Dumitru Sandu

Destination Selection Among Romanian Migrants in Times of Crisis: an Origin Integrated Approach

Dumitru Sandu

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Article information

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Abstract

The article is targeted to an understanding of transnational fields of Romanian migration from the point of view destination selection as measured by migration selectivity at different levels. Why some people from certain communities and regions of Romania go to certain countries? Are there any changes in these choices as related to the global crisis? These are the two basic questions of the study. The answer is given in terms of multilevel selectivity of migration abroad. Characteristics of personal status (age, human capital, gender, ethnicity), residence community (levels and types of local human development) and regions (urban and development regions) are especially analyzed by census data from 2011.
The seven major transnational fields of Romanian migration – towards Italy, Spain (plus Greece and Cyprus), France (plus Belgium and Portugal), Germany (plus Austria), United Kingdom (plus Ireland, USA and Canada), Nordic European countries and Hungary – are described by their regional origin in Romania and one or multi-countries destinations.
Multiple regression models are used to explain, at individual and community level, why choosing one or another destination. The complexity of studied phenomenon oblige to using multiple frames of reference for comparisons – recent international migrants versus nonmigrants of working age, internal and external temporary migrants, NUTS3 or NUTS2 regional units of analysis.
The dynamics of the seven migration fields and their causal profile are reconstituted also in time by developing a kind of migration archeology function of the periods long time emigrants abroad left the country.

Keywords: transnational migration fields, destination choice, multilevel-selectivity of migration, urban regions, local human development

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