and there are still a lot of unfilled positions?
- Is the entire EU zone population decreasing at such an alarming level?
- What is the current difference between East and West EU of the National Minimum Wage average? Could this be a reason?
I need to find an answer to these questions in order to understand the sudden strong desire of more and more Western EU countries to hire from outside the EU zone.
Let’s take them one by one
Is the Western EU economy growing so fast that everyone in the EU has a job and there are still a lot of unfilled positions?
To understand that we need to see the actual economic growth by country, and this is what you will find in the below table
| Country | Economic growth prediction for 2024 | Per capita growth prediction for 2024 | National Minimum Wage | Population 2024 versus 2023 |
| Norway | 0.5% increase | 80831.00 USD | Although there is no NMW, the lowest payment we found is at 13.67USD/hour, about 2225 USD/month | 0.73% increase |
| Sweden | 0.2% increase | 56322 USD | Although there is no NMW, the lowest payment we found is at 15.67USD/hour, about 2580 USD/month | 0.58% increase |
| Finland | 0.6% increase | 56157 USD | Although there is no NMW, the lowest payment we found is at 17.72USD/hour, about 2923 USD/month | 0.08% increase |
| Ireland | 1.2% increase | 98485 USD | 13.84 USD/hour, about 2283 USD/month | 0.64% increase |
| Denmark | 1.6% increase | 61251 USD | Approximately 18 USD/hour, about 2970 USD/month | 0.49% increase |
| Germany | 0.2% increase | 43578 USD | 13.52 USD/hour, about 2230 USD/month | 0.05% decline |
| Netherlands | 0.4% increase | 59486USD | 14.46 USD, about 3856USD | 0.3% increase |
| Belgium | 1.4% increase | 44847USD | About 2172USD | 0.26% increase |
| Austria | 0.6% increase | 46978USD | About 1634USD | 0.20% increase |
| Italy | 0.7% increase | 33514USD | About 1734 USD | 0.29% decline |
| Switzerland | 0.9% increase | 91498USD | About 5003USD | 0.62% increase |
| France | 0.9% increase | 39088USD | About 1925USD | 0.19% increase |
| Spain | 2.1% increase | 28146USD | About 1235USD | 0.09% decline |
As you can see, we took the most known to be powerful EU countries to analyze.
Is clear now that:
– the economic growth expected for this year is not huge… I would say, nothing to worry about
– the National Minimum Wage increase is low
– the decrease in population is not at an alarming stage, the highest rate we see in Italy, at 0.29%
Then why this rush for workforce from outside the EU?
The only thing I can think of is the rising salaries from the Eastern European countries, which were until now the workforce’s main suppliers for the Western European countries, combined with the need to keep the cost of production at an affordable price, so it can be covered by the salaries they are offering in their respective countries.
How is this affecting from the recruitment perspective?
I would say that first is becoming a political (not economic) need, which explains the reluctance of some countries to embrace this route. From the recruitment perspective, we will see changes in legislation up and down, as the parties are moving in governments… this will cause instability and will become a time-hunt for candidates and recruitment companies alike.
Second, I see a possible issue in accommodating the immigrant workforce in the host countries, as the local population will suffer from unemployment because they will need a higher payment, according to position… I know that in theory, every employer will have to prove that were unable to find the necessary workforce on the local/national market before going the visa route, but this is an easy task, as they will look for candidates internally offering salaries as for immigrants (usually the minimum accepted by visa legislation, which often is just a bit over the national minimum wage)… so they will not “find” on the national market.
The “rush for foreign workforce” will last only for a year, as anything over that will increase:
– the population in the respective countries
– rent prices, as the accommodations will be harder to find
– lands and houses/apartment prices
The time will tell if I was right…