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I N T E R N A T I O N A L LABOUR

OFFICE

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION
1945-1957

GENEVA
1959

STUDIES AND REPORTS
New Series, No. 54

b^.

PRINTED BY "LA TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE", GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

CONTENTS
Page
INTRODUCTION

PART O N E
POLITICAL MIGRATION
CHAPTER I. National Refugees in Germany
General Historical Review
The Integration of Refugees in the Economy of the Federal Republic of
Germany
The Nature of the Problem
Integration, Economic Policy and Social Policy
Progress of Integration since 1946
Consequences of the Influx
Demographic Consequences
Economic Consequences
Social Consequences
Conclusions

7
7
11
12
15
20
25
25
28
30
33

The Integration of Refugees in the German Democratic Republic . . . .
Scope of the Problem
Aid to the Refugees and Their Integration in the Economy
The Consequences of Immigration

34
34
37
40

Bibliographical References

CHAPTER II. Other Population Shifts in Europe
Refugees and Displaced Persons
General Survey
International Action: U.N.R.R.A., the I.R.O., the U.N.H.C.R. and
I.C.E.M
Relief, Assistance and Legal Protection
Voluntary Repatriation
Resettlement
Settlement in Countries of Asylum
Conclusion
National Refugees in Italy, Finland and Turkey
Italy
Finland
Turkey

43
43
43
45
48
49
49
53
56
57
57
57
60

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957
Page

Transfers and Repatriations in Eastern Europe
Nature and Scope of the Various Movements
Poland
Other Countries
Transfer and Resettlement Arrangements
Consequences
Bibliographical References
CHAPTER III. Immigration into Israel
Background and Data
Background
Data
Demographic Features
Breakdown by Country of Origin
Social and Economic Data
Absorbing the Immigrants
General
Foreign Aid
Investment, Full Employment and Inflation
Economic Trends from 1948 to 1957
From 1948 to 1951 : Suppressed Demand Inflation
1952: The Change from Suppressed Demand Inflation to Cost Inflation
From 1953 to 1957: Towards Economic and Financial Stability . . .
Arrangements for the Integration of Immigrants
Immigration Results
Settlement of the Country
Economic Expansion
Distribution of Income
Conclusion
Bibliographical References
CHAPTER IV. Population Shifts in Asia and the Middle East

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64
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68
70
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72
72
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76
77
79
81
81
83
85
86
86
88
89
90
94
94
95
97
98
98
100

The Palestine Arab Refugees
Background
Statistical Data
Relief and Assistance
Integration Plans

101
101
102
105
107

Population Movements between India and Pakistan
Historical Survey

108
108

Consequences of the Population Shifts
Demographic Consequences
Economic and Social Consequences

109
Ill
113

Government Action
India
Pakistan

117
117
119

CONTENTS

V
Page

Population Movements in the Far East
Repatriation of Japanese
Repatriates and Refugees in South Korea
Chinese Refugees in Hong Kong and Formosa
Refugees in South Viet-Nam
Bibliographical References

120
120
124
126
129
130

PART TWO
ECONOMIC MIGRATION
SECTION A. MAJOR POST-WAR CURRENTS

135

CHAPTER V. Continental Movements
Europe
Sweden
United Kingdom
Belgium
France
Switzerland
Other Countries
Conclusions
The Americas
United States
Immigration
Emigration
Latin America
Africa
Asia and Oceania
Bibliographical References

137
137
138
139
142
145
148
150
150
151
151
151
153
155
157
160
163

CHAPTER VI. Intercontinental Movements
European Emigration
General
Countries of Origin
North-western Europe
United Kingdom
Netherlands
Secondary Emigration Countries
Central Europe
Federal Republic of Germany
Austria and Switzerland
Southern Europe
Italy
Spain
Portugal
Malta
Greece

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173
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178
178
180
181
183
185
185
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INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957
Page

Countries of Destination
United States and Canada
United States
Canada
Latin America
Argentina
Brazil
Venezuela
Other Countries
Africa
Asia
Australia and New Zealand
Australia
New Zealand
Conclusion

188
188
188
191
192
192
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195
197
198
201
201
201
204
204

Other Intercontinental Movements

205

Bibliographical References

207

SECTION B. ECONOMIC MIGRATION FACTORS

211

CHAPTER VII. Laws and Regulations

212

Emigration Laws
Immigration Laws
Western Europe
United States and Canada
United States
Canada
Latin America
Africa
West and South-east Asia
Australia and New Zealand
Bibliographical References
CHAPTER VIII. The Labour Demand and Supply throughout the World . . .

212
214
214
217
218
220
222
' 225
227
228
230
231

The Demand for Labour
General
Europe
United States and Canada
United States
Canada
Latin America
Africa and Asia
Australia and New Zealand

231
231
233
237
237
239
241
245
247

The Labour Supply
General
The Factors of Emigration
Overpopulation and Emigration in Europe
Overpopulation and Emigration outside Europe

249
249
250
255
261

CONTENTS

VII
Page

Conclusion
Bibliographical References
CHAPTER IX. Organised and Assisted Migration

263
265
268

National Machinery

268

Emigration Countries
Administrative Structure of Emigration Services
Work of Emigration Services
Immigration Countries
Administrative Structure of Immigration Services
Work of Immigration Services
Bilateral and Multilateral Agreements
Treaties
Migration and Recruiting Agreements
Social Security Agreements

268
269
271
275
276
281
285
285
286
289

Intergovernmental Organisations
The Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration
The United Nations and Its Specialised Agencies
European Regional Organisations

290
292
296
299

Non-Governmental Organisations
Employers' and Workers' Organisations
Voluntary Organisations

300
300
301

Bibliographical References

302

SECTION C. EFFECTS O F ECONOMIC M I G R A T I O N
CHAPTER X. Demographic Effects

303
303

Effects on the Size of the Population
Analysis by Continent
Analysis by Country
European Countries
American Countries
Countries of Africa
Countries of Asia
Australia and New Zealand

303
303
305
305
307
309
311
312

Effects on the Age Structure and Sex Distribution of the Population . . .
Effects on Age Structure
Countries with an Emigration Surplus
Ireland and Malta
Italy and Portugal
Other Countries
Countries with an Immigration Surplus
European Countries
American Countries
Other Countries
Effects on Sex Distribution

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312
313
313
315
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318
318
319
321
323

Effects on Natural Population Trends

331

Vili

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957
Page

Effects on the Labour Force

334

Countries with an Emigration Surplus

335

Europe
United Kingdom
Ireland
Netherlands
Federal Republic of Germany
Italy
Spain and Portugal
Malta and Greece
Non-European Countries
Countries with an Immigration Surplus

335
335
339
339
341
342
343
345
346
347

Europe
Sweden
Belgium
France
Switzerland

347
347
348
350
352

The Americas
Canada
United States
Argentina
Other Countries

353
353
355
356
357

Africa

358

Australia and New Zealand

360

Bibliographical References

361

CHAPTER XI. Economic and Social Effects

362

Effects on Emigration Countries
General
Effects on Overpopulated Countries
Effects on Countries with Full Employment

363
363
366
376

Effects on Immigration Countries
General
Western Europe
United States and Canada
Latin America
Africa
Australia and New Zealand

378
378
381
383
386
388
390

Effects on the Migrants
General
The Problem of Settlement
Occupational Integration of the Migrants
Bibliographical References
CONCLUSIONS

• • •

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393
404
408
410

CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES
Page

Table 1. Germany: Expellee Population on 29 October 1946
Table 2. Western Germany: National Refugee Population, 1946-57 . . . .
Table 3. Federal Republic of Germany: Net Immigration, 1950-57
Table 4. Western Germany: Distribution of Refugees by Region between 29
October 1946 and 31 December 1957
Table 5. Western Germany: Size of the Civilian Labour Force, 1946-57 . .
Table 6. Western Germany: Employment and Unemployment (Wage Earners
and Salaried Employees), 1948-57
Table 7. Western Germany: Employment and Unemployment (Wage Earners
and Salaried Employees) on 30 June 1948 and 30 June 1950
Table 8. Federal Republic of Germany : Comparative Breakdown of the Labour
Force by Occupational Status (Expellees and Remainder of the Population),
on 13 September 1950
Table 9. Federal Republic of Germany: Comparative Unemployment Data
for Expellees and Total Population, 1950-57
Table 10. Federal Republic of Germany: Comparative Breakdown by Age
Groups of Expellees and Remainder of the Population on 13 September 1950
Table 11. Federal Republic of Germany: Percentage of Males to Females in
the Various Age Groups (Expellees and Remainder of the Population)
on 13 September 1950

8
9
10
11
17
17
21
22
23
26
27

Table 12. Federal Republic of Germany: Comparative Birth and Infant
Mortality Rates (Expellees and Population as a Whole), 1950-56 . . . .
Table 13. Federal Republic of Germany: Expellee Manual Workers Employed
on 13 September 1950, by Industry
Table 14. Federal Republic of Germany: Type of Housing Occupied and
Status of Occupants (Expellees and Population as a Whole) on 13 September
1950

Table 15. Federal Republic of Germany: Occupation Density in Normal
Housing Accommodation (Expellees and Population as a Whole) on 13
September 1950

28
31

Table 16. Eastern Germany: Comparative Breakdown, by Age Groups, of
the Population on 29 October 1946
Table 17. Eastern Germany: Percentage of Males to Females in the Various
Age Groups (Expellees and Remainder of Population) on 29 October 1946
Table 18. German Democratic Republic: Estimated Breakdown, by Age and
Sex, of the Population in 1956

Table 19. Summary of I.R.O. Operations, 1947-51

Table 20. Refugees Resettled by the I.R.O., by Country of Departure, 1947-51

Table 21. Refugees Resettled by the I.R.O., by Country of Destination, 1947-51
Table 22. Refugees Presumed to Be Covered by the High Commissioner's
Mandate Resettled under the Auspices of I.C.E.M. between 1 February
1952 and 31 December 1957

Table 23. Israel: Jewish Immigration, by Country of Birth, 1946-57 . . . .

Table 24. Israel: Breakdown by Age of the Jewish Population on 8 November
1948 and 31 December 1957 and of Immigration between 1948 and 1957

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957
Page

Table 25. Israel: Breakdown by Sex of the Jewish Population, on 8 November
1948 and 31 December 1957
Table 26. Israel: Jewish Population, by Country of Birth, on 8 November
1948 and 31 December 1957
Table 27. Israel: Immigrants by Occupation in Country of Origin, 1950-57
Table 28. Israel: Balance of Payments, 1950-56
Table 29. Israel: Gross Investment by Branch of the Economy, 1949-56 . .
Table 30 : Israel : Distribution of the Jewish Population by Area on 8 November 1948 and 31 December 1957
Table 31. Israel: Comparative Trends in the Jewish Population of the Countryside, Major Cities and Other Urban Areas, 1948-57
Table 32. Israel: Jewish Employed Persons, by Branch of the Economy,
in November 1948 and June 1957
Table 33. Former Arab Population of Palestine, by Country of Residence,
in September 1949
Table 34. Refugees Registered with U.N.R.W.A., by Year and Country of
Residence, 1950-57 (Figures on 30 June)
Table 35. Breakdown of Economically Active Palestine Arab Refugees by
Previous Occupation, 1951
Table 36. India: Breakdown of Refugees by Area, 1951
Table 37. Pakistan: Breakdown of Refugees by Area, 1951
Table 38. India: Occupational Breakdown of the Refugee and Local Population, 1951
Table 39. Pakistan: Breakdown by Occupational Status of the Refugee and
Local Populations, 1951
Table 40. India: Expenditure by the Government on Displaced Persons,
1947/48 to 1957/58
Table 41. India: Credits for Integration of Displaced Persons under the
Second Five-Year Plan, 1956-61
Table 42. Japan: Repatriates, by Country of Departure and Civilian or
Military Status, 1945-56
Table 43. Hong Kong: Estimated Population Growth from 1 September
1945 to 30 June 1954
Table 44. Sweden : Migration to and from the Rest of Europe, by Countries
of Origin and Destination, 1946-57
Table 45. United Kingdom: Net Immigration of Nationals of European
Countries, by Nationality, 1946-57
Table 46. United Kingdom: European Workers Admitted under Group
Recruitment Schemes or Individual Permits, 1946-57
Table 47. United Kingdom: Arrivals from and Departures to the Republic of
Ireland, 1946-57
Table 48. Belgium: Migration of Aliens to and from Other European
Countries, 1948-57
Table 49. France: Permanent Immigration of Workers and Their Families,
by Nationality, 1946-57
Table 50. France: Seasonal Immigration, by Country of Origin, 1946-57 . .
Table 51. Switzerland: Residence Permits Issued for the First Time to
Foreigners Authorised to Take up Employment, by Type of Permit and
Nationality, 1946-57

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110
Ill
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CONTENTS

XI
Page

Table 52. Switzerland: Foreign Workers Subject to Employment Restrictions,
by Nationality, 1949-58
Table 53. United States: Migration to and from the Rest of the American
Continent, 1946-57
Table 54. United States : Immigrant Farm Workers Admitted into the Country,
by Country of Origin, 1946-57
Table 55. Canada: Immigration from the United States, 1946-57
Table 56. United States : Movements of United States Citizens to and
from Venezuela, 1950-56
Table 57. Argentina: Net Immigration of Nationals of Other South American
Countries, by Nationality, 1946-57
Table 58. Venezuela: Migration by Nationals of Other Latin American
Countries, by Nationality, 1950-57
Table 59. Union of South Africa: Migration of Europeans to and from the
Rest of the African Continent, 1946-57
Table 60. India: Official Movements to and Returns from Other Asian Countries, 1946-56
Table 61. Migration between Australia and New Zealand, 1946-57 . . . .
Table 62. Gross Emigration from Europe, 1946-57
Table 63. European Emigration by Region, 1946-57
Table 64. Distribution of European Emigration by Major European Region,
by Two-Year Periods, 1946-57
Table 65. Distribution of European Emigrants by Continent of Destination,
1946-57
Table 66. Gross and Net Emigration from Nine European Emigration Countries, 1946-57
Table 67. United Kingdom: Intercontinental Emigration and Immigration,
by Countries of Destination and Origin, 1946-57
Table 68. United Kingdom: Emigration by Major Country of Destination,
1946-57 (Comparison between the United Kingdom Figures and Those
Compiled by Immigration Countries)
Table 69. Netherlands: Intercontinental Emigration and Immigration, by
Continents and Countries of Destination and Origin, 1946-57
Table 70. Netherlands: Emigration, by Major Country of Destination,
1948-57 (Comparison between Netherlands Statistics and Those Compiled by Immigration Countries)
Table 71. Federal Republic of Germany: German Overseas Emigration, by
Country of Destination, 1946-57
Table 72. Federal Republic of Germany: Non-German Refugees Emigrating
Overseas, by Country of Destination, 1947-51
Table 73. Refugees Resettled by the I.R.O. in Countries outside Europe
(Excluding Israel), by Nationalities and Country of Destination, 1947-51
Table 74. Italy: Intercontinental Emigration and Immigration, by Countries
of Destination and Origin, 1946-57
Table 75. Italy: Emigration by Major Country of Destination, 1946-57 (Comparison between Italian Statistics and Those Published by Immigration
Countries)
Table 76. Spain: Overseas Emigration and Immigration, by Countries of
Destination and Origin, 1956-57

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167
167
168
169
170
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INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957
Page

Table 77. Portugal: Overseas Emigration and Immigration, by Countries of
Destination and Origin, 1946-57
Table 78. Malta: Annual Overseas Emigration, 1946-57
Table 79. United States: Migration from and to Europe, by Countries of
Origin and Destination, 1946-57
Table 80. United States: European Immigration from 1 July 1945 to 30 June
1957, by Country of Birth
Table 81. Canada: European Immigration, by Country of Origin, 1946-57 .
Table 82. Argentina: Migration from and to Europe, by Nationality, 1946-57
Table 83. Argentina: Comparison between Statistics of Passenger Arrivals
by Sea (Second and Third Class) and Number of Immigrants Intending to
Settle, 1946-57
Table 84. Brazil: Immigration from Europe, by Nationality, 1946-57 . . .
Table 85. Venezuela: Migration from and to Europe, by Nationality, 1950-57
Table 86. Uruguay: European Immigration, by Nationality, 1948-56 . . . .
Table 87. Union of South Africa: Migration from and to Europe, by Countries
of Origin and Destination, 1946-57
Table 88. Australia : Migration from and to Europe, by Countries of Origin and
Destination, 1946-57
Table 89. New Zealand: Migration from and to Europe, 1946-57
Table 90. Migration from Far Eastern Countries to the Four Major Immigration Countries in the Americas and to Australia, 1946-57
Table 91. Migrants Moved with I.C.E.M. Assistance, by Countries of Origin
and Destination, 1952-57
Table 92. World Population, by Continent, in 1946 and 1957, and Balance
of Intercontinental Migration in the Intervening Period
Table 93. Population Growth and Net Immigration for 17 European Countries, 1946-57
Table 94. Population Growth and Net Immigration for Eight American Countries, 1946-57
Table 95. Australia and New Zealand: Population Growth and Net Immigration, 1946-57
Table 96. Italy: Age Distribution of the Population in 1951 and of Overseas
Emigration and Immigration from 1946 to 1957
Table 97. Portugal: Age Distribution of the Population in 1949 and of Emigration from 1946 to 1957
Table 98. Netherlands: Age Distribution of the Population in 1950 and of
Emigration and Immigration from 1946 to 1957
Table 99. United Kingdom: Age Distribution of the Population in 1950 and
of Overseas Emigration and Immigration from 1946 to 1957
Table 100. Sweden: Age Distribution of the Population in 1950 and of Immigration and Emigration from 1946 to 1957
Table 101. Canada : Age Structure of the Population in 1951 and of Immigration from 1946 to 1957
Table 102. United States: Age Structure of the Population in 1950 and of
Immigration and Emigration from 1946 to 1957
Table 103. Argentina : Age Structure of the Population in 1947 and of Immigration and Emigration from 1946 to 1957

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304
305
308
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315
316
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319
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321
321

CONTENTS

XIII
Page

Table 104. Union of South Africa: Age Structure of the Population in 1950
and of Immigration and Emigration from 1946 to 1957
Table 105. Australia: Age Structure of the Population in 1951 and of Immigration and Emigration from 1946 to 1957
Table 106. New Zealand: Age Structure of the Population in 1951 and of
Immigration and Emigration from 1946 to 1957
Table 107. Emigration Countries: Sex Distribution of Adult Migrants during
the Post-War Period
Table 108. Immigration Countries: Sex Distribution of Adult Migrants during
the Post-War Period
Table 109. Canada: Distribution of Immigrants by Sex, 1946-57
Table 110. Australia: Distribution of Immigrants by Sex, 1946-57
Table 111. United Kingdom: Distribution of Overseas Emigrants by Sex,
1946-57
Table 112. United Kingdom: Overseas Emigration and Immigration (by Sea),
by Occupation and Sex, 1946-49
Table 113. United Kingdom: Overseas Emigration and Immigration (by Sea),
by Occupation and Sex, 1951-57
Table 114. United Kingdom: European Immigrants Recruited Collectively
under Official Programmes, by Occupation, 1946-57
Table 115. United Kingdom: Individual Employment Permits Issued to
Foreign Workers, by Occupation, 1946-57
Table 116. Netherlands: Emigration and Immigration, by Occupation and
Sex, 1948-57
Table 117. Federal Republic of Germany: Emigration, by Occupation and
Sex, 1953-57
Table 118. Italy: Overseas Emigration and Immigration, by Occupation,
1946-57
Table 119. Spain: Overseas Emigration and Immigration, by Occupation,
1946-57
Table 120. Portugal: Emigration, by Occupation, 1946-57
Table 121. Sweden: Aliens in Employment on 1 January 1947 and 1 January
1958, by Occupation
Table 122. Belgium: Immigration and Emigration, by Occupation, 1948-57 .
Table 123. France: Alien Workers Placed in Employment by the National
Immigration Office, by Occupation, 1946-57
Table 124. Switzerland: Foreign Workers Subject to Employment Restrictions
in 1950 and 1958, by Occupation
Table 125. Switzerland: Employment Permits Issued to Seasonal Workers in
1949, 1952, 1954 and 1957, by Occupation

353

Table 126. Canada: Immigration, by Occupation, 1946-52

354

Table 127. Canada: Immigration, by Occupation, 1953-57
Table 128. United States: Foreign Immigration and Emigration, by Occupation, 1946-57
Table 129. Argentina: Immigration and Emigration, by Occupation, 1946-57

355
356
357

Table 130. Brazil: Immigration, by Occupation, 1946-50 and 1953-57 . . . .

358

Table 131. Union of South Africa: Immigration, by Occupation, 1946-57 . .

359

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330
336
337
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338
340
341
342
344
345
348
349
350
352

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INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957
Page

Table
Table
Table
Table

132. Australia: Immigration and Emigration, by Occupation, 1947-57
133. New Zealand: Immigration and Emigration, by Occupation, 1946-57
134. Italy: Savings Remitted by Italian Emigrants, 1946-55
135. Greece: Savings Remitted by Greek Emigrants, 1948-57 . . . .

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371

INTRODUCTION

Since the end of the Second World War, migratory movements on
a quite unprecedented scale have taken place throughout the world.
Millions of people have been driven from their homes and the population
structure of entire countries radically altered. Political upheavals
involving the redrawing of frontiers, transfers of sovereignty and changes
of regime have forced entire populations into exile and caused mass
movements far in excess of those normally resulting from supply and
demand on the world employment market. Thus a characteristic
feature of migratory currents during this period, apart from their size,
has been the existence of political, as distinguished from economic,
migration movements.
This fundamental distinction, on which the over-all plan of this
study is based, is not simply a matter of form. It stems from a basic
difference between the two phenomena, in cause and effect as well as
in pattern. The political movements were the product of exceptional
circumstances and in most cases were sweeping and precipitate, their
momentum quickly spent. Economic migration currents, on the other
hand, have tended to flow fairly steadily in fixed channels. Whereas
individual choice has played only a very small part in the former, which
were usually the result of threats or coercion, it has been a decisive
factor in the latter, which were the voluntary, if not always spontaneous,
expression of a desire for better conditions. Moreover, the former have
usually affected entire groups of human beings who were uprooted for
good, whereas the latter have largely involved young adults, often only
temporarily.
In many ways the two types of migration have had opposite effects.
Political migration has often exerted a disrupting influence on the
economies of the countries where it originated, while in receiving
countries it has led, at least in the short run, to heavier expenditure,
unemployment and inflationary pressures. Economic migration, on
the other hand, has benefited both emigration and immigration countries by providing an outlet for the energies of millions of men. Whereas
the refugees have often been forced down the occupational and social
ladder, the migrant worker has usually been able to better his lot. On
the other hand, the former have usually been absorbed in a community

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

with the same language and traditions and have thus been spared
difficulties of assimilation often experienced by the latter.
The distinction between political and economic migrations therefore
has a very real basis in fact. Nevertheless, the dividing line is not always
hard and fast. In some instances, economic migratory movements
have been swollen by groups of persons migrating for essentially political
reasons. Many refugees, in re-emigrating from the countries where they
first found asylum, have been concerned as much with personal security
as with higher living standards ; some receiving countries have accepted
on humanitarian grounds more refugees than, strictly speaking, they
need have done ; and events such as the Korean war and the international
tension which accompanied it probably helped to increase European
emigration in 1951-52. Conversely, economic factors have sometimes
reinforced political migration currents, as in the case of the recent
influx from Eastern into Western Germany. These necessary qualifications, however, do not detract from the validity of the basic distinction
between migration in which material interest plays little or no part
and that in which it is the decisive factor.
Of course the term " economic migration " must be understood as
applying not only to the migrant workers themselves but also to members
of their families accompanying or rejoining them, as well as to persons
travelling abroad for the purpose of marriage.
It may be added that the distinction between the two types of movements—political and economic—is usually reflected in national statistics.
A country which first gives refugees asylum usually registers them as
such and not as immigrants. Furthermore, they are generally counted at
a later stage and not on arrival as is the usual rule with migrants.
It may be thought surprising that the latter type of movement should
have been dealt with more fully in this report than the former, despite
the fact that far fewer people have been involved. There are a number
of reasons for this. One is that, while political migration phenomena,
taken as a whole, have been on a larger scale, they have also been more
localised. Another is that they have not, by and large, raised any problems of legal protection, since the migrants have usually obtained (where
they did not already possess) the nationality of the receiving country. A
final reason is that these movements are largely a thing of the past, whereas migration by workers constitutes a permanent feature of the world's
economy and as such gives rise to permanent, structural problems of
the kind in which the International Labour Organisation has a constitutional interest. This reason alone, in a study which sets out not
only to relate facts but also to draw certain conclusions likely to afford
useful guidance for the future, warrants giving them more attention than

INTRODUCTION

to sporadic events whose most immediate effects are hardly felt any more.
On the other hand, political migration phenomena are of interest in so
fas as they illustrate the impact which population transfers not due to
the normal operation of supply and demand on the international employment market can have in such areas as national development, employment, wages and public finance.
Although this study is largely concerned with the factual aspects of the
subject, it is realised that facts and figures by themselves mean very little :
they must be explained and, so far as possible, fitted into a coherent
pattern. This accounts for the considerable attention given to detailed
statistical analysis.
The entire work has been designed to reflect this dual preoccupation,
both in detail and in broad outline. The first part deals with political
migration, considered chiefly from the standpoint of its consequences,
and primarily with the two best-known examples : Western Germany
and Israel. The second part deals with economic migration and is
divided into three sections. The first of these contains a general statistical
review of the various movements ; the second discusses their underlying
reasons, both economic and non-economic; and the third attempts
to weigh up their demographic, economic and social consequences.
The conclusion sets out a few principles based on recent experience
which, it is hoped, can afford useful guidance in framing national and
international policy.
Extensive use has been made throughout the study of unpublished
I.L.O. material. Many of the statistical data in particular have been
obtained from the replies of countries to the annual questionnaire sent
out by the Office in preparation for the publication of the Year Book
of Labour Statistics.1 The source material used in the preparation of
the study is listed for reference purposes at the end of the various
chapters.

As regards the presentation of statistical data throughout this study, the figures
given in the various tables have, as a rule, been rounded off on the basis of the exact
figures given in the sources. This includes the totals which, as a result, may not in all
cases represent the exact sum of the rounded-off figures.

PART ONE

POLITICAL MIGRATION

CHAPTER I
NATIONAL REFUGEES IN GERMANY
The heaviest political migration movements of the post-war period
have taken place in Germany, which has had to find room within its
shrunken frontiers for more than 12.5 million refugees from the lost
eastern provinces or from abroad. This immense westward shift of the
German people, which has revolutionised the ethnic map of Central
Europe, has been not only one of the most important demographic
results of the Second World War but a landmark in German history as
well. The resulting problems of adjustment have literally dominated
the country's economic and social life during the 12 years following the
end of the war, and only now is the final solution within sight.
General Historical Review
The surrender of Germany in the spring of 1945 was followed by the
dismemberment of its pre-war territory, the eastern provinces being
divided up between Poland and the Soviet Union. Simultaneously, the
Allied Powers decided to transfer within the new frontiers all peoples of
German stock still living outside them. This decision, which was
embodied in Article XIII of the Potsdam Agreement (2 August 1945),
also by implication forbade all Germans from the territories whose
evacuation had been ordered, and who had left them before the end of
the war, to return to their former homes. It affected virtually the entire
population of the former eastern provinces, together with the German
minorities in Czechoslovakia, Hungary and pre-war Poland. During
1946 mass transfers took place in accordance with a plan drawn up
by the Allied authorities. Of the 9.5 million " expellees " (Heimatvertriebene) on German soil when a census was held on 29 October 1946 1
1
The census did not cover displaced persons being cared for by the United
Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. For the purposes of the 1946
and subsequent censuses in Western Germany, expellees were defined as Germanspeaking persons who before 1 September 1939 lived in the German provinces
located east of the Oder-Neisse line, in the Saar, or abroad. This definition therefore
covers a wider segment of the population than the persons transferred under the
Allied plan. Thus it includes some persons of German ethnic origin who were
transferred to what is now German territory between 1939 and 1943 under agreements
between the Government of the Reich and the governments of the countries concerned. It also covers Germans living abroad who went back to Germany of their
own free will after the outbreak of hostilities. The expellees also include children
born of expelled fathers in Western Germany.

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

some two-thirds were there as a result of this transfer plan, which by
that time had been virtually completed, and the others, whether servicemen or civilian refugees, were persons who in one way or another had
left their homes before the plan was put into operation. Table 1 gives
the breakdown of the expellees by areas of origin and resettlement.
TABLE 1. GERMANY: EXPELLEE POPULATION ON 29 OCTOBER 1946
(In thousands)
Zone of resettlement
Area of origin 1
British

American

French

Soviet

Berlin

Total

Czechoslovakia
. . . .
Former East German
provinces
Poland
Rumania
Soviet U n i o n 2 . . . .
Other

1,466

841

2,397

2,453
215
37
87
212

750
66
68
40
381

37
8
3
7
31

2,274
246
57
57
126

92
9
1
3
11

5,606
544
166
195
762

Total . . .

3,082

2,771

3,602

120

9,670 3

1
By place of birth.
origin.

Including the Baltic States.

'Including 13,000 expellees of unknown

By this time the proportion of expellees to the total population
(64 million) was already 15 per cent. ; it was highest in the Soviet zone
(20.8 per cent.) and lowest in the French zone (1.9 per cent.).
The distribution of the different groups of expellees among the
occupation zones was largely dictated by the Allied transfer plan,
whereby the population of the territories beyond the Oder-Neisse line
were to be sent to the Soviet and British zones and the majority of the
Sudeten Germans to the American zone. But this plan itself merely
conformed to the facts of geography and many spontaneous transfers
followed the same pattern.
In the three Western occupation zones as a whole, where the number
of expellees was already of the order of 6 million, the census held on
29 October 1946 showed that there were in addition more than 1 million
persons from the Soviet occupation zone or from Berlin (most of whom
did not go back). These formed the nucleus of the second group of
national refugees, known in Western Germany as " transmigrants "
(Zugewanderte).
Needless to say, this huge influx, taking place within a mere two years,
represented a crushing burden for the devastated German economy.
Moreover, the burden was not equally distributed within each of the

NATIONAL REFUGEES IN GERMANY

occupation zones. The rural districts which had been largely spared by
the war contained the majority of the voluntary refugees and they were
also designated by the Allied authorities as reception areas for the bulk
of the populations transferred on their orders, with the result that some
of these areas, particularly Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklemburg, were
literally swamped with refugees by the end of 1946.
Thus the territory which later was to become the Federal Republic
of Germany had by this date received 7 million national refugees and
the future German Democratic Republic more than 3.5 million. By the
end of 1957 the former had received a further 4.5 million refugees and
the latter at least 1 million. But East Germany lost a substantial proportion of its refugee population by emigration to Western Germany,
with the result that its total population reached its peak around 1949,
whereas that of Western Germany continued to mount steadily. While
the demographic position has thus undergone far-reaching changes since
1946, it is unfortunately impossible to gauge them with any accuracy
for Germany as a whole, owing to the inadequacy of the statistics available for Eastern Germany.
Although by the end of 1946 the three Western occupation zones had
received the bulk of the expellees assigned to them under the Allied
plan, the influx of national refugees of both types has gone on until the
present day. In the middle of 1948 their total number was a little over
8 million; by the end of 1950 it was 9.5 million; and by the end of 1957 it
exceeded 12 million. Table 2 shows the different stages of this steep rise
(which, of course, includes also the natural population increase since
the end of 1946).
This increase was due to a whole series of different movements,
namely the final transfers under the Allied plan; the repatriation of
refugees who had found temporary asylum in Denmark; the return of
prisoners of war; and, above all, the arrival of expellees who had originally settled in the Eastern zone or of migrants from that zone or from
TABLE 2. WESTERN GERMANY 1 : NATIONAL REFUGEE POPULATION,
1946-57
(In thousands)
29 October
1946 s

1 July
1948

13 September
1950»

1 July
1952

1 July
1956

31 December
1957

. .

5,963

6,997

7,876

8,175

8,656

9,148

Transmigrants

1,021

1,188

1,555

1,819

2,474

3,029

Total . . .

6,984

8,185

9,431

9,994

11,130

12,177

Group

Expellees

Not including West Berlin and the Saar.

' General censuses.

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

TABLE 3. FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY
1950-57 1
(In thousands)
Origin

1950

1951

1952

1953

Berlin2
Soviet zone . . .
Saar
Former East German provinces .
Foreign countries .
Prisoners of war .
Miscellaneous. . .

25.8
217.0
0.6

37.4
172.8
-0.8

68.4
98.1
-0.4

164.8
185.8
1.8

Total . . .

379.1

NET IMMIGRATION,

1954

63.4

1956

1957

48.5 60.1 77.7 56.3
184.1 242.7 247.4 255.2
2.2
3.1
3.5
—

18.8
7.1
1.3
1.4
0.9
18.0 -37.7 -43.5 -15.5 -20.8
53.4
2.8
5.6
4.1
—
45.5 -44.0 -60.5
5.0
2.3
137.5

1955

348.8 221.1

1.5
-5.7
7.4
1.6

12.8
-6.0
2.8
1.2

76.3
27.7
0.2
1.0

310.9 329.4 416.6

1
The figures refer to all migrants whether Germans or foreign nationals and whether refugees of
others. The negative balance shown for foreign countries between 1951 and 1956 is due to the growth or
emigration, but this does not mean that the influx of refugees from Eastern Europe completely ceased
during these years. * Including East Berlin.

Berlin. This latter movement accounts for the bulk of immigration to
the Federal Republic since 1950, as shown by table 3.
In addition to growing substantially since 1946, the refugee population in Western Germany has also changed its geographical distribution
(table 4). Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and Bavaria, which at the
end of 1946 accommodated two-thirds of the refugee population, had
little more than two-fifths by the end of 1957. The share of the North
Rhine-Westphalia area, on the other hand, more than doubled between
these years, rising from 12.4 to 27.5 per cent. The maldistribution of
the early years, which was due to the abnormal conditions of the immediate post-war period, has gradually given way to a pattern more in
line with both the possibilities and the needs of the economy.
Even so, the refugee population is still far from evenly distributed.
On 31 December 1957 it represented 23.9 per cent, of the total population for the Federal Republic as a whole (as against 15.9 per cent, on
29 October 1946), as compared with 35 per cent, in Schleswig-Holstein,
34 per cent, in Lower Saxony and only 13 per cent, in the RhinelandPalatinate.
There are no statistics which give an equally precise picture of the
situation with respect to expellees in Eastern Germany.1 However, by
1
For a discussion of this problem see P. H. SERAPHIM: Die Heimatvertriebenen
in der Sowjetzone, Schriften des Vereins für Sozialpolitik, Neue Folge, 7/1 (Berlin,
Duncker & Humblot, 1954), pp. 61 ff. See also G. IPSEN: " Die Bevölkerung Mittelund Westdeutschlands bis 1955 ", in Informationen (Bonn, Institut für Raumforschung), No. 27-29/54, 2 July 1954.

NATIONAL REFUGEES IN GERMANY

TABLE 4. WESTERN GERMANY x : DISTRIBUTION OF REFUGEES BY REGION
BETWEEN 29 OCTOBER 1946 AND 31 DECEMBER 1957
(In thousands)
On 29 October 1946

On 31 December 1957

ExTranspellees migrants

Total
TransExPercentage
Abpellees migrants Absolute Percentage
of over-all
solute of over-all
figures
total
figures
total

845
63
1,493
26
714
537
49
575
1,662

127
36
291
11
153
99
16
83
204

972
99
1,784
37
867
636
65
658
1,866

13.9
1.4
25.6
0.5
12.4
9.1
0.9
9.4
26.8

638
238
1,663
98
2,340
845
282
1,288
1,756

141
150
465
49
1,014
321
144
415
330

779
388
2,128
147
3,354
1,166
426
1,703
2,086

6.4
3.2
17.5
1.2
27.5
9.6
3.5
14.0
17.1

5,963

1,021

6,984

100.0

9,148

3,029

12,177

100.O

Total

Region

Schleswig-Holstein. . .
Hamburg
Lower Saxony
Bremen
North Rhine-Westphalia
Hesse
Rhineland-Palatinate .
Baden-Württemberg . .
Bavaria

.
.
.

Total . . .
1

Not including the Saar.

drawing on various sources it can be concluded that the number of
expellees (referred to in Eastern Germany as Umsiedler) rose sharply
until 1949 and then levelled off or even fell slightly. Until 1949 direct
immigrants from the evacuated territories and returning prisoners of
war and civilian internees considerably exceeded the number of expellees
emigrating to Western Germany. Since 1950, on the other hand, immigration has dwindled to nothing and natural growth has probably not
made up for the loss of population to the West. By the end of 1956 the
total refugee population in Eastern Germany was officially estimated at
4.3 million—or roughly the same number as at the beginning of 1948.1

The Integration of Refugees2 in the Economy of the
Federal Republic of Germany
The population increase caused by the national refugees in Western
Germany was enormous, not only in absolute figures but also in relative
terms: by the end of 1946 it already amounted to 19 per cent, and in
time it rose to more than 30 per cent. This massive influx, apart from
1
Information supplied to the International Labour Office by the Ministry of
Labour and Vocational Training of the German Democratic Republic.
2
This section, like the chapter as a whole, only deals with refugees of German
nationality. Questions affecting foreign refugees are discussed in the following
chapter although many hundreds of thousands of these refugees have, through their
continued presence in Western Germany contributed to aggravate the situation.

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

raising a tremendous problem of integration, was bound to have farreaching repercussions on the process of economic reconstruction which
could otherwise have been undertaken only by a population slightly
smaller than that of 1939 \ and with an acute shortage of males. Owing
to the presence of the refugees, the country became overpopulated
instead of the reverse and this acted for a long time as a drag on its
economic life. Even today, while the problem has virtually been solved,
it has left behind it a heavy legacy of social costs and other burdens.

THE NATURE OF THE PROBLEM

The integration of refugees in Western Germany was vastly different
from the usual process by which a market economy absorbs migrants.
For one thing, the flood of refugees, by its scale and nature, was very
different from the usual type of immigration current; moreover, it
occurred at a time of economic dislocation, in a country faced with
underemployment and shortages of all kinds, and in short with a series
of conditions diametrically opposite to those normally found in immigration countries—with recovery further hampered by temporary political
obstacles. This combination of factors made the integration of the
German refugees staggeringly difficult.
The size and suddenness of the migratory influx into Western Germany
after the end of the war are best illustrated by the fact that the population increased by nearly one-third in 12 years (a proportion which, though
exceeded by Israel, is still a huge one for an increase due exclusively
to migration) and that three-fifths of the movement took place before
the end of 1946. Even if the nation's capital assets had remained intact
and economic development had resumed its course immediately after
the surrender, the absorption of such a tremendous human mass would
inevitably have created problems of the utmost seriousness and led to
a sharp fall in the standard of living. Occurring in a country which
had suffered immense destruction 2, where internal and external trade
had completely broken down and in which the policies of the Occupation
Powers prevented industry from producing at normal capacity, this
influx of refugees converted an already critical situation into a catastrophic and apparently insoluble one.
1

About 38 million, as compared with a little more than 39 million on 17 May

1939.
2
This destruction mainly affected urban property and transport and communications. Industry, on the other hand, particularly mining and heavy industry, suffered
relatively little.

NATIONAL REFUGEES IN GERMANY

It is true that the years following 1946 brought a reversal of Allied
occupation policies. The Tri-Zone received American aid, the currency
was reformed, restrictions on industrial production and external trade
were gradually lifted and occupation costs were reduced, all of which
helped reconstruction to get under way after 1948. The problem, in
fact, was henceforth no longer one of integrating the refugees in a
disorganised, weakened and stagnating country, but in a dynamic,
expanding economy increasingly similar to those normally found in
immigration countries. Nevertheless, the shortages characterising the
early stages of the expansion process, which the presence of the refugees
had greatly aggravated, and the glut which they had created on the
labour market, persisted for years.
Generally speaking, the integration of the refugees in Western
Germany, compared with the classic process of absorbing immigration
in an expanding economy, had three unusual features. First, the
relative scale of the migration was unprecedented. Secondly, it was
superimposed on the reconstruction of a partly disorganised economy
instead of taking place during a period of normal growth. And thirdly,
its full impact was felt virtually from the start, since most of the immigration preceded rather than accompanied the process of expansion. Given
the circumstances it is hardly surprising that only after nearly ten years,
and at the cost of heavy sacrifices, was Western Germany finally able
to absorb this massive immigration.
The problem was aggravated by a number of other factors. The
initial pressure from the refugees on the employment market was
increased by the fact that those who had not formerly been in wageearning employment were now often forced to look for work, their
impoverishment often being worse than that of the local population.
The result was gross overcrowding in many occupations, particularly
female ones, in the face of an already large surplus of adult women
workers.
Many of the refugees could only be absorbed by the economy
provided they changed their occupation ; the adjustment was not always
easy and it frequently meant a step down in the social scale. Many of
them were compelled, in addition, to leave the areas where they had
settled—rural areas, for the most part, where jobs were few and far
between—to go and work in the towns where industry was beginning
to expand but where housing conditions were such that they had either
to accept temporary separation from their families or to make expensive
and tiring journeys between their homes and places of work. The
problem of finding jobs for the refugees was thus bound up with the

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

problem of occupational and geographical mobility, further complicated
by psychological resistance among those concerned.
Furthermore, the refugee population in the early stages comprised
a high proportion of disabled persons and war widows and orphans
who had to be provided with pensions, the cost of which added appreciably to the already heavy burden of non-productive expenditure that
had to be met out of public funds.
In short, this influx of refugees caused a tremendous amount of additional economic andfinancialdislocation and social hardship in Western
Germany : it increased the shortage of capital,floodedthe labour market
and swelled the demand for staple consumer goods, thereby endangering
monetary stability, the equilibrium of the employment market and the
balance of external trade; and it caused a sharp fall in average living
standards. Indeed, directly or indirectly, it constituted a fresh source of
inequality: by making capital scarcer and manpower more plentiful it
generally favoured the employers and operated against the workers ; by
adding to the surplus of female as compared with male labour it further
depressed the conditions of women workers ; and, generally speaking,
its over-all effect was a social downgrading of those involved in it. Thus
the absorption of the refugees was not simply a matter of economic
development and equilibrium: it had far-reaching social repercussions
as well. It could not be achieved solely by large-scale investment in
greater production capacity and the creation of jobs to make use of
the refugee labour force as quickly and as fully as possible. The local
population also had to make heavy sacrifices to help put the refugees
on their feet again.
At the same time it would be wrong to ignore, on the credit side,
that it was the refugee influx which provided Western Germany with
the male workers it needed for its recovery1—particularly as the average
standard of skill of these workers was fortunately high. As they also
spoke the same language and had the same background, they were
readily adaptable, and being homeless and impoverished by emigration
they were relatively willing to move to the industrial towns where jobs
were available. Thus, a highly mobile labour supply became available
at just the right time, i.e. as the economy was entering a period of rapid
expansion. This asset became increasingly apparent as recovery progressed and the demand for labour expanded: indeed, in recent years
acute shortages among some classes of male workers have only been
1

For a discussion of this subject see F. EDDING : The Refugees as a Burden,
a Stimulus and a Challenge to the West German Economy, Publication IV,
Research Group for European Migration Problems (The Hague, Martinus Nijhoff,
1952).

NATIONAL REFUGEES IN GERMANY

prevented by migration from Eastern Germany. Moreover, the
labour surplus which existed in Western Germany for several years
helped to keep wages at a relatively low level and thus facilitated the
investment needed to restore the economy. Lastly, by forcing the economy to set its sights higher than would otherwise have been necessary,
the influx of refugees stimulated its growth to a size and power it would
probably not have reached normally.
INTEGRATION, ECONOMIC POLICY AND SOCIAL POLICY

The approach adopted to the refugee problem was bound to depend
largely on the Government's general economic policy and its readiness
to intervene in social affairs.
This policy consisted of two phases. The first lasted until the currency reform of 1948 and was characterised by rigid controls. The second,
which started in the summer of 1948, involved a return to a competitive
economy. Signs of this change appeared towards the end of the period
of military administration but the final break between the old and the
new policies did not take place until the autumn of 1949 when the first
Government of the Federal Republic took over. The problem of integrating the refugees must therefore be seen against this background of
two successive, and widely differing, economic policies.
The chief aim of the policy followed by the military authorities until
1948 was to combat inflation. But instead of tackling the causes of the
evil they merely tried to curb it through such means as rationing and
taxation, and in so doing succeeded only in stifling the whole economy
with controls. The result was that instead of providing an incentive to
produce, particularly in industry (which was also subject to certain
output restrictions), this policy perpetuated the existing shortages and
brought almost all monetary transactions to a standstill.
The policy was clearly a disastrous failure and in June 1948 it was
decided to reform the currency—the first step towards scrapping the previous aims and methods. As far as aims were concerned, no further
attempt was made to fight inflation directly by regulating output and
trade. Instead, emphasis was placed on speeding up the formation of
fixed capital so as to rebuild the country's productive equipment as
quickly as possible and on expanding sufficiently to meet the needs
of the increased population. As far as methods were concerned, the
economy was no longer held on a tight rein (except by means of credit
control) and prices and wages were allowed to find their own level
through the operation of market forces.

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

This policy gave absolute priority to investment and, in order to
prevent the danger of inflation that this entailed, the tax structure was
overhauled so as to overtax wages (mainly by means of indirect taxation) and to undertax profits even to the extent of exempting a substantial
portion altogether. In this way the largest possible share of the national
income was switched from consumption to investment. Simultaneously,
an all-out export drive was launched in order (as American aid fell off)
to bring the balance of payments into equilibrium despite the burden of
external debt and the need to import larger quantities of foodstuffs and
raw materials. Increased exports also meant that there was less available
for consumption at home.
These drastic steps proved remarkably effective. The gross national
product in real terms increased by about 85 per cent, between 1949 and
1957; the stability of the new currency was maintained; the balance of
payments was restored despite the cuts in aid from abroad and its
complete cessation after 1952 1; and industry was re-equipped and
even considerably expanded. Nevertheless, private consumption rose
steadily, particularly in recent years, e.g. in 1955 it was 50 per cent.
higher than in 1950.
Needless to say, economic aid from the United States played a great
part in this expansion process, particularly during the early years
1948-50. Between the end of hostilities and 31 August 1951 Western
Germany received 3,328 million dollars in American aid 2 or considerably
more than the United Kingdom and France, to which must be added
721 million dollars from the British Government. This aid covered
the cost of much of the imports needed to support the population and
reconstruct the economy.
1
The balance of current transactions has in fact shown a heavy surplus since
1952. The following figures, which are taken from the United Nations Statistical Yearbook, illustrate the trend in the balance of payments (in millions of dollars) for Western
Germany from 1948 to 1955 and show the progress made during that period.

Source of income
Goods and transportation

1948
. . .

-1,030

1950

1951

1952

-888 -654

1949

Private donations

125

43
3

Official donations
Official capital :

930

684

46
-89
17

8
174
-25

Errors and omissions

. . . . . . .

30
7

121
-4
27
11

413
5
139
8

491

428

116

1953

1954

1955

838 934
711
- 6 -117 -143
133
122
133
-16 -34 -46
-8
30
-3
2 - 5 8 -148

109 - 3 5 - 1 9 1 - 3 3 1 - 1 4 0 - 1 1 0
51 - 4 8 1 - 5 1 9 - 5 6 3 - 6 5 3 - 4 6 3
28 - 4 9 - 8 5
69
-34 -66

2
Made up of 2,016 million dollars from the G.A.R.I.O.A. (Government and
Relief in Occupied Areas) and 1,312 million dollars under the European Recovery
Programme (Marshall Plan). See A. PIETTRE: L'économie allemande contemporaine
(Paris, M. Th. Génin, 1952), Chapter XVII, pp. 468 fï.

NATIONAL REFUGEES IN GERMANY

TABLE 5. WESTERN GERMANY: SIZE OF THE CIVILIAN LABOUR FORCE,
1946-57
(In thousands)
Total labour force
Year

1946 1
1950 2
1954 3
1957 4

Men

Women

12,191
14,125
15,309
15,877

1
Census of 29 October 1946.
* Estimated average for the year.

Absolute figures

Percentage
of population

19,327
22,074
24,190
25,202

44.1
46.6
49.0
49.8

7,137
7,949
8,881
9,325

» Census of 13 September 1950.

• Estimated on 31 March 1954.

One of the major consequences of the economic boom which has
resulted from the policy pursued since 1948 has been the very rapid
increase in the volume of employment since 1950. Between 1946 and 1957,
the active population rose from 19.3 million to 25.2 million, i.e. an
increase of 30 per cent., whereas unemployment, after reaching a peak
of nearly 1.6 million in 1950, fell at first very slowly and after 1954 very
quickly. This huge expansion in employment was wholly accounted
for by the growth in the number of wage earners—from 13.5 million
in 1949 to 18.6 million in 1957. Tables 5 and 6 illustrate this remarkable
expansion.
It was this rapid increase in the volume of employment which made
it possible for the refugees to be progressively absorbed by the economy.
Nevertheless, for a long time they remained a source of grave concern,
and the authorities had not only to grant them relief but also to help
TABLE 6. WESTERN GERMANY: EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT
(WAGE EARNERS AND SALARIED EMPLOYEES), 1948-57
Employment

Unemployment

Year '

1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1

In thousands

As percentage of
1949 figure

In thousands

As percentage of
employment
figure

13,468
13,542
13,827
14,556
14,995
15,582
16,286
17,175
18,056
18,611

99.5
100.0
102.1
107.5
110.7
115.1
120.3
126.8
133.3
137.4

451
1,230
1,580
1,432
1,379
1,259
1,221
928
761
662

3.2
8.3
10.3
9.0
8.4
7.5
7.0
5.1
4.0
3.4

The 1948 figures refer to the situation on 30 June: the others represent estimated annual averages.

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

resettle them and compensate them as far as possible for the losses they
had suffered. As a result, the bulk of the resources that the economy could
spare for welfare purposes were devoted to this national-aid scheme.
During the early years these arrangements were in the hands of the
local governments, helped by various voluntary bodies: not until 1948
were they co-ordinated at the national level. Since then there have
been so many different schemes that space does not allow giving a detailed
account of them; they will merely be described in outline, starting from
the time when the federal Government began to administer them and
(under section 120 of the Basic Law (Grundgesetz) of 23 May 1949) to
assume full responsibility.
Aid to the refugees was concentrated first of all on the most urgent
need—housing. From 1945 onward camps were set up to receive them;
these camps were organised and run by the local governments which
bore almost all the expense for some years. After 1949 the camps
became the responsibility of the Federal Ministry of Expellees and were
governed by uniform regulations. The refugees were also covered by
the general welfare and social security laws, and inevitably drew a large
share of the available benefits, e.g. unemployment benefit, maintenance
allowances for old persons and the disabled left destitute by the war,
and furnishing allowances.
The authorities, for their part, made every effort to integrate the
refugees as quickly as possible into the working population. In so doing,
they concentrated largely on removing the causes of unemployment
peculiar to the refugees. Chief among these was the concentration of
large numbers of them in areas where there was little scope for development and where a strong demand for labour could not be expected
to appear spontaneously. There were two ways of coping with this
situation. On the one hand the redistribution of the refugees throughout
the country could be speeded up—a process which was already taking
place, though too slowly, through voluntary migration. Alternatively,
capital could be invested in the overpopulated areas so as to raise the level
of employment. In actual fact both methods were used.
From the end of 1949 onwards the federal Government carried out
a policy of population transfers (Umsiedlungen) to the industrial cities
of the Rhineland so as to relieve the three overpopulated Länder
of Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and Bavaria, where the rate
of unemployment was exceptionally high. The federal Parliament
provided the Government with the necessary funds to carry out three
successive transfer schemes affecting a total of 1,050,000 persons, of
whom 850,000 had actually been transferred by 30 June 1956.

NATIONAL REFUGEES IN GERMANY

Migration from one Land to another, whether individual or organised, nevertheless had one serious drawback in that it was not confined to the unemployed. Many workers who already had jobs, including
large numbers of semi-skilled workers, were attracted to the more
rapidly developing areas where prospects were a good deal better. This
cancelled out some of the benefit which the overpopulated Länder
derived from this internal migration. Accordingly, the federal
Government simultaneously made credit available in districts where
unemployment was worst. Loans were granted for the expansion of
existing firms, the establishment of new industries and the construction
of housing. There have been four successive plans since 1950, the latest
being specifically designed to cope with the hard core of refugees still
remaining in the reception camps.
The wage earners among the refugees were not the only ones, however, to require special assistance from the authorities. There were in
addition many craftsmen, tradesmen and professional workers who were
unable to continue in their former occupations because they had lost all
their capital. In the general interest as well as on grounds of social
justice, the authorities felt bound to prevent these self-employed workers
or employers from sinking into the proletariat and thus depriving the
community of their socially useful skills and experience. Official aid was
accordingly provided for many of them in the shape of long-term loans
granted by the Expellees' Bank, a special body founded in 1950 and
since entrusted, under the new name of Expellees' and War Victims'
Bank, with the handhng of funds provided under the EquaUsation of
Charges Act (Lastenausgleichsgesetz) of 20 August 1952. This public
loans policy was coupled with tax reliefs.
A third class of refugees, the farmers, numbering some 300,000,
presented the authorities with an even greater problem. Their resettlement
was not simply a matter of finance : there was the further obstacle of
lack of land for new farms. Every effort was made under two successive
enactments, dated 10 August 1949 and 15 May 1953, to find a solution
commensurate with the size of the problem and its social importance,
but owing to all the difficulties in the way of integrating landless farmers
the Government finally, in addition to its other efforts, had to help them
to settle abroad.
Another feature of the authorities' efforts to resettle the refugees has
been their housing policy. This has helped to expand the volume of
employment and, by increasing the supply of housing in the industrial
towns, has allowed labour to move where it was needed. Two building
subsidy schemes were launched under two Acts, dated 24 April 1950

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

and 25 August 1953 respectively, from which, either directly or indirectly,
the refugees were those who benefited most.
Official help for the refugees was not, however, confined to their
economic integration. The Equalisation of Charges Act of 1952 rounded
off this policy by compensating refugees for their capital losses out of
public funds. This Act, which applies to all war victims—refugees as
well as others having suffered losses of property—substituted compensation for relief as the legal principle behind the benefits provided by the
federal Government. The significance of this change was not simply
moral. The Act enlarged the whole scope of the schemes for aiding
the refugees and the homeless and for systematically sharing out the
burden of war damage, so that at the end of 27 years the burden will
have been equally borne by the entire population.
PROGRESS OF INTEGRATION SINCE

1946

Having described the background against which the process of integral
tion took place, the next step, logically, would be to describe the process
itself with the help of employment statistics. Unfortunately, such figures
as exist are, at best, incomplete. They are almost non-existent in the case
of the transmigrants and are inadequate even in the case of the expellees,
who are counted separately only in a few series, censuses, population
estimates and unemployment statistics. The following account is therefore
necessarily incomplete and imprecise in some respects.
However, available manpower statistics do at least reveal the main
stages in the process. During the first stage, from 1946 to 1948, the great
majority of the refugee labour force succeeded in finding work because
of the heavy demand for male workers resulting from war losses, the
absence of large numbers of prisoners, and also a disproportionate
expansion of employment in certain sectors, particularly agriculture
and services. Thus, the volume of wage-earning employment increased
between 30 June 1946 and 30 June 1948 from less than 10 million to
around 13.5 million. Moreover, despite the return of the prisoners
and the persistent influx of refugees, unemployment on 30 June 1948 was
no higher than 450,000. This, however, was due to overstaffing in some
industries and to a very low level of productivity—amounting, in effect, to
disguised underemployment. Thus, it reflected a fundamentally unhealthy
situation, which did not survive the return to a competitive economy.
The upheaval in the employment market caused by the change of
economic policy in 1948-49 marked the beginning of the second stage
in the process of integration which, perhaps arbitrarily, may be assumed
to have come to an end towards the close of 1950. In many ways this stage
was the most critical of all. By causing a sharp contraction in employ-

NATIONAL REFUGEES IN GERMANY

TABLE 7. WESTERN GERMANY: EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT
(WAGE EARNERS AND SALARIED EMPLOYEES) ON 30 JUNE 1948
AND 30 JUNE 1950
30 J u n e 1948
Category

Absolute figures
(thousands)

30 June 1950

Percentage of
wage-earning
a n d salaried
labour force

A b s o l u t e figures
(thousands)

Percentage of
wage-earning
a n d salaried
l a b o u r force

Employed . . . .
Unemployed . . .

13,468
451

96.8
3.2

13,845
1,538

90.0
10.0

Total . . .

13,918

100.0

15,384

100.0

ment in the less productive sectors of the economy, the new policy
brought on a steep rise in unemployment despite the existence of newmanpower needs in industry, and this highlighted the huge surplus of the
existing labour force by comparison with the normal number of jobs.
Thus the years 1948-50 were marked by a distinct relative fall in wageearning and salaried employment, as can be seen from table 7.
Thus a situation of disguised underemployment, due directly or
indirectly to the influx of refugees, and largely sustained by continued
immigration since 1946, developed into one of structural unemployment
which, though it represented the price that had to be paid for getting the
economy back on its feet, hit the refugee population particularly hard 1
and caused a temporary but appreciable worsening of their social and
economic position. The unemployment statistics which, since 1949,
have distinguished between the expellees and other classes of workers,
1
The drop in employment only affected the three Länder where the proportion
of refugees was highest, viz. Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and Bavaria, which
explains why the rise in unemployment in these regions was particularly sharp. The
following figures, representing employment and unemployment of wage earners and
salaried employees in each Land on 30 June 1948 and 30 June 1950 (in thousands),
illustrate the special position of these three overpopulated Lander (figures in italics).

Unemployment

Employment

O n 30 J u n e 1948 O n 30 J u n e 1950 O n 30 J u n e 1948
Schleswig-Holstein

O n 30 June 1950

778
561

632
578

21
14

203
94

Lower Saxony

. .

1,970
180

1,791
187

59
7

Í55
23

N o r t h RhineWestphalia

. .

3,859
1,190
680
1,721
2,529

4,317
1,235
727
1,951
2,427

122
42
5
34
146

229
128
63
83
¡59

13,468

13,845

451

1,538

Rhineland-Palatinate
Baden-Würltemberg

Total .

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

TABLE 8. FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY: COMPARATIVE
BREAKDOWN OF THE LABOUR FORCE BY OCCUPATIONAL STATUS
(EXPELLEES AND REMAINDER OF THE POPULATION) ON
13 SEPTEMBER 1950
(In percentages)
Occupational category

Expellees

Remainder
of population

Total

Self-employed
Employed in family business . .
Public servants
Salaried employees
Wage earners

5.2
1.8
3.7
14.3
75.0

16.5
16.7
4.0
16.3
46.5

14.7
14.4
3.9
16.0
50.9

Total . . .

100.0

give some idea of the extent of this phenomenon. On 30 June 1950, out
of 1,538,000 unemployed there were 513,000 expellees, i.e. exactly a third
of the total number, and the rate of unemployment 1 was nearly three
times as high among the expellees as for the rest of the population
(15.3 as against 5.5 per cent.). The 1950 census revealed other signs of
hardship, e.g. the fact that the ratio of the labour force to the total
population amounted to only 42.5 per cent, among the expellees as
compared with 47 per cent, for the remainder of the population and
despite a slightly higher percentage of persons of working age among the
former; it also disclosed a much higher proportion of wage earners
(75 per cent, as against 46.5 per cent.) among the expellees (table 8).
Thus, not only were the expellees as a whole particularly hard hit
by unemployment, but many of them, such as the self-employed, older
workers and women, were excluded against their will from the working
population because they could not find suitable jobs, while many of
the formerly self-employed were forced to take wage-earning employment.2
1

Calculated on the basis of the labour force covered by the September 1950
census.
2
It may be of interest also to compare the breakdown of the 1950 expellees by
occupational status (as given in table 8) with the corresponding figures for the 1939
labour force in the German eastern provinces and in the Sudetenland. The relevant
percentages are given in the following table.
Category
Self-employed . . .
in family business .
Public servants . .
Salaried employees
Wage earners . . .

Former German
eastern provinces
(1939)

Sudetenland
(1939)

Expellees
(1950)

14.8
20.3
5.4
10.3
49.2

17.7
17.1
1.9
10.3
53.0

5.2
1.8
3.7
14.3
75.0

NATIONAL REFUGEES IN GERMANY

TABLE 9. FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY : COMPARATIVE
UNEMPLOYMENT DATA FOR EXPELLEES AND TOTAL POPULATION,
1950-57
Unemployment imong expellees 1
Year

1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1
Annu al average.
Í January.

Comparative unemployment
rate a

In thousands

As percentage of
total unemployment

Expellees

Total population

527
461
415
360
321
225
179
151

33.4
32.2
30.0
28.7
26.3
24.2
23.5
22.8

6.9
5.8
5.1
4.3
3.8
2.6
2.0
1.7

3.3
3.0
2.9
2.6
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.2

' Annual average unemployment figure as percentage of population on

The few figures which have been quoted show how much still remained
to be done at the end of 1950 to put an end to the refugees' position as a
depressed social class—a problem which could only be aggravated by the
continued influx of refugees from Eastern Germany and by the increase
in the labour force resulting from the natural growth of the population.
Nevertheless, the position of the refugees in relation to the local
population has steadily improved since the end of 1950, and this constitutes the third phase in the process of integration.
During this period, thanks to the federal Government's efforts, unemployment among the expellees fell sharply—more so, in fact, than
among the rest of the population. As a result, the rate of unemployment among the expellees no longer differs widely from the general rate
(table 9).
The general decline in unemployment, which since 1955 has never
exceeded a normal level, did not bear out the pessimistic forecast which
continuing immigration from the East might have inspired at the beginning of this third period. The refugees of recent years, who included a
high proportion of young adults, most of them males, have been absorbed
without much difficulty by the rapidly expanding labour force. Indeed,
this extra manpower has met an increasingly apparent need and without it
the tempo of development of recent years might not have been achieved.
So far from having hampered the integration of the earlier refugees who
were being kept idle against their will, it seems to have helped by contributing to the boom.
Moreover, there can be no doubt that the enormous growth in the
volume of employment since 1950, particularly wage-earning employ-

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

ment, which rose from 13.8 million (1950 average) to 18.6 million (1957
average) also affected the expellee population, especially the women
among whom, for various reasons, the rate of employment had hitherto
been abnormally low. A survey of the expellee population carried out in
1954-55 showed that over half (52.2 per cent.) of the persons covered
belonged at that time to the labour force. Nevertheless, although the
number of persons surveyed (nearly 5.7 million) was very large and
represented about two-thirds of the expellees living in the Federal
Republic at that time it cannot, despite its size, be taken as an absolutely
representative sample.1 The female employment rate, in particular, still
seems lower among the expellees than among the remainder of the population.
A fairly large number of refugees appear to have succeeded since 1950
in setting up on their own either for the first time or once again. Thus,
whereas on 13 September 1950 only 11,500 farms were owned by refugees
(expellees and immigrants), there were over 44,000 in 1956, while in the
handicrafts the number of refugee employers increased from 38,000 in
1949 to 62,000 in 1954. Similarly, in industry the number of firms run by
refugees rose, accounting in 1955 for more than 11 per cent, of the total
1
See K. HORSTMANN: " Die berufliche Eingliederung der Vertriebenen ", in Wirtschaft und Statistik (Stuttgart, Statistisches Bundesamt), 10th Year, No. 4, Apr.
1958, pp. 207-212. The results of the survey as a whole are as follows (figures in
thousands) :

(a) General Breakdown by Economic Status
Category

Self-supporting but not gainfully occupied . . .
Total . . .

Absolute figures

Percentage
of population

2,973.5
2,694.4
279.1
1.209.2
1,508.1

52.2
47.3
4.9
21.2
26.5

5,690.9

100.0

(b) Breakdown of Persons in Employment by Type of Occupation
Category

Total . . .

Absolute figures

Percentage
of population

169.6
35.7
148.2
538.7
1,802.3

6.3
1.3
5.5
20.0
66.9

2,694.4

100.0

NATIONAL REFUGEES IN GERMANY

number of industrial undertakings. 1 Lastly, the survey of 1954-55 showed
(in so far as its results can be relied upon) that the proportion of selfemployed workers had risen from 5.2 per cent, in 1950 to 6.3 per cent, and
that there had been an even more marked increase in the proportion of
public servants and salaried employees, coupled with a distinct fall in the
proportion of wage earners. These changes indicate a substantial improvement in the social status and employment position of the refugee
population.
Despite the achievements of recent years, however, the integration of
the refugees cannot be considered as complete. The problem has no
doubt been solved in purely quantitative terms, in the sense that the
overwhelming majority of able-bodied refugees are now in productive
employment. However, a good deal probably remains to be done
towards regrading these workers, who have not always found the jobs for
which they were best suited. In other words, the problem has become
qualitative instead of quantitative—but this very fact measures the progress accomplished over the past ten years.
CONSEQUENCES OF THE INFLUX

Thus, in ten years or so, Western Germany has succeeded in absorbing over 12 million immigrants, to the extent at least of finding work
for the majority of them. What demographic, economic and social
repercussions this process had on the country's life remains to be
discussed.
Demographic

Consequences

The population of Western Germany suffered such heavy losses
during the war that it would not yet have reverted to its 1939 level had
no immigration taken place in the meantime. By the end of 1957 the
native population of the Federal Republic still fell half-a-million short
of the 1939 total 2 , whereas the total population had increased by
30 per cent.
The present figure is thus the resultant of two fortuitous events :
the losses caused by the war and the migratory influx which followed
it. Not only has the latter more than offset the former, numerically
speaking, but it has had a beneficial effect on the age and sex
structure of the population, which during the war had greatly
deteriorated.
1
2

Some 10,600 out of a total of 94,600.
39,350,000.

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

Germany's war losses were largely military, and had completely
upset the balance between the sexes among the young adult generations.
The census of 13 September 1950 showed that females outnumbered
males by nearly 3 million and, in the 25-45 age group, by more than
1.7 million, representing a ratio of 100 to 77.1 These military losses,
combined with the low birth rate of the war years, had raised the average
age of the population, 9.5 per cent, of which consisted of people over
the age of 64 in 1950, as compared with 7.3 per cent, in 1939. Moreover,
by breaking up a large number of married couples and reducing the
marriage rate they had a lasting effect on the number of births. However,
the proportion of adult males would have been even lower and the average
age of the population even higher but for the immigration of large
numbers of refugees with a higher proportion of adult males and a lower
average age. Tables 10 and 11 illustrate this cushioning effect on the
basis of the 1950 census figures in which—unfortunately—immigrants
other than expellees, among whom there were slightly more men than
women, were lumped together with the rest of the population. Had they,
instead, been classed with the expellees, the contrast between the two
sections of the population—refugees and non-refugees—would appear
even more clearly. The immigration which has taken place since 1950 has
TABLE 10. FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY *:
COMPARATIVE BREAKDOWN BY AGE GROUPS OF EXPELLEES AND
REMAINDER OF THE POPULATION ON 13 SEPTEMBER 1950
Age groups

0-15
15-21
21-25
25-35
35^15
45-65
65 and a be)ve
Total . . .

0-45
1

Expellees

Rest of population

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

1,966.0
733.6
529.0
1,138.3
1,223.2
1,716.0
569.9

25.0
9.3
6.7
14.5
15.5
21.8
7.2

9,270.0
3,464.9
2,324.2
4,885.5
6,236.8
9,783.0
3,854.0

7,876.2

100.0

5,590.3

71.0

Total
Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

23.3
8.7
5.8
12.3
15.7
24.5
9.7

11,237.0
4,198.4
2,853.2
6,023.8
7,460.0
11,499.4
4,423.9

23.6
8.8
6.0
12.6
15.6
24.1
9.3

39,819.5

100.0

47,695.7

100.0

26,182.2

65.8

31,772.4

66.6

Percentages

Not including West Berlin.

1
Out of a total population of 47,696,000, males numbered 22,351,000 and females
25,345,000; and out of 13,484,000 adults between the ages of 25 and 45, 5,874,000
were males and 7,610,000 were females.

NATIONAL REFUGEES IN GERMANY

TABLE 11. FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY 1 : PERCENTAGE
OF MALES TO FEMALES IN THE VARIOUS AGE GROUPS (EXPELLEES
AND REMAINDER OF THE POPULATION) ON 13 SEPTEMBER 1950
Age groups

Expellees

Rest of population

Total

. . . .

104.4
103.9
102.5
81.9
84.6
78.9
69.3

104.3
103.1
95.5
72.9
78.4
83.3
84.0

104.3
103.2
96.8
74.5
79.4
82.6
81.9

Total . . .

89.0

88.0

88.2

0-15
15-21
21-25
25-35
35-45
45-55
65 and above

Not including West Berlin.

continued to exert a corrective influence. In most cases it has been
purely voluntary and due to economic as much as to political considerations. As a result, it has been far more reminiscent demographically
of the traditional type of migratory movement, in that it has included
a high proportion of individuals under the age of 40 and among them
more men than women. 1
Moreover, as is shown by table 12, the birth rate has been persistently
higher among the expellees than among the remainder of the population.
Paradoxically enough, the expellees have also been healthier, as is shown
by the mortality statistics. Infant mortality, in particular, was for a long
time markedly less among the expellees than among the local population
and even today it is still somewhat lower.
Nevertheless, leaving out of account the immigration from Eastern
Germany, which has had a wholly corrective effect, the remainder of
the immigration has brought about only a relative improvement in the
demographic structure of Western Germany. The expellee population
1
The breakdown by sex of the net immigration into the Federal Republic between
1950 and 1957, the bulk of which was accounted for by immigration from the East
(Berlin, Eastern Germany and the former East German provinces) was as follows
(figures in thousands):

Sex

1950

1951

1952

1953

1954

1955

1956

1957

Men
. . . .
Women . . .

230.2
180.1

97.7
109.6

79.0
69.1

176.3
172.6

107.5
113.6

170.0
140.9

175.6
163.8

215.7
200.9

Total . . .

410.2

207.4

148.1

348.8

221.1

310.9

339.4

416.6

Out of a total net immigration figure of 2,403,000 the surplus of males was more
than 100,000 (1,252,000 men, or 52.1 per cent., as compared with 1,151,000 women,
or 47.9 per cent.).

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

TABLE 12. FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY: COMPARATIVE BIRTH
AND INFANT MORTALITY RATES (EXPELLEES AND POPULATION AS
A WHOLE), 1950-56
Number of births per
thousand inhabitants
Year

1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956

Infant mortality per thousand
live births

Expellees

Population as a
whole

Expellees

Population as a
whole

17.0
18.1
18.1
17.8
18.0
17.7
17.9

16.2
15.8
15.7
15.5
15.7
15.7
16.2

37
39
36
36
35
34
31

55
53
48
46
43
42
39

had, after all, been affected by war losses in the same manner as the
local population, and its structure was similarly unbalanced as a result,
though not to quite the same extent. Therefore, all that can be stated
with any confidence about the demographic consequences of the influx of
refugees is that the age and sex structure of the West German population
would have been still more unfavourable and the birth rate even lower
if it had not taken place. But it has by no means filled the gaps caused
by war losses among the younger adult generation.
Economic Consequences
Such a complex human phenomenon as forced immigration on a large
scale can obviously not be reduced to simple economic terms, and in
the case of Western Germany there is still a good deal of controversy as
to whether it helped or hindered the country's recovery.
At first sight it might be thought that the influx of refugees caused
so much extra non-productive expenditure and initially lowered the
general standard of living to such an extent that the question need not
be asked at all. Now, however, that the refugees are completely integrated
it has become clear that the economy has derived a number of benefits
from their presence. These include a bigger domestic market, a better
supply of labour, and lower overhead expenses per member of the
population, which between them amply make up for the additional
unproductive expenditure which still has to be made on some of the
refugees. The fact that productivity has risen does not, however, by
itself prove that immigration has been beneficial for the Federal Republic :
it would have to be shown, in addition, that the present productivity
level could not have been achieved or, in other words, that the country

NATIONAL REFUGEES IN GERMANY

would have made a less spectacular economic recovery, had the influx
not taken place. Obviously, it is impossible to quote chapter and verse
in support of such a claim or to make out anything like a conclusive
case. Nevertheless, the arguments put forward by the pessimists do
appear to be outweighed by those of their opponents.
It is perfectly true that it was many years before the refugees' capacity
for work was fully employed, and for a long time they remained less
productive than the rest of the population. It is also true that heavy
sacrifices had to be made by the West German economy to help them
recover whatever wealth they had possessed, and totally lost as a result
of the war. At the same time the fact that productivity was lower among
the refugees does not necessarily mean that what they took out of the
national product for consumption or the rebuilding of their capital
exceeded their contribution to output. This was unquestionably the
case during the early years but has long since ceased to be so, though at
what precise moment would be hard to say.
It has also been contended that the influx of refugees had an unfavourable effect, at least during the early years, on the productivity of
the local population—directly by keeping some of them out of work and
indirectly by diverting to unproductive uses the resources which could
have been devoted to investment in higher productivity. In other words,
the level of productivity would have been higher initially if the immigration had not taken place. But it is less certain that productivity in this
case would have been able to rise as quickly as it did once the economy
had begun to recover in earnest and it is becoming increasingly clear
as time goes by that immigration has provided the impetus right from
the start of the reconstruction period.
It is hard to see, moreover, how the active population of Western
Germany, severely handicapped by war losses and with many men
kept abroad for some time as prisoners of war, could have coped so
quickly with the problem of reconstruction without large-scale immigration of men workers. It is true that the immigration that actually took
place was far removed from the economic optimum and controlled
immigration with fewer unproductive elements would no doubt have
been preferable. But it did in part meet a vital need and it is pointless
to ask whether Western Germany could have dealt with its labour
shortage in any other way. The real question is whether, and if so
to what extent, the benefits of immigration as it actually occurred
offset its disadvantages.
To some extent, the foregoing considerations answer this question.
However, apart from helping to ease a critical manpower shortage, the
refugees had a further beneficial effect on the German economy, since

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

it may be argued that, by keeping up strong pressure on the employment market for many years and thus exerting a depressing influence
on wages as well as enabling employers to pick and choose, they
helped to create these conditions and thereby facilitate the heavy investment which the reconstruction of the economy and the employment
market " bulge " caused by the coming of age of the post-1936 generations
would have required in any case. It is likely that without this pressure,
combined with that brought to bear on the economy as a whole by the
influx of a population with, initially at least, no capital, the rate of
economic expansion during the years following 1950 would not have
been achieved. While the former has gradually fallen off and today is
negligible, the latter continues to be felt and has been one of the factors
making for the continuance of development at a rapid rate during recent
years. Furthermore, the relatively low level of wages has stimulated
exports and this too has given a further impetus to expansion.
Thus, the heavy initial sacrifices which the local population had to
bear were gradually recovered in the form of the growing benefits which
the economy derived from the presence of the refugees. This process
of recovery operated in exactly the same way as in the case of economic
migration, with the sole difference that it was much slower owing to
obvious factors, such as the weight of the original burden and the
impoverished state of the population which had to bear it. Heavy
though the cost may have been, it would appear that, despite the increase
in public expenditure on the refugees resulting from the Equalisation
of Charges Act, 1952, this cost has already been recovered.
Social Consequences
The main social effect of the wide and persistent gap between the
average income of the refugees and that of the local population in
Western Germany was to complicate the country's social structure by
drawing a sharp dividing line between the two groups.
A number of indications bear witness to the lower living standards of
the refugee population as a whole. Several of them have already been
referred to, e.g. the lower employment rate among the refugee population
as a whole, despite the fact that the refugees comprise a higher proportion
of persons of working age, and among them a higher percentage of
men; and the fact that within the refugee labour force there is a far
bigger majority of wage earners and a much higher rate of unemployment.
Despite the improvement which has taken place since 1950, these difficulties are still appreciable. Two other noteworthy signs of inferiority
should also be mentioned—the generally depressed position of the

NATIONAL REFUGEES IN GERMANY

refugees in the scale of manual jobs and their lower housing standards.
The first of these points is brought out by table 13, which shows
that on 13 September 1950 the proportion of refugees, or at least of
expellees, in relation to the total number of manual workers, exceeded
TABLE 13. F E D E R A L REPUBLIC O F G E R M A N Y : EXPELLEE M A N U A L
W O R K E R S EMPLOYED ON 13 SEPTEMBER 1950, BY I N D U S T R Y
Absolute figures
(thousands)

Industry

Percentage of all
workers
in employment

Agriculture, forestry, fishing, etc. . .
Mining, quarrying, power
Metallurgy, engineering
Manufacturing
Construction
Commerce, banking, insurance . . .
Private services
Transport
Public and quasi-public services . .
Unspecified

337.2
148.3
292.7
507.0
311.6
48.2
196.6
77.9
155.0
6.8

34.1
17.5
15.7
18.9
24.4
14.4
23.2
13.4
26.3
19.5

Total . . .

2,081.2

20.7

the average in those occupations where earnings were and are lowest,
i.e. agriculture, building and public and private services, and were below
the average in the others, particularly mining, metallurgy, commerce
and transport.
Figures are not available regarding the changes since the end of
1950, although the position has probably improved.1
As regards housing, tables 14 and 15 show how much lower the
refugees' standards were at the date of the census, with a far higher
proportion of households living in emergency or communal housing, a
higher percentage of households in sublet accommodation, and a much
greater occupation density in premises occupied by refugees.
The situation has greatly improved since then, but by and large the
refugees are still less well housed than the local population.
To sum up, the economic and social position of the refugees was
characterised at the time of the 1950 census and is still characterised by
the following features: a smaller proportion of economically active
persons and a higher proportion of persons living on private means,
pensioners and dependants; an overwhelming majority of employees,
including a much higher percentage of manual workers than among
1
See the results of the 1954-55 survey in K. HORSTMANN: ' Die berufliche Eingliederung der Vertriebenen ", op. cit.

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

TABLE 14. FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY:
TYPE OF HOUSING OCCUPIED AND STATUS OF OCCUPANTS
(EXPELLEES AND POPULATION AS A WHOLE) ON 13 SEPTEMBER 1950
Expellee households

All households

Type of housing
In thousands

Percentages
of total

In thousands

Percentages
of total

Normal accommodation .
Emergency accommodation
Communal housing . . .

2,310.2

89.1

14,633.9

95.1

217.8
66.9

8.4
2.5

626.8
135.2

4.1
0.8

Total . . .

2,594.9

100.0

15,395.9

100.0

. .

581.3
1,728.9

25.2
74.8

9,417.2
5,216.6

64.4
35.6

Total . . .

2,310.2

100.0

14,633.9

100.0

Status of occupants in normal
accommodation

Owners and tenants
Subtenants

the rest of the population ; and among the latter a higher proportion in
the worse-paid jobs and a higher rate of unemployment. A further
point is that the local population initially owned all the capital and has
derived more of the benefit from the capital accumulation which has
taken place since. In other words, the refugee population had and still
has a relatively much smaller share of the national product than the
local population. The difference in living conditions between the two
groups was further accentuated by the fact that the former suffered more
than the latter from the housing shortage. These contrasts have already
TABLE 15. FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY :
OCCUPATION DENSITY IN NORMAL HOUSING ACCOMMODATION
(EXPELLEES AND POPULATION AS A WHOLE) ON 13 SEPTEMBER 1950
Persons per room

Less than 0.75
0.75 to 1.25
1.25 to 2
2 to 3
More than 3
Total . . .

Percentage of
expellee population

Percentage of
total population

3.1
30.1
42.4
15.7
8.7

16.9
39.6
33.0
7.3
3.2

100.0

NATIONAL REFUGEES IN GERMANY

become less glaring and progress is continuing, thanks to the policy of
equalising the burdens and the drive to rehouse the refugees, but despite
the energy displayed by many of them in making up lost ground, the
refugee population as a whole is still markedly worse off.1
To be complete, it would be necessary to point out that the degree
of hardship suffered by the refugees has varied, depending on their social
and occupational group, their age, sex and even the particular time at
which they settled in Western Germany. Those who entered in recent
years, in particular, have on the whole been absorbed more quickly
and more completely than the earlier immigrants.
Mention should also be made of the repercussions of immigration
on the distribution of income in the local population. The main effect,
by creating a constant labour surplus, was to exert a downward pressure
on wages and, incidentally, to depress women's wages proportionately
more than men's. In other words, the migratory influx increased the
relative share of capital in the national income and lowered the share of
labour. The onset of full employment called a halt to this trend which
had gone on since 1948, but did not reverse it.
Conclusions
Two conclusions appear to emerge from the foregoing discussion.
One concerns the effectiveness of the methods used to absorb the
influx of refugees, and the other its long-term effects on the country's
economic and social development.
As regards the methods used to put the West German economy back
on its feet, at a time when it had to bear not only the burden of reconstruction but also that of maintaining a large population surplus, suffice it
to say that they were remarkably effective in the circumstances in which
they were employed. The liberal policy followed by the federal Government probably owes its success mainly to the fact that the necessary
technical, psychological and political conditions for intensive investment already existed—technical in that the country had both a highly
developed industry and a skilled labour force, and psychological and
political in that the German workers made no social demands likely to
hinder the investment effort, and that the entire population willingly
shouldered the sacrifices required by a policy which could only bear
fruit in the long run.
As regards the long-term consequences of immigration on the economic and social development of the Federal Republic, it has already been
explained that, even though productivity was depressed for a long time
1

HORSTMANN, op.

cit.

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

as a result, the cost of this relative setback was largely borne by the
refugees themselves, and that the sacrifices made by the local population
were only temporary. Furthermore, all the indications are that the
German economy could not have achieved its present level of productivity
without the extra help provided by the refugees. Thus the heavy sacrifices initially borne by the local population in order to cope with the
influx of newcomers have been, in effect, a highly productive investment.
However, the experience of the Federal Republic of Germany
during the post-war years—in spite of certain similarities with that of
other countries which at one time allowed uncontrolled immigration—
affords no basis for over-optimistic conclusions as to the impact of
mass migration on high-productivity economies in general. Various
special circumstances made it easier for the refugees to be absorbed in
Western Germany, e.g. the gaps in the active population caused by the
war, which would in any case have made it necessary to import men
workers ; the high level of skill of the immigrants who, though unable
to provide the economy with capital in the form of equipment, contributed valuable labour; and finally the size of the task of reconstruction
which temporarily swelled the demand for labour, partly because of
the urgency of the need and partly because of the loss of capital equipment. Nor can severe social hardships, such as the disruption of the
employment market and resulting inequalities in the distribution of
income, be ignored. These represented the price that had to be paid
for the economic benefits of immigration, and even though they were
borne mainly by the immigrants themselves, the entire population felt
their dampening effect on social progress. This fact must be set off
against the refugees' undeniable contribution to economic growth.
The Integration of Refugees in the German Democratic Republic
SCOPE OF THE PROBLEM

Relatively speaking, the refugee problem was just as great in Eastern
Germany, where in 1956 the immigrants represented nearly one-quarter
of the total population—4.3 out of 17.7 million. Since 1945 the influx
of expellees has, it is true, been virtually offset by large-scale emigration
to Western Germany, so that the present population of the German
Democratic Republic exceeds the 1939 level 1 by little more than a
million.
Nevertheless, before emigration siphoned part of it off, the population
of Eastern Germany, swollen by the influx of refugees, was for some
1

16.7 million.

NATIONAL REFUGEES IN GERMANY

years much larger, reaching a peak of 19.1 million in 1948, after which
it declined steadily. Thus during the immediate post-war years, at a
time when the country's economic and social structure was being
radically altered, immigration considerably worsened a position which
was already critical in many ways. Moreover, the appreciable decrease
in the population which has taken place since has had the major drawback of involving mainly young adults, most of them males, thus accentuating the unbalance in the population's age and sex structure; and
since, in the first place, the structure of the refugee population as revealed
by the census of 29 October 1946 (tables 16 and 17 *) was distinctly more
unbalanced, at least as regards the distribution of the sexes in the adult
age group, than that of the local population (nor does there appear to
have been much improvement since2) it is hardly surprising that, accordTABLE 16. EASTERN GERMANY 1 : COMPARATIVE BREAKDOWN, BY
AGE GROUPS, OF THE POPULATION ON 29 OCTOBER 1946
Rest of population

Expellees
Age groups

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

0-14
. . . .
14-21
. . . .
21-25
. . . .
25-35
. . . .
35-45
. . . .
45-65
. . . .
65 and over

951.4
360.6
221.0
383.5
528.0
857.9
298.3

26.4
10.0
6.1
10.7
14.7
23.8
8.3

3,113.0
1,178.1
694.9
1,501.4
2,141.8
3,654.7
1,429.1

22.7
8.6
5.1
10.9
15.6
26.7
10.4

4,064.4
1,538.7
915.9
1,884.9
4,512.6
2,669.8
1,727.5

23.5
8.9
5.3
10.9
15.4
26.0
10.0

Total . . .

3,600.7

100.0

13,713.0

100.0

17,313.7

100.0

2,444.7

67.9

8,629.1

63.7

11,373.9

65.7

CM5
1

Total

Excluding East Berlin.

1
In comparing the figures shown in these tables with those given in tables 10
and 11 for Western Germany, it is important to bear in mind that the former refer
to the position at the end of 1946 whereas the latter refer to a date four years later.
At the end of 1946 a large number of adult males were still outside the frontiers and
were only repatriated during the following years. The two pairs of tables are therefore
not comparable. Nevertheless, as early as the end of 1946 the ratio of men to women
in the adult age groups was already markedly higher in Western Germany than in
Eastern Germany (73.2 per cent, as against 66.9 per cent, in the 14 to 65 age groups).
Thus the movement of adult males from the Eastern zone was discernible before the
end of 1946.
2
The immigration which took place after the end of 1946 doubtless involved
an appreciably higher proportion of adult males than the expellee population covered
by the October 1946 census, i.e. it included repatriated prisoners of war and workers
kept behind temporarily in territories transferred to foreign administration or ownership. But this was partly offset by the emigration of adult males which subsequently
took place among the expellees.

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

TABLE 17. EASTERN GERMANY 1 :
PERCENTAGE OF MALES TO FEMALES IN THE VARIOUS AGE GROUPS
(EXPELLEES AND REMAINDER OF POPULATION) ON 29 OCTOBER 1946
Age groups

Expellees

Rest of population

Total

0-14
14-21
21-25
25-35
35-45
45-65
65 and over . . .

103.3
87.8
36.7
40.6
54.8
70.1
73.0

103.8
92.8
56.1
48.1
64.2
80.5
79.8

103.7
91.6
50.9
46.5
62.3
78.4
78.5

Total . . .

70.5

75.3

74.3

46.4

57.0

54.7

21-45
1

Excluding East Berlin.

ing to recent population estimates (see table 18) the population has aged
appreciably since 1946, while the shortage of males has remained substantial, particularly in the over-30 age groups, despite the natural
increase of the population and the return of the men who, at the
time of the 1946 census, were outside the borders of the Soviet zone.
Indeed, the shortage has steadily grown in recent years because of emigration to the Federal Republic.
TABLE 18. GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC 1 : ESTIMATED
BREAKDOWN, BY AGE AND SEX, OF THE POPULATION IN 1956
Number of inhabitants
Age groups
In thousands

0-15
15-20
20-30
30-35
35-45
45-55
55-65
65 and over

,. .

Total . . .

3,539.7
1,561.5
2,371.2
988.6
1,848.6
2,718.3
2,352.4
2,335.4

20.0
8.8
13.4
5.6
10.4
15.3
13.3
13.2

104.3
102.7
93.4
64.2
61.5
72.8
71.6
69.7

17,717.9

100.0

80.9

Source: United Nations Demographic Yearbook, 1957.
Including East Berlin.

As percentage of
total population

Males as
percentage of
females

NATIONAL REFUGEES IN GERMANY

Thus the demographic background to the integration of the refugees
was distinctly more favourable in Western than in Eastern Germany.
From the start the population of the latter contained fewer active males
and on top of this there was a steady loss by emigration; furthermore,
the population of Eastern Germany was swollen by an influx of expellees
containing a still lower proportion of active males. The result was a
sharper deterioration in the ratio between the working and non-working
population and a steeper rise in unproductive expenditure.
Moreover, the country itself was less industrialised and conditions
were not as favourable for a rapid expansion of employment. While
in some respects emigration helped to ease the problem by freeing a
certain number of jobs, it also had a disrupting effect on the economy
which has been acutely felt in recent years.
However, in view of the relatively small size of the refugee labour
force and also of the acute shortage of labour immediately after the war,
the male workers were absorbed with relatively little difficulty, particularly
as a large segment of the refugee population was of rural origin and the
economy of Eastern Germany, being largely agricultural, was better
suited to a policy of direct resettlement. Apart from this, the social
policy adopted in Eastern Germany tended to reduce the local population
to the level of a proletariat, where it was in much the same position as
the refugees. Consequently, the two sections of the population merged
together more quickly and completely.

AID TO THE REFUGEES AND THEIR INTEGRATION
IN THE ECONOMY

Available data do not always give a clear picture of the way in which
the refugees were integrated in the East German economy or of the
difficulties encountered in the process. The Soviet military administration, and later the Government of the Democratic Republic, did
not consider that aid to the refugees and their absorption in the
economy posed any particular problem or called for special action.
In 1945 the refugees became entitled to the same treatment as the
local population in respect of social security and relief, i.e. they became
eligible for all forms of relief to the needy, such as the distribution of
clothing and household utensils, grants and loans from the State, political
organisations, the trade unions and the churches. Until 1947,45 per cent.
of the persons helped in this way were refugees.
No special measures were taken to help the refugees to obtain
housing. They were accommodated with the local population or lived

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

in camps and huts in the same way as local people who had lost their
homes. All available accommodation was requisitioned as early as 1946
(as were all new homes) and allocated to both groups of the population
in accordance with the same criteria, e.g. need, family circumstances
and political record. The housing situation which for a long time was
critical for the local population as well as for the refugees has improved
considerably in recent years, but the demand is still far from being
satisfied. The Government is making every effort to solve the problem
as quickly as possible.
The absorption of the refugees into the labour force took place
automatically because of the gaps in the active population caused by
war and emigration, the splitting up of the big estates under the 1945 land
reform scheme, the policy of industrialisation which has been pursued
since 1949 and the Government's general employment policy which,
from the start, has been designed to achieve full employment even at the
cost of relatively low productivity.
In point of fact the great majority of the refugees had been found
jobs by 1948 and since then they do not appear to have raised any
particular problem. Moreover, the employment situation has shown
a steady improvement since 1950. Whereas the population of working age
remained stationary, the volume of employment increased from 5.3 million
in 1950 to 6.4 million in 1955, while unemployment fell from 125,000
to 43,000.
A high proportion of the refugees were resettled in agriculture which,
at the end of 1956, occupied 29.5 per cent, of the refugee labour force
and only 20.5 per cent, of the total labour force. The proportion of
refugees absorbed by agriculture was, however, notably higher during
the immediate post-war period when, as a result of land reform, large
numbers of farmers and handicraft workers were resettled on the land.
By the end of 1945 over 85,000 refugee families had been allotted holdings
carved out of the confiscated estates, and many more thousands were
settled in the following years. This scheme, however, was not wholly
successful. The small size of the holdings, inadequate equipment, bad
housing conditions (which often led to a lowering of health standards)
and the inexperience of many of the settlers who were not farmers
by trade led to a number of failures. The Government has tried to
overcome these difficulties by granting loans for the purchase of equipment, improving housing standards and cutting compulsory deliveries.
But there has been a large-scale drift from the land among both the
refugees and the local population since 1950 as employment opportunities
in the towns have expanded. The same is true of farm workers on both
private and state farms, particularly the young men.

NATIONAL REFUGEES IN GERMANY

A distinctly higher proportion of the refugees entered industry,
building and handicrafts, which accounted for over a third (34.2 per cent.)
of the refugee labour force at the end of 1956 as against a proportion of
46.2 per cent, for the population as a whole. It was not always easy
to fit them into urban occupations because many of the refugees had
originally been settled, or at least housed, in rural areas and had to be
moved again. The Government tried to control these moves by making
the employment service responsible for them, and a major shift was
organised by the authorities towards the industrial towns of Saxony and
Thuringia. Such movements at first mainly affected skilled workers
who were urgently needed by industry, but they later covered all workers
who had any industrial experience. This policy was coupled with the
establishment of new industries in the predominantly agricultural areas.
Large numbers of refugee handicraft workers were resettled, at least in
the early years, but few small employers, despite the loans given to some
of them to start up in business again. The numbers of both have since
fallen sharply as a result of the collectivisation policy which has forced
many employers to join production co-operatives or to take jobs as
employees of state concerns. In this respect the refugees have merely
conformed to a general trend whereby the proportion of wage earners
rose from 72 per cent, in 1950 to 79 per cent, in 1956 at the expense
of the self-employed and workers in family businesses whose numbers
during the same period fell by more than 400,000. The numbers of selfemployed handicraft workers and shopkeepers, in particular, dropped
sharply and many of them preferred to emigrate rather than give up
their independence. After the professional workers they account for
the highest proportion of emigrants, there being no difference in this
respect between the refugees and the local population.
Lastly, private and public services and administrations afforded large
numbers of jobs to the refugees, particularly the women; in fact the
proportion of refugees in these sections of the economy was substantially
higher at the end of 1956 than that of the local population.
Thus, despite the redistribution of refugee manpower which has taken
place, especially since 1950, under the impact of industrial expansion,
there are still a number of major differences between its occupational
structure and that of the local population, the main difference being,
of course, the far higher proportion of persons employed in agriculture.
This is not only due to the fact that the great bulk of the refugees were
initially resettled in the rural areas, but also to the fact that they originally
comprised a high percentage of farmers. Their arrival thus enabled
Eastern Germany to carry out its policy of industrialisation without
causing undue shortages of farm labour.

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

THE CONSEQUENCES OF IMMIGRATION

Despite the profound differences between the two Germanys in matters
of economic policy, the same problems arose in both as a result of the
economic and social impact of immigration, but scarcity of data in the
case of Eastern Germany precludes the kind of thoroughgoing analysis
that has been attempted for Western Germany. Nevertheless, the conclusions appear to be much the same in both cases. The first is that the
economy certainly benefited, both during reconstruction and during the
period of industrial expansion that followed, from the availability of a
larger labour force, despite an initial drop in over-all productivity and
an excess of non-productive individuals among the refugees. The second
conclusion is that in Eastern as well as in Western Germany the refugee
population probably had to face special problems of adjustment, and
while these were no doubt attenuated considerably as a result of the
levelling process which took place under the new regime, a certain
amount of inequality must have existed for quite a long time between
the two sections of the population. Although these differences have
gradually faded with time and the growing up of the younger generation,
t is unlikely that they have yet completely disappeared.

Bibliographical References
Statistical Sources
Western Germany.
Unless otherwise stated, the statistics quoted in this chapter for Western
Germany are taken from the following publications of the Federal Office of
Statistics (Statistisches Bundesamt) : Statistisches Jahrbuch (published annually
since 1953); Statistische Berichte (series VIII/7, VIH/12 and VIII/20); and
Statistik der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (1950 census and section 114 which
consolidates the statistics for expellees and refugees); and Wirtschaft und
Statistik (published monthly since 1949).
Reference can also be made to G. REICHLING: Die Heimatvertriebenen im
Spiegel der Statistik, Schriften des Vereins für Sozialpolitik, Volume 6/JII
(Berlin, Duncker & Humblot, 1958).
The results of the 1946 census are given in a number of books, particularly
that by F. EDDING, H. E. HORNSCHU and H. WANDER referred to below.
Eastern Germany.
For Eastern Germany the 1946 census figures have been taken from the
book by P. H. SERAPHIM referred to below, and the remaining data from a
document supplied by the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training of the
German Democratic Republic and unpublished data compiled by the United
Nations Economic Commission for Europe.

NATIONAL REFUGEES IN GERMANY

Other Sources
Western Germany.
For Western Germany, in addition to the annual reports of the Organisation
for European Economic Co-operation and the United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe, the following works have been used:
F. EDDING, H. E. HORNSCHU and H. WANDER: Das deutsche

Flüchtlings-

problem (Kiel, Institut für Weltwirtschaft an der Universität Kiel, 1949).
Das deutsche Flüchtlingsproblem, Sonderheft der Zeitschrift für Raumforschung (published at Bielefeld in 1950 by F. Eilers Verlag GmbH for
the Institut für Raumforschung, Bonn).
ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION ADMINISTRATION, TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE COMMISSION ON THE INTEGRATION OF THE REFUGEES IN THE GERMAN REPUBLIC:

The Integration of Refugees into German Life, Report to the Chancellor
of the Federal Republic of Germany (Washington, D.C., 1951) (one
volume of text and one volume of appendices).
F. EDDING : The Refugee as a Burden, a Stimulus and a Challenge to the West
German Economy, Publication IV, Research Group for European Migration Problems (The Hague, Martinus Nijhoff, 1951).
R. NIMPSCH: Übervölkerung Bevölkerungsausgleich
und Arbeitsmarkt
(Cologne, Bundverlag GmbH, 1952).
INSTITUT ZUR FÖRDERUNG ÖFFENTLICHER ANGELEGENHEITEN e.V. : Europa und

die deutschen Flüchtlinge, Wissenschaftliche Schriftenreihe des Instituts
(Frankfurt-am-Main, 1952).
EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR POPULATION STUDIES: Etudes européennes de popu-

lation : main-d'œuvre, emploi, migrations ; situation et perspectives (Paris,
Institut national d'études démographiques, 1954) (papers and record of
proceedings of the European Population Conference held in Paris in May
1953).
G. IPSEN: " Die Bevölkerung Mittel- und Westdeutschlands bis 1955 ", in Informationen (Bonn, Institut für Raumforschung), No. 27-29/54, 2 July 1954.
E. PFEIL and E. W. BUCHOLZ: Eingliederungschancen und Eingliederungserfolge,

Mitteilungen aus der Institut für Raumforschung, No. 35 (Bad Godesberg,
1958).
K. HORSTMANN: " Die berufliche Eingliederung der Vertriebenen 1954/1955 ",
in Wirtschaft und Statistik, new series (Bonn, Statistisches Bundesamt),
10th Year, No. 4, Apr. 1958, pp. 207-212.
Use has also been made of the following studies published by Duncker &
Humblot, Berlin, in Volumes 6 and 7 (Vol. 6: Grundfragen; and Vol. 7:
Einzeldarstellungen) of the Schriften des Vereins für Sozialpolitik (Neue Folge)
series under the general title " Untersuchungen zum deutschen Vertriebenenund Flüchtlingsproblem " :
H. ARNDT: Die volkswirtschaftliche Eingliederung eines Bevölkerungszustroms,
Wirtschaftstheoretische Einführung in das Vertriebenen- und Flüchtlingsproblem (6/1, 1954).
G. SCHMÖLDERS: Finanzierungsprobleme im Zusammenhang mit der wirtschaftlichen Eingliederung der Heimatvertriebenen (6/II, 1955).
G. REICHLING: Die Heimatvertriebenen im Spiegel der Statistik (6/III, 1958).
G. ALBRECHT: Die wirtschaftliche Eingliederung der Heimatvertriebenen in
Hessen (7/II, 1954).
H. J. VON KÖRBER: Die Heimatvertriebenen und Flüchtlinge aus der Sowjetzone
in Westberlin (7/III, 1954).

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

I. ESENWEIN-RÖTHE : Die Eingliederung der Flüchtlinge in die Stadtstaaten
Bremen und Hamburg (7/IV, 1955).
F. EDDING: Die wirtschaftliche Eingliederung der Heimatvertriebenen und
Flüchtlinge in Schleswig-Holstein (7/V, 1955).
Eastern Germany.
For Eastern Germany, in addition to the Economic Survey of Europe in 1957,
use has been made of other unpublished data compiled by the Economic Commission for Europe and a document communicated by the Ministry of Labour
and Vocational Training of the German Democratic Republic to the International Labour Office under the title Überblick über die Lage der Umsiedler
in der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik und die Untersstützung die ihnen
zuteil wurde anhand der gesetzlichen Bestimmungen.
The following has also been used:
P. H. SERAPHIM: Die Heimatvertriebenen in der Sowjetzone, volume 7/1 of the
Schriften des Vereins für Sozialpolitik, new series (Berlin, Duncker &
Humblot, 1954).

CHAPTER II
OTHER POPULATION SHIFTS IN EUROPE
Apart from the exodus of German refugees, the changes in national
frontiers and regimes which took place in Europe after the Second
World War led to other large-scale population movements, mainly
from eastern Europe towards other countries of the same area or towards
central and southern Europe and the Near and Far East.
Broadly speaking, these movements have been of three types : voluntary departures, outright expulsions and organised transfers. In addition to the people displaced in one way or another since the ending of
hostilities, there were all those who for one reason or another had been
forced to leave their countries of origin during the war itself and who
were either unable or unwilling to go back. The persons affected by
these various movements fall under two major headings: on the one
hand, the " displaced persons " and the refugees in the commonly
accepted sense of the term, both types being aliens in the countries
receiving them, and, on the other hand, the " national refugees " and
transferred minorities which from the start were granted the privileges of
citizenship in the receiving countries.
Refugees and Displaced Persons
GENERAL SURVEY

Movements of refugees and displaced persons took place at different
times and were due to a whole series of events which it is not possible
to describe in detail here. The war itself and the occupation of Central
and Eastern Europe, first by the German and later by the Soviet armies,
set off the first series of large-scale movements by soldiers, prisoners of
war, political deportees, forced labourers and fugitives. Once the war
was over a substantial proportion of these displaced persons were
repatriated, either directly by the Allied military authorities or with
their assistance under the auspices of the United Nations Relief and
Rehabilitation Administration (U.N.R.R.A.). However, some of them,
the majority of whom were in Germany at the time, were unwilling to

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

return home because of the new political regimes established in their
native lands. In 1946 their number was estimated at 850,000. At the
same time, a further mass movement took place from these countries,
mainly towards Germany and Austria, and remained heavy until 1948.
Since then it has fallen considerably but has not ceased altogether. It
once more assumed major proportions in 1956-57, the main country
of origin being Hungary, but with other refugees coming from Yugoslavia and China. Germany received the overwhelming majority of the
post-war refugees—at least temporarily—although proportionately
Austria received an even higher number, and because of its geographical
position gave asylum to the bulk of the Hungarian refugees in 1956-57.
Italy received large numbers of Yugoslavs, while Greece and, to a
lesser extent, Turkey, also provided asylum for some of the refugees.
In addition, Austria received a number of persons of German ethnic
origin who had been expelled from various eastern European countries,
particularly Rumania and Yugoslavia and who, not having the status
of nationals of the receiving countries, can be classed as refugees in the
accepted sense. The European refugees from China were initially
received in Hong Kong.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to give a complete statistical picture
of these multi-directional movements since, for the most part they were
not subject to any control. By 1946-47 the great majority of the displaced
persons (perhaps 7 million in all) had gone back to their countries of
origin so that this part of the first movement was statistically cancelled
out before it was possible to gauge its exact extent. The only accurate
figures available relate to the refugees and displaced persons who
registered with the appropriate international organisations. But large
numbers of them, for various reasons, did not do so and settled down
independently. Moreover, the mandates of the international organisations
responsible for the refugees—the Intergovernmental Committee on
Refugees (I.G.C.R.)., the International Refugee Organisation (I.R.O.)
the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(U.N.H.C.R.) and U.N.R.R.A.—did not cover exactly the same categories of persons and in some cases included pre-war while excluding
post-war refugees. Lastly, there is little information available about the
natural population trend among the refugees or about those who acquired
a new nationality and ceased, legally speaking, to be refugees.
However, the statistics relating to the refugees who on 1 January
1952 were covered by the mandate of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, taken in conjunction with the other relevant
data, disclose that some 2 million European displaced persons and
refugees came at one time or other under international mandate as a

OTHER POPULATION SHIFTS IN EUROPE

result of the war or the events of the immediate post-war period.1 This
estimate does not include the much earlier emigrations by Russians,
Armenians and Assyrians 2, or by Spaniards, but does take account of
the refugees who by 1 January 1952 had acquired a new nationality.
The Polish refugees, numbering about half a million (including
servicemen of the Polish Expeditionary Corps, demobilised in the
United Kingdom or elsewhere), formed by far the largest national group.
Next in order of importance came the Hungarians (250,000, including
the refugees of 1956-57), persons of German ethnic origin (Volksdeutsche) who took refuge in Austria, Baits, Ukrainians and Yugoslavs.
The Russian, Czechoslovak and Rumanian groups were relatively small.
All these national groups contained Jews, who had fled from political
persecution and often accounted for a large proportion of the total
group.
Little is known of the demographic and occupational characteristics
of these refugee populations. It may be stated, however, that among the
displaced persons and refugees from Eastern Europe a definite majority
consisted of young persons of working age and that there were appreciably
more men than women. There was also a large number of very young
children. Furthermore, the majority of those who had already worked
for a living were either farm workers or skilled industrial workers and
this, coupled with their relative youth, made it easier for most of them
to find jobs. On the other hand, these populations did contain substantial minorities of non-manual workers who found the process of adjustment very painful.

INTERNATIONAL ACTION:

U.N.R.R.A., THE I.R.O.,
AND I.C.E.M.

THE

U.N.H.C.R.

The earliest attempts to help European refugees through international
action date back to the years immediately following the First World War.
However, the efforts made to deal with the problems arising out of mass
population movements after the Second World War were on a quite
1

On 1 January 1952, the number of European refugees under the mandate of
the United Nations High Commissioner was some 1,250,000 in Europe, Africa and
Asia (excluding Israel). By adding the number of persons repatriated or resettled by
the I.R.O. outside Europe, Africa and Asia (900,000) and the Hungarian refugees
of 1956-57, and deducting the former Russian, Armenian, Assyrian and Spanish
refugees (some 250,000), one arrives at a total of roughly 2 million.
2
The Assyrians were a Christian minority group who before the First World
War lived in Kurdistan and Persian Azerbaijan. During the war they were driven
from the Ottoman Empire and subsequently resettled, mainly in Greece, Iraq,
Lebanon and Syria. An agreement concerning their status was concluded in 1928.

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

unprecedented scale. With the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation
Administration and, above all, the International Refugee Organisation,
such action also took on entirely new forms.
In 1944, realising the scale and urgency of the problem of assisting
the populations, whether displaced or not, which had been victims of the
war, the governments of the United States and 43 other countries decided
to establish the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration which was given responsibility, among other things, for assisting
displaced persons. But the whole problem of refugees and displaced
persons was so important that special action and appropriate machinery
were obviously needed, and on 12 February 1946, the General Assembly
of the United Nations decided to establish the International Refugee
Organisation as a non-permanent specialised agency. This body started
work in July 1947, and continued operations until the end of 1951.
The tasks assigned to it included those formerly discharged by
the League of Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Intergovernmental Committee for Refugees and U.N.R.R.A. It was responsible for giving legal protection to persons covered by its mandate, for
providing such relief as they needed and for helping them either to go
back to their countries of origin or to settle elsewhere. It was in this last
field—resettlement—that the I.R.O., acting as a gigantic emigration
agency, had the most marked and novel impact. To cope with its responsibilities it had a large staff1, and ample financial resources.2 Table 19
gives a general picture of its operations.
The I.R.O. had been set up for only a limited period in the hope that
the problem of the European refugees could be settled quickly. However,
despite the extension of its mandate until the end of 1951, the tasks
assigned to it had not been fulfilled even by that date: not only were
more than 400,000 persons, many of them in camps, still awaiting
resettlement but new refugees kept on arriving, though at a much slower
rate. In order to relieve the I.R.O. of part of its work load, the United
Nations in 1949 established the Office of the High Commissioner for
Refugees, which took over responsibility for their legal protection.
The High Commissioner took up his duties in January 1951 and his
terms of reference have since been extended to include some of the
functions which the I.R.O. had continued to discharge until the end;
others were transferred to the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration, which was set up in November 1951.3
1

3,000 officials at the peak of its activity, most of whom were taken over from
U.N.R.R.A. and the Intergovernmental Committee for Refugees.
2
Between July 1947 and December 1951, its total expenditure amounted to
nearly 430 million dollars.
3
See below, Chapter IX.

OTHER POPULATION SHIFTS IN EUROPE
TABLE 19. SUMMARY O F I.R.O. OPERATIONS,
(Thousands of persons)

1947-51

Country of registration
Action taken

Repatriated . . .
Resettled
. . . .
Registered as having died or disappeared
. . . .
Total cases dealt
with
Total number of
outstanding cases
Registered for protection purposes
only

Austria

Belgium

France

Western
Germany

Italy

Miscellaneous 1

4.7
145.2

0.1
8.7

0.7
31.4

46.9
719.5

3.1
70.5

17.3
63.4

67.3

7.2

7.1

Total

72.8 2
1,038.4

15.4
165.3

8.8

32.2

833.7

80.9

87.7

97.2
1,208.6

15.5

2.0

11.6

68.6

22.2

7.3

127.7

7.7

9.3

181.1

71.4

3.7

9.9

282.7

188.5

20.1

224.9

973.8

106.8

104.9

1,619.0

Total cases regis-

Source : I.R.O. : Statistical Report (July ¡947-Dec. 1951).
1
Including 7,800 refugees registered in the Middle East, 15,800 in East Africa and 40,200, including
11,100 Chinese, in the Far East.
* Including 11,200 Chinese repatriated to various Far Eastern
countries.

The first of these two agencies provides all the refugees with legal
protection and, if they still need it, with material assistance. It also helps
them to become stabilised through repatriation, settlement locally or
emigration and resettlement. The second makes the necessary arrangements (selection, administrative formalities, transport and placement) in
the case of refugees choosing to emigrate. In 1954 the General Assembly
of the United Nations authorised the High Commissioner's Office to
undertake a programme designed to achieve " permanent solutions " to
the refugee problem, and since the latter has no authority to engage in
operational work its efforts to this end have been directed primarily
towards preparing and co-ordinating schemes to facilitate integration
locally or resettlement elsewhere, in co-operation with governments
and voluntary organisations. For this purpose it can draw upon a
special fund made up of voluntary contributions from governments and
private bodies.
Apart from public agencies such as the I.R.O., the High Commissioner's Office and I.C.E.M., a number of voluntary organisations,
whether lay or religious1, have played a very important part and considerably enhanced the effectiveness of the former.
1
These organisations are grouped together in a Standing Conference of Voluntary
Agencies Working for Refugees.

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

RELIEF, ASSISTANCE AND LEGAL PROTECTION

Refugees and displaced persons were speedily provided with relief
and assistance in one form or another through the combined efforts of
the authorities in the various receiving countries, voluntary organisations
and the appropriate international agencies.
Owing to the housing shortage in these countries the refugees
could initially be accommodated by the authorities only in camps, where
provision was made for their support (including that of refugees who
managed to find accommodation elsewhere). The number of camps and
their inmates has declined over the years, and by the summer of 1957
they contained no more than 58,000 persons in five receiving countries
(Austria, Western Germany, Greece, Italy and Turkey), whereas ten
years previously there had been 350,000 in Austria, Western Germany
and Italy alone. The task of running these camps and maintaining the
refugees, which had originally been discharged by the local civilian or
military authorities and later by U.N.R.R.A., was one of the main
responsibilities of the I.R.O. for many years, and after the I.R.O. was
dissolved it was taken over by the governments themselves.
In the days of the I.R.O. the authorities provided not only accommodation and maintenance but also assistance in many other forms,
ministering to practically all the needs of the vast and heterogeneous
refugee population. The I.R.O. set up medical and hospital services and
provided a wide range of preventive and treatment facilities. As part
of its welfare policy, it organised vocational training and language
courses to equip the refugees to earn their own living, and sought in
every possible way to counteract the effects of idleness and discouragement. It also tried, wherever possible, to enlist the active support of the
refugees themselves and some of them were assigned to medical or
administrative duties or employed in the manufacture of clothing for the
camp population.
Some of these relief and assistance arrangements, e.g. emergency
relief, aid to " difficult cases " and vocational training, have been taken
over by the High Commissioner's Office. Loans have also been granted
to craftsmen to help them set up in business on their own account and
a large-scale effort has been made to improve the refugees' housing
standards.
In order to meet the refugees' longer-term interests, relief and assistance were combined with legal protection granted first by the I.R.O. and
later by the High Commissioner's Office to all refugees covered by their
mandate. Such protection is automatically available to all who are
unable or unwilling to avail themselves of the protection of a government.

OTHER POPULATION SHIFTS IN EUROPE

This eligibility for protection distinguishes the refugees referred
to in this section from all the other European refugees covered
by this study. It is mainly designed to prevent them from being discriminated against and to ensure that whatever country they live in they
are granted their full economic and social rights. In fact, some governments have even been induced by international action to grant certain
privileges to the refugees as compared with other aliens. Lastly, the
High Commissioner's Office supervises the enforcement of the international instruments which are designed for the protection of refugees
or which directly affect them. The most important is the Convention
concerning the status of refugees, concluded in 1951 1, which lays down
a set of general principles governing their rights and makes provision
for governments to issue them travel documents.
VOLUNTARY REPATRIATION

Large numbers of displaced persons were voluntarily repatriated
before 1947, but the exact figures are not known. Since that date such
movements have ceased to be of any significance. The I.R.O., at any
rate, has repatriated 61,700 persons, 38,000 of them to Poland and
nearly 7,000 to Yugoslavia.
Since 1952 it has been impossible to keep as close a check on the
" official " repatriations because the High Commissioner's Office is not
always notified of the action taken on the applications it forwards to the
countries of origin. It would appear, however, that during the last few
years repatriations have not exceeded more than a few hundred a year
(not including Hungarian refugees having left the country after 1956, of
whom 15,700 altogether had been repatriated by the end of March 1958).
RESETTLEMENT

The vast majority of refugees, at least after 1947, preferred to settle
locally or, far more often, to be resettled in other countries rather than
be repatriated. Most of this re-emigration took place under I.R.O.
auspices between 1947 and 1951.
The I.R.O. was able to carry out this immense undertaking because
of the humanitarian sympathy shown by many governments, which
1
By June 1958 this Convention had been ratified by the following 22 countries:
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Federal Republic of Germany,
Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Morocco,
Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, U.S.S.R., United Kingdom
and the State of the Vatican.

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

gave the refugees preferential treatment under their general immigration policy. The United States even passed emergency legislation to
admit several hundred thousand refugees who would not have been able
to enter under the ordinary immigration laws. 1 Some countries deliberately took in the disabled, the sick and the aged. On the other hand,
the efforts made to resettle the refugees were not inspired by generosity
alone. The refugees were a useful source of labour for certain countries,
and up to a certain point were given priority treatment for this reason.
In carrying out its resettlement programme the I.R.O. negotiated
with various governments and concluded formal agreements with many
of them. It also set up a full-scale emigration service to handle administrative formalities, part of the selection procedure, transport arrangements 2, and to pay part of the cost. Considerable efforts were also
made by the I.R.O. to resettle non-manual workers, an undertaking in
which it was assisted by the I.L.O.
After the I.R.O. was wound up the High Commissioner's Office and
I.C.E.M. continued to deal in the same way with the hard core of
refugees who remained at the end of 1951 and with the refugees of later
years, particularly the Hungarians who left their country in 1956-57.
The figures quoted in tables 20, 21 and 22 show the scale of the
resettlement schemes carried out up to the end of 1957, under the
TABLE 20. REFUGEES RESETTLED BY THE I.R.O.,
BY COUNTRY OF DEPARTURE, 1947-51
(In thousands)
Countries of departure

1947

1948

1949

1950

1951

Total

France
Western Germany.
Italy
Miscellaneous . .

10.6
0.1
1.1
70.7
3.9
1.3

43.2
1.3
8.1
152.5
28.2
2.8

51.8
2.2
6.4
259.1
12.6
4.7

21.8
1.1
6.5
140.2
11.1
3.8

17.9
3.9
9.4
97.0
14.7
4.6

145.2
8.7
31.4
719.5
70.5
17.2

Total . . .

87.7

236.1

336.7

184.5

147.5

992.4

. . . .

5.6
1.9

12.9
4.2
2.8

1.8
6.8

3.7
3.3

0.3
3.1

24.3
19.3
2.8

. . .

95.1

255.9

345.3

191.5

150.8

1,038.7

Europe :
Austria

Middle East
Far East
Unknown
Total

Source: I.R.O.: Statistical Report (July 1947-Dec. 1951).
1
2

See below, Chapter VII.
The I.R.O. at one time had its own fleet of ships and aircraft.

OTHER POPULATION SHIFTS IN EUROPE

TABLE 21. REFUGEES RESETTLED BY THE I.R.O., BY COUNTRY OF
DESTINATION, 1947-51
(In thousands)
Countries of destination

1947

1948

1949

1950

1951

Total

Africa
North and Central
America and
Caribbean :
Canada
United States . .
Other countries .

1.0

1.2

0.9

0.5

0.1

3.7

1.1
9.3
0.3

40.8
12.3
0.7

28.6
128.3
0.5

15.9
88.1
0.2

30.4
90.8
0.1

123.5
328.9
1.9

Total . . .

17.3

53.9

157.4

104.2

121.4

454.2

South America :
Argentina
Brazil . .
Chile . .
Paraguay
Venezuela
Miscellaneo us . .

3.3
1.8
0.2
0.5
2.8
0.6

18.3
7.7
1.5
4.3
9.0
3.0

6.4
13.8
1.9
0.5
1.5
1.4

2.9
1.3
0.8
0.4
2.7
1.3

1.7
4.2
0.7
0.2
1.3
1.5

32.7
28.8
5.1
5.9
17.3
7.8

Total . . .

9.2

43.8

25.6

9.4

9.6

97.6

Asia :
Israel
Miscellaneous . .

7.5

63.8
1.6

53.7
0.6

5.4
0.3

1.7
0.2

132.1
2.9

Total . . .

7.5

65.5

54.4

5.7

1.9

135.0

Europe :
Belgium
France
United Kingdom .
Miscellaneous 1

15.9
8.6
29.5
3.4

5.9
16.0
50.9
4.0

0.4
12.2
2.1
1.1

0.2
1.2
2.8
1.1

0.1
0.3
1.1
1.8

22.5
38.5
86.3
11.5

Total . . .

57.4

76.8

15.9

5.3

3.3

158.8

Oceania :
Australia
. . . .
New Zealand . .

1.3

14.3
0.1

89.7
1.0

65.2
1.1

11.6
2.6

182.2
4.8

Total . . .

1.3

14.4

90.7

66.3

14.3

187.0

Miscellaneous and
unknown
. . . .

1.3

0.3

0.2

2.5

95.1

255.9

345.3

191.5

150.8

1,038.7

Tota

Source: I.R.O.: Statistical Report (July 1947-Dec. 1951).
1
Mainly the Netherlands and Sweden.

TABLE 22. REFUGEES PRESUMED TO BE COVERED BY THE HIGH COMMISSIONER'S MANDATE l
RESETTLED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF I.C.E.M. BETWEEN 1 FEBRUARY 1952 AND 31 DECEMBER 1957
(In thousands)
Countries of immigration
Countries
of emigration

Argentina

Australia

Brazil

Canada

Chile

Israel

New
Zealand

Total

Union
of South
Africa

Other countries
U.S.A.

Venezuela

Absolute
figures

Percentages

Overseas European

pa
Z

o
z.
>

Europe :
Austria . . .
West. Germany
Greece . . .
Italy
. . . .
Other countries

1.0
0.1
0.1
0.2
0.8

14.7
2.7
0.3
5.8
6.3

1.9
1.3
0.3
1.3
1.4

25.0
5.2
0.4
4.0
12.3

0.4
0.1

2.0
0.2

0.9
0.2

0.1
19.8

0.1

Total . . .

2.2

29.9

6.2

47.0

1.6

22.1

1.3

Far East
. . .
Other regions

0.1

3.1
0.1

3.3
0.3

0.3

0.4

Total . . .

2.3

33.2

9.8

47.3

1.9

22.5

1.0

t->

0.1
0.1

35.5
25.7
1.8
2.5
19.3

0.7
0.1
0.1
0.3
0.3

0.4
0.7
0.2
0.6
0.3

29.4
0.4
0.7
2.2
5.2

113.4
36.6
4.0
18.1
66.2

45.5
14.7
1.6
7.3
26.6

1.7

84.7

1.4

2.3

37.9

238.3

95.7

0.3
0.3

0.1

1.4

0.7

10.0
0.8

4.0
0.3

85.3

1.5

3.8

38.6

249.1

100.0

1.3
0.2

0.1

z
•p>.

1.3

1.7

Source: I.C.E.M. : Information concerning Refugee Movements Effected by I.C.E.M. during the Period 1 February 1952 to 31 December 19J7, Doc. MC/INF/53 (mimeographed).
1
Only a part of the statistical data concerning refugees is based on accurate counts of persons whose refugee status has been individually examined according to a recognised
eligibility procedure. The term " refugee " in statistics issued by the Office of the U.N.H.C.R. should therefore be interpreted as applying to '* persons presumed to come within the
competence of the Office of the U.N.H.C.R. according to its Statute".

OTHER POPULATION SHIFTS IN EUROPE

auspices first of the I.R.O. and alter of I.C.E.M. They show that
officially about 1.3 million European refugees were resettled under international mandate between1 July 1947 and December 1957. Of these, some
1,050,000 1 emigrated under I.R.O. auspices: 720,000 from Germany,
145,000 from Austria, and 70,000 from Italy. Included in this total were
nearly 360,000 Poles, over 160,000 Baits, over 110,000 Ukrainians and
over 80,000 Yugoslavs. The main countries of resettlement were the
United States (31.7 per cent.), Australia (17.5 per cent.), Israel (12.7 per
cent.), and Canada (11.9 per cent.). The I.C.E.M. had, by the end of
1957, arranged for some 250,000 refugees to emigrate. Nearly half
(113,000) came from Austria, most of them being Hungarian refugees
who had entered during 1956-57. The four major countries of destination
remained the United States (35.6 per cent.), Canada (19.7 per cent.),
Australia (12.5 per cent.) and Israel (9.3 per cent.).
These figures naturally do not cover movements made without
assistance from international agencies, which have doubtless raised the
total number of post-war European refugees resettled outside their
original country of asylum to well over the official figure of 1.3 million.

SETTLEMENT IN COUNTRIES OF ASYLUM

Lastly, substantial numbers of displaced persons and refugees were
absorbed in the countries where they first found asylum.2 Unfortunately
it is impossible to quote any statistics in this respect since many of the
refugees adopted the nationality of the receiving country (particularly
persons of German ethnic origin who took refuge in Austria) so that
legally speaking there is nothing to distinguish them from the remainder
of the population.
Absorption by the local economies was not always easy as all of
these countries were already overpopulated, as some of them still are to
this day. Moreover, those of the refugees who settled there did not
always do so of their own free will but because they did not come up to
thé selection standards of the main immigration countries. It was this
situation that led the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
to launch a scheme aimed at providing satisfactory employment for
refugees who had not yet managed to do so themselves, under the
so-called " permanent solutions " programme.
1

1,039,000 persons up to the end of 1951 plus about 10,000 in the early part of 1952.
This section does not cover countries such as Belgium and France, which were
at one and the same time countries of immigration and asylum.
2

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

In Greece the influx of refugees of G r e e k 1 or foreign origin merely
added to the existing state of overpopulation and had to be absorbed by
an economy which had been disrupted for several years by the strife
following the ending of the Second World War. The result was that the
refugees merely swelled the numbers of unemployed and underemployed.
Of the 16,000 who were still left in the country by the summer of 1957
only half were permanently settled.2
The position is not much better in Italy where there has been a large
manpower surplus ever since the war and the authorities have had to
take special steps to fit a large number of national refugees into the
economy. On top of this, refugees from Yugoslavia have continued to
enter the country until the present day. Out of a total of some 20,000
refugees under mandate only half can be considered to have been
integrated.3
These figures, however, are insignificant compared with the number
of refugees under mandate who were permanently settled—usually under
better conditions—in Western Germany and Austria.
In the Federal Republic of Germany the number of refugees under
mandate has steadily fallen, despite the natural population increase and
new arrivals, from 800,000 in 1948 to 220,000 in 1957. Most of this fall
was accounted for by emigration; naturalisation, which involved some
25,000 persons, did not play an important part. The number of foreign
refugees living in the Federal Repubhc is therefore of the order of
250,000—a relatively negligible figure compared with the total number of
national refugees. The integration of these foreigners was slow during
the early years, but progressed rapidly during the boom of the fifties.
The authorities have also taken steps to facilitate the process, and the
status of foreign refugees in Western Germany is in many ways more
favourable than what the 1951 Convention provides for.
Until the last few years, however, the number of unemployed among
the foreign refugees remained high, and when the I.R.O. was dissolved
they lost the employment opportunities which that agency had provided
1

These were refugees of Greek stock from Rumania and the Soviet Union to
whom the Greek Government refused to grant Greek citizenship. They became the
responsibility first of the I.R.O. and later of the High Commissioner's Office.
2
This figure and those quoted hereafter are given in a survey carried out by the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees during the summer of 1957 of the
position of the refugees in a certain number of countries. See United Nations, General
Assembly: Survey of the Non-Settled Refugee Population in Various Countries, Report
submitted to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Document
A/AC. 79/111, 28 Apr. 1958 (mimeographed).
3
According to information supplied by the Ministry of the Interior, the number
of foreign refugees authorised to work in Italy in October 1958 was 1,264, of whom
546 were self-employed.

OTHER POPULATION SHIFTS IN EUROPE

for them. Since then, the number of unemployed has fallen sharply with
the trend towards over-full employment and the easing of the housing
shortage, which has made large-scale internal migration possible. The
Federal Institute for Placement and Unemployment Insurance has issued
a series of instructions to local placement officers since 1955 with the
aim of ending unemployment among the foreign refugees.
At the present time the unemployment problem appears to have been
reduced to a fairly small number of difficult cases. The Hungarian
refugees seem to have had no trouble in finding jobs.
The scale of the problem has been much greater in Austria. While,
as in Western Germany, the number of foreign refugees fell substantially
since 1948, this was due primarily to naturalisation, which involved
nearly 300,000 persons, most of them refugees of German ethnic origin,
rather than to emigration. By the summer of 1957 the number of
refugees under international mandate living in Austria was no more
than 77,000, of whom 35,000 were settled and the remainder about to
emigrate. Allowing for emigration by persons who had previously
been naturalised, the number of refugees who finally settled down in
Austria may be reckoned at not less than 300,000.
Despite the large gaps caused by the war in the Austrian labour force,
which the refugees partly filled, it was not easy to absorb an influx
amounting to a population increase of nearly 5 per cent. Austria before
the war suffered from underemployment and it was many years after the
end of hostilities before full employment could be achieved, thanks to
the Government's policy of industrial development. The refugees,
therefore, were only absorbed gradually and the trouble many of them
had in finding work was a major cause of emigration up to 1953. Since
then, however, their position has steadily improved.
For a long time their only major employment outlet was in agriculture,
which has suffered from a persistent shortage of labour since the war.
Most of the refugees, partly because of circumstances and partly also
because of official restrictions, had virtually no alternative. Many of
them, however, came from country districts and found it quite easy to
settle down. But with the recent growth of industry and the mechanisation of agriculture which has accompanied it, the situation has changed
completely, and with the raising of the restrictions on the employment of
refugees outside agriculture, many of them have entered other occupations which initially were only open to fairly small numbers of highly
skilled workers. The result is that the refugee population of Austria—
most of whom are by now naturalised citizens—has in recent years made
great strides towards complete integration.

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

CONCLUSION

The problem of European refugees under international mandate has
been virtually solved. Some of them have re-emigrated to overseas
countries where, in most cases, they have immediately been absorbed
and have usually settled down satisfactorily, while others have remained
in Europe where, admittedly, their lot has been a more difficult one ; but
by and large the plight of the refugees as such is largely a thing of the
past. How far they still show signs of the economic and social inferiority
which usually characterises immigrant populations, and what proportion of them have been forced down the scale as a result, is another
matter and one on which no precise data are available. All that can be
said is that their lot has varied tremendously, depending on a number
of factors such as nationality, employment background, the attitude of
the local population and, of course, the character of each individual.
The latter has probably been decisive.
To sum up, while the integration of some 2 million foreign refugees,
now complete, must be reckoned a general success both for the refugees
themselves and for the countries that have given them asylum, the
physical and psychological cost of this readjustment must not be underrated. Above all, it is important not to lose sight of the human problem
raised by those refugees who have not yet been absorbed (and whose
number in the summer of 1957 was put at 113,000 by the High Commissioner's Office *) and also of those whose abilities have not been put to
proper use, e.g. professional workers who were forced to take manual
jobs and adjus \ to them as best they could, or manual workers qualified
for much more highly skilled jobs. The hard core of refugees, particularly those who are still in the camps, constitutes a baffling problem.
Many of them, because of age, health or personality, are what are
usually called " difficult cases " and all the efforts made so far to resettle
them have been a failure. Because of these continued difficulties and the
trouble encountered by some refugees in finding housing, the General
Assembly of the United Nations instructed the High Commissioner in
the autumn of 1957 to intensify his search for a permanent solution to the
problem of refugees whose cases were still outstanding. At the same
time, in order to meet the continuing need for international protection, the
High Commissioner's mandate, which was due to expire on 31 December 1958, was extended for five years.
1
This figure included refugees from Hungary and Yugoslavia who were in the
process of being resettled or being helped to emigrate.

OTHER POPULATION SHIFTS IN EUROPE

National Refugees in Italy, Finland and Turkey
The war and its aftermath also led to mass movements by persons
normally described as " national refugees ". These are refugees who
have kept their original nationality or who, having lost it, have been
granted the nationality of the country of asylum whose language they
speak and whose culture they share. These movements have usually
taken the form of expulsions, irrespective of whether or not a change
of frontier was involved. In addition to the German expellees who have
been dealt with at some length, this second category comprises Italian
nationals from territories lost by Italy as a result of the war, Finnish
nationals from the Finnish territory ceded to the Soviet Union and
Bulgarian nationals of Turkish ethnic origin expelled from Bulgaria.
ITALY

Italian national refugees include, first of all, some 200,000 expellees
who, under the peace treaty, were forced to leave the part of VeneziaGiulia and the Dalmatian coast ceded to Yugoslavia. In addition there
were some 30,000 Italian nationals from the Dodecanese Islands and
220,000 who were repatriated from the former Italian colonies in Africa.
This influx of national refugees (in the widest sense of the term) constituted a heavy burden for a country already faced with a large manpower
surplus.
The Italian Government took steps to assist this refugee population
and a number of private bodies also helped. Official reception centres
were set up through which about one-third of the refugees passed.
Some of them re-emigrated, and on this account were given preferential
treatment; of those repatriated from North Africa, some later went
back. Nevertheless, most of the refugees and repatriated citizens appear
to have settled down as best they could in Italy itself and by 1953 about
160,000 of them had found work. Little else is known about their fate.
FINLAND

Far more complete information is available concerning the population
movements which have taken place in Finland and the way in which
the refugees have been absorbed.
There have been two such population shifts in Finland. The first
occurred as a result of the Moscow treaty signed on 12 March 1940

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

whereby Finland ceded Finnish Karelia and the territory of Salla to
the Soviet Union. The second took place following the armistice (confirmed by the Paris treaty of 10 February 1947) which terminated the
second Finno-Soviet War in 1944. Under this armistice, Finland finally
relinquished the territories she had ceded in 1940 and was also required
to sell the districts of Petsamo and Janikoski. Both the 1940 treaty
and the 1944 armistice provided for the evacuation of the entire Finnish
population living in the territories concerned. The first evacuation
affected 485,000 persons—the vast majority of them from Karelia.
The second involved far fewer people since not all the people transferred
in 1940 had gone back to their old homes when Finland had reoccupied
this area during the war.
These refugees represented a major problem since the transfers
suddenly increased the population living within the new frontiers of
Finland by some 15 per cent. Their absorption was no easy task for
a country which had been seriously weakened economically by war
damage and by the loss of certain territories. The relatively short time
within which it was nevertheless carried out was due to the low population
density, which gave fairly wide scope for resettlement on the land, as
well as to the swift industrial development of the post-war years and the
Government's energetic action in giving top priority to the matter. The
experience acquired in the resettlement schemes which followed the first
evacuation also helped to make the process faster and smoother after
the second.
Despite the short time allowed, both evacuations were orderly,
thanks to efficient transport and accommodation arrangements. Most
of the evacuees were sent to the southern part of the country, which is
the most advanced and most thickly populated. Communities were, as
far as possible, kept together. Only part of the refugees went on public
relief—380,000 persons during the first evacuation and 138,000 during
the second.
According to a census carried out in 1940, over half of the refugee
population (55.2 per cent.) consisted of persons employed in agriculture,
while 16.9 per cent, were industrial workers and 28.1 per cent, had
worked in the service trades. These proportions were much the same as
among the remainder of the population, although the percentage engaged
in agriculture was markedly higher among the refugees.
Absorption in occupations other than agriculture was not particularly
difficult as there was immediately after the war an acute shortage of
labour, both skilled and unskilled, in many trades owing to the needs
of reconstruction and reparations. This expansion of employment,
however, was accompanied by galloping inflation which would probably

OTHER POPULATION SHIFTS IN EUROPE

have been difficult to avoid in any case, but was made a good deal worse
by the presence of the refugees. This first phase of expansion, which
enabled large numbers of refugees to enter non-agricultural employment,
was followed by a second phase during which there were marked gains
in productivity and the economy went through a period of consolidation.
On the other hand, resettlement in agriculture, which involved
something like half the refugee population, called for special measures
because there was no need for an increase in the farm labour force and
large numbers of demobilised soldiers were also anxious to buy their
own farms. Emergency legislation was accordingly passed in both 1940
and 1945—the 1945 enactment being the more drastic of the two—to
provide the displaced farmers with holdings of their own. Most of the
land required was obtained by means of partial expropriation varying progressively in accordance with the area owned ; compensation was paid on
the basis of 1944 values. The remainder was obtained by bringing new
land under cultivation. As a result of these measures, the number of
holdings of less than 25 hectares doubled whereas the number of those
above this limit fell by 20 per cent. By 30 June 1950 over 37,000 new
farms had been set up and equipped and more than 80 per cent, of the
applications had been met. Some of the evacuees, however, either
refused the land they were offered or later gave it up and left farming
altogether, particularly as industrial expansion had created ample employment opportunities in other fields.
By 1950 the problem of integrating the refugees into the Finnish
economy had been virtually solved, but only at the cost of heavy sacrifices on the part of the rest of the population. These sacrifices were considerably increased by the compensation legislation which was passed
both in 1940 and in 1945. The latter enactment, patterned after the
former, introduced heavy new taxes, including a progressive capital levy
(in addition to the land expropriation scheme). A small share of the
actual compensation was paid in cash, the rest being in the form of government bonds or shares in a holding company, the capital of which was
provided by a large number of companies and institutions which were
required to hand over 20 per cent, of their assets. Payments under this
scheme, coupled with the cost of repairing war damage, led to consideraable inflation, although to some extent the recipients of compensation
were protected against rising prices because their bonds were pegged to
the cost-of-living index. Despite this very heavy burden of taxation it was
only sufficient to meet about two-fifths of the refugees' claims.
These sacrifices—of which the landowners doubtless had to bear the
brunt—have probably, as in Germany, been more than offset by the
refugees' contribution to economic growth over the last 12 years. As

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

early as 1950, the average standard of living was above the pre-war level
and the net result of this influx of refugees may well have been to hasten
the egalitarian trend in Finnish society.
TURKEY

There are a number of analogies between the absorption of the
refugees of Turkish ethnic origin expelled from Bulgaria and that of the
national refugees who entered Finland. The problem, however, was less
acute in Turkey where the number of refugees was small compared with
the total population.
On 12 August 1950 the Bulgarian Government decided to expel the
final remnants of the Turkish minority who had been living in Bulgaria
for many centuries. Under this decision, 250,000 persons were given
three months to leave the country. The result was a large-scale exodus,
which formed a sequel to the voluntary emigration of preceding years and
extended until November 1951. However, only 154,000 persons, i.e.
considerably less than the planned figure, left the country during 1950
and 1951.
Initially, the influx was so large and sudden that the Turkish Government was quite unable to provide the refugees with the assistance they
needed. It took time to set up satisfactory reception facilities, although
technical assistance was supplied by the I.R.O. and direct aid by the
World Health Organisation and a number of voluntary organisations,
including the International Red Cross. Centres were opened both at
the frontier and at Istanbul, where the refugees were given emergency
assistance by the Government before being dispersed throughout the
provinces. The local authorities were made responsible for the final
phase of the assistance programme, and for apportioning its cost
among the population as a whole.
Simultaneously, the Government undertook a resettlement scheme.
No special measures were needed to find jobs for the non-agricultural
workers, of whom there were relatively few and who appear to have been
fitted in without any difficulty because of the rapid expansion of the
Turkish economy at the time. On the other hand, as most of the refugees
were farmers or rural handicraftsmen, a major effort was made in the
field of land settlement. The Government also launched a housing drive.
Under legislation passed in 1950, all refugees who had been engaged
in farming in Bulgaria were entitled to a free grant of land and farm
implements. A special agency was set up under the Ministry of Agriculture to handle this scheme which appears to have operated fairly
smoothly thanks to an abundance of uncultivated land, most of it

OTHER POPULATION SHIFTS IN EUROPE

state-owned and consisting mainly of property abandoned by the
Greeks between 1922 and 1928; the rest was obtained either by land
clearance or by expropriating property owned by religious bodies.
Provision was made where possible for the refugees to be resettled in
a natural environment similar to that in which they had lived previously.
The area of the holdings was calculated having regard to the quality of
the land, the nature of the crops and the size of the family units. An
attempt was also made to distribute as many refugees as possible
among existing communities.
By the end of 1952 most of them had been resettled, a total of 85,000
hectares, averaging about 5 hectares per holding, having been shared out
among nearly 16,000 families. Large quantities of implements, livestock
and seeds were made available and loans totalling 7.2 million dollars
were granted to some 15,000 families. The resettlement scheme covered
44 out of the 63 provinces, most of them along the shores of the Black Sea
and the Aegean Sea and in southern and eastern Anatolia. Most of the
families were settled in existing villages and only about 50 new ones were
built.
There are no accurate figures regarding the Government's outlay on
this huge scheme although its cost has been estimated at about 20 million dollars. A small part of this cost—about 2.8 million dollars—was
met by means of bank loans; a larger share—8.3 million dollars—was
provided by American aid (through the Economic Co-operation Administration); and the remainder came from the country's regular budget,
which had to be enlarged temporarily to meet the cost.
Thus the resettlement of the refugees took place smoothly and
relatively quickly. The prosperity which the country was enjoying at
the time undoubtedly helped, but even more important was the energetic
action taken by the Government.
Transfers and Repatriations in Eastern Europe
Little is known about the population transfers which took place
between the eastern European countries and the repatriations to those
countries from other parts of Europe or from the Soviet Union and even
less is known about their economic and social repercussions. In most
cases it is impossible to do more than quote a few statistics.
NATURE AND SCOPE OF THE VARIOUS MOVEMENTS

Most of the movements which fall under this heading can be classed
with those discussed in the preceding section, both as regards their

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

purpose and the legal status of the population groups concerned. The
aim of such transfers was to leave the countries of origin with a homogeneous population, and the persons affected were granted the nationality of the countries in which they were resettled. However, owing
to the way in which these moves were organised, i.e. under negotiated agreements which gave the persons concerned a variety of safeguards and material facilities and provided for co-operation between
the authorities of the various countries, such persons cannot be classed
as refugees and certainly not as expellees.1 The resulting population
shifts took two forms: transfers of minorities and repatriations. The
transfers affected not only populations living in areas which changed
sovereignty as a result of the peace treaties, but ethnic minorities in
general. The repatriations involved persons who had been driven either
westward or eastward by the war, e.g. members of the armed forces,
prisoners of war, political deportees and forced labourers, together
with a number of pre-war economic migrants and political emigrants
who were induced to return to their homelands by assiduous propaganda
from all the eastern European countries. The economic straits in which
some of them found themselves by the time the war ended seem to have
contributed towards the success of this propaganda, which even so was
only partial.
Poland
Of all the eastern European countries, Poland was the scene of the
largest population shifts in one direction or another. At the Yalta
Conference the Curzon line was, apart from some changes in detail,
accepted as Poland's eastern frontier and this was confirmed by the
Moscow treaty of 15 February 1951. Subsequently, the Potsdam
Agreement gave Poland all the provinces within the pre-war frontiers
of Germany to the east of the Oder-Neisse line, with the exception of
the northern half of East Prussia which was annexed by the Soviet
Union. Thus the territory of Poland, after losing some 70,000 square
miles to the Soviet Union, was enlarged by another 45,000 square
miles of former German territory. The great bulk of the population
of the territories annexed by the Soviet Union, which in 1939 totalled
nearly 12 million inhabitants, was made up of nationalities other than
Polish, mainly Lithuanian, Byelorussian and Ukrainian. The Poles
nevertheless formed a substantial minority, which at the end of the war
was estimated at 2 to 3 million. At the same time a significant, though
1
With the exception of the Hungarian minority which really was expelled from
Czechoslovakia or, of course, the minorities of German ethnic origin.

OTHER POPULATION SHIFTS IN EUROPE

much smaller, minority of Lithuanians, Byelorussians and Ukrainians
were left to the west of the new frontier. Even before the war ended,
it had been decided that these populations should be exchanged.
In September 1944 Poland signed three agreements (with the Soviet
Socialist Republics of Byelorussia, the Ukraine and Lithuania) whereby
it was decided to exchange the Poles and Jews who were living in the
territories ceded by Poland to the Soviet Union for the Lithuanians,
Byelorussians and Ukrainians still living to the west of the new frontier.
The population of these territories was officially defined as including
all those who were living there in 1939 and had been forced to move
by the war.
As a result of these agreements something like half a million individuals—50,000 Lithuanians, 30,000 Byelorussians and 420,000 Ukrainians—left Poland, while 1.5 million Poles and Jews x were transferred
the other way, mostly in 1945-46; of these, 788,000 came from the
Ukraine, 256,000 from Byelorussia, 178,000 from Lithuania and
256,000 from other parts of the Soviet Union. The exchange,
however, was a voluntary one and some of the non-Polish minorities
remained in Poland and were later moved to villages or towns in the west
or north of the country while a number of Poles stayed behind in the
Soviet Union, particularly in the bigger towns, such as Vilna, Pinsk
and Lwow.
In addition, half a million Poles came back to Poland during the
years 1945-48 from the Soviet Union, where they had been moved during
the war. The total number of Poles involved in this movement has been
estimated at 1.2 million, but this figure appears to have been greatly
exaggerated. Many others had managed to reach western Europe either
during or immediately after the war. These repatriations were resumed
in 1956 after the signing of an agreement with the Soviet Union on
18 December 1955 which covered all persons who had not been sentenced
by the Soviet courts. Some 20,000 persons were repatriated in this way
in 1956 and a further 80,000 in 1957. The process was due to be completed
by the end of 1958. However, at that time the number of persons awaiting repatriation was still considerable.
Nearly 1.5 million persons 2 were repatriated from western
Europe during the years 1946-48, most of them from Germany. An
agreement signed with France on 13 March 1946 led to the repatriation of some 50,000 Polish immigrants who had settled there between
1
To be exact, 1,503,000 of whom 723,000 were transferred in 1945 and 644,437
in 1946.
2
To be exact, 1,466,000.

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

the two wars. These repatriations virtually came to a halt in 1950 and did
not begin again until 1954 when an amnesty was granted to political
exiles, with the result that a further group of over 40,000 went back
in 1954-55. Since then the numbers involved appear to have been
negligible.
In addition, as mentioned earlier 1 , the expulsion of the German
minority was decided on at Potsdam. This expulsion involved some
2.2 million persons 2 and had not been completed by the end of 1946,
since nearly 540,000 Germans left the country in 1947 and a further 40,000
in 1948. There was also large-scale direct emigration to Israel between
1948 and 1950 and again after 1957.3
On balance, the net gain to the country's population—i.e., the surplus
of transferred and repatriated Poles over emigrants, whether voluntary
or forced, who were of foreign origin—though difficult to compute with
any accuracy for a variety of reasons, amounted to about 1 million
persons. The result was to make the local population almost completely
homogeneous.
Other Countries
Czechoslovakia was mainly affected by the expulsion of the Sudeten
German minority, decided on at Potsdam, which involved some 2.4
million persons.4 This expulsion was not complete, however, since at
least 200,000 Germans remained in the country and have been granted
Czechoslovak nationality.
The Czechoslovak Government has also negotiated agreements
with a number of governments, such as those of the Soviet Union,
Hungary, Rumania and Yugoslavia, for the transfer to Czechoslovakia of
populations of Czech or Slovak stock living abroad.
Under two agreements signed on 29 June and 10 July 1946 with the
Soviet Union in connection with the cession by Czechoslovakia of the
Carpatho-Ukraine, it was decided to repatriate the small Czechoslovak
minority in the province and the Czechs and Slovaks in Volhynia. No
large-scale transfer appears to have taken place under the first agreement,
although under the second, which was carried out between January and
May 1947, some 30,000 people were sent back to Czechoslovakia.
The agreement with Hungary, whereby some 70,000 Hungarians in
Czechoslovakia were to be exchanged for 60,000 Czechs in Hungary,
1

See above, Chapter I.
To be exact, 2,214,000. In point of fact the bulk of the German minority in
both the old and the new Poland left before the expulsion took place.
3
See below, Chapter III.
4
Not counting those who left before the expulsion.
2

OTHER POPULATION SHIFTS IN EUROPE

was never signed. Instead the Czechoslovak Government ordered
individual members of the Hungarian minority, estimated at 600,000
persons, to leave the country. About 100,000 individuals were expelled
in this way between 1946 and 1948. Since then the Government's policy
towards this minority has changed: the Hungarians are allowed to
remain in the country and have been granted complete equality before
the law. An agreement was also signed on 10 July 1946 with Rumania
for the transfer of some 30,000 persons of Czech or Slovak origin and
at the same time the Yugoslav Government gave its approval to the
repatriation of the Czechoslovak minority in Yugoslavia.
In addition to the return of these minorities from abroad, some
20,000 1 Czechoslovaks also came back from France, Belgium and
Germany where they had settled between the two wars. A small proportion of the Czechoslovak minority in Austria likewise returned and,
above all, there was the repatriation of Czechoslovak displaced persons
from Germany and the Soviet Union between 1945 and 1947 (probably
around 100,000).
While it is impossible to quote any accurate figures, these various
movements undoubtedly represented a substantial loss of population for
Czechoslovakia, since the repatriation and transfers of her nationals did
not come anywhere near filling the gaps left by the expulsion of
Germans and Hungarians.
Large-scale movements also took place to and from Hungary,
although the only organised mass transfer out of the country was that of
178,000 persons representing part of the German minority whose expulsion had been agreed on at Potsdam. In the other direction, some
130,000 Hungarian displaced persons were repatriated between 1946 and
1947 and some 100,000 expellees came in from Czechoslovakia. In
addition, an exchange of minorities with Yugoslavia took place under an
agreement signed in September 1946, which provided for an exchange of
40,000 persons on each side. It would appear, however, that the transfers
to Hungary under this agreement were appreciably higher than this
figure, whereas the transfers in the other direction fell below it. These
officiai figures, in any case, do not give a complete picture of migration
to and from Hungary after 1947. They do not, for example, take into
account the repatriations which took place in 1945, the influx during
that same year of some 120,000 persons from the northern part of
Transylvania (which had been ceded back to Rumania) nor the repatriations which took place after 1947, mainly from the Soviet Union. On
balance, Hungary, unlike Czechoslovakia, had a large immigration
surplus between 1945 and 1948.
1

Up to May 1947.

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

The opposite happened in Rumania, despite the large areas ceded
under the Paris treaty of 10 February 1947. This treaty merely confirmed, at least as regards the eastern and southern frontiers, the settlement made in 1940, whereby Bessarabia and Bukovina were ceded to the
Soviet Union and the southern Dobrudja to Bulgaria. In the first two
of these territories the Rumanian population had already been given a
choice between adopting Soviet nationality or going back to Rumania,
and only a fairly small proportion had opted for transfer. In the third a
population transfer had taken place in 1940-41 and this had settled once
and for all the minority questions still at issue between the two countries.
As regards the repatriation of displaced persons, it has been estimated
that some 80,000 of them returned in 1947-48 and that still more came
back later. In the other direction, apart from the transfer of the Czechoslovak minority (some 30,000 persons) under the agreement of 10 July
1946, large numbers of Germans (about 200,000) and Hungarians (about
120,000) left Transylvania in 1944-45, without any expulsion being
ordered. In addition, 70,000 members of the German ethnic minority
were deported to the Soviet Union and from 1948 onwards there was
heavy Jewish emigration to Israel without any obstacle being placed in
its way by the Government.1 All of these various movements added up
to a substantial emigration surplus.
Bulgaria and Yugoslavia were in the same position, the former owing
to the expulsion of more than 150,000 members of the Turkish minority
in 1950-51, and the latter because of the departure of part of the Italian
minority in Venezia-Giulia and Dalmatia (some 200,000 persons) and the
transfers of Hungarians and Czechoslovaks under the agreements
negotiated with the Governments of Hungary and Czechoslovakia
referred to earlier.
TRANSFER AND RESETTLEMENT ARRANGEMENTS

The conditions in which these movements took place varied enormously depending on the time at which they occurred and the countries
carrying them out. At first, transport and reception facilities were
inadequate, to say the least. It was often technically and financially
impossible for countries having suffered severely from the war to provide
the migrants even with the most elementary facilities. Many of them,
for instance, had to travel hundreds of miles on foot. Nevertheless,
the position improved once machinery had been set up to organise
the transfers and assist the migrants. Repatriation centres providing free
accommodation, food and medical care were usually set up close to the
frontiers and in the districts chosen for the collective resettlement of the
1

See below, Chapter III.

OTHER POPULATION SHIFTS IN EUROPE

displaced populations. The employment authorities seconded officials to
give the immigrants any advice and assistance to help them find useful
work as quickly as possible. Transport was also supplied to the place
of final settlement.
The agreements under which these transfers took place contained
clauses allowing migrants to take their possessions with them, often
including handicraft or farming implements, and the migrants were
usually able to avail themselves of this privilege because the agreement
gave them adequate time in which to make the necessary arrangements.
They were also allowed to sell any property not earmarked for
nationalisation. Needless to say, measures of this nature were confined
to the transferees and were not extended to those actually expelled, i.e.
the Germans and the Hungarians, whose property was confiscated in all
cases.1
In the case of population exchanges properly so-called, the agreements provided for corresponding exchanges of property. Before
leaving, migrants were required to obtain from the authorities in their
country of origin a certificate specifying the nature, amount and value of
the property left behind. Even in cases where there was not, strictly
speaking, an exchange, the same procedure was sometimes followed so
that the migrants could later substantiate their claims to compensation.
Moreover, the property confiscated from the expellees in Czechoslovakia
and Poland was used partly for the resettlement of the transferred or
repatriated populations, to whom the land was either given outright, if
they were entitled to compensation, or, if not, sold on very favourable
terms.
Special concessions were usually made to ease the lot of transferred
and repatriated persons, who often had to face considerable hardship.
Poland, for example, granted them complete exemption from customs
duties and free transport within the country. Their right to housing and
suitable employment was formally recognised. Periods of employment
abroad were taken into account in reckoning holiday and pension rights,
and free medical care was made available until they qualified for benefit
under the sickness insurance scheme. More recently, grants have been
made to needy repatriates in order to tide them over the initial stages of
resettlement, and long-term loans have been made to the self-employed
to set them up again in their trades or on the land. Again, in Poland,
repatriated persons received a flat-rate grant of 1,000 zlotys each, plus an
additional benefit not exceeding 2,000 zlotys for breadwinners and
1
In Czechoslovakia a special national fund set up by the Ministry of Agriculture
took over part of the land left behind by the expelled German minority amounting
to 930,000 hectares of farmland and 100,000 hectares of forest.

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

1,000 zlotys for single persons, depending on their resources and family
circumstances.
CONSEQUENCES

The consequences of the transfers and other population shifts which
have taken place in eastern Europe since the war are difficult to assess,
not only because most of the necessary information is lacking but also
because they were preceded or accompanied by far greater upheavals,
such as population losses, major frontier changes, breakdowns in production and trade brought about by the war, not to mention the drastic
economic and social changes introduced by the new regimes. The result
was that, with the exception of Poland and Czechoslovakia, where
population movements did occur on a large scale, they tended to be
overshadowed by other events.
On the whole, with the sole exception of Hungary, eastern Europe
was clearly the loser by these developments, all the more so as the
relative decrease in the labour force in the various countries was probably
greater than the corresponding figure for the population as a whole.
This undoubtedly acted as a drag on economic progress, particularly
since the German and Jewish minorities were usually more highly skilled
and productive than the remainder of the population.
The case of Hungary, Rumania and Bulgaria can be quickly passed
over since, whether they were the gainers or the losers, the net result of
the population shifts affecting them was fairly slight. In Hungary,
however, which by 1956 had gained several hundred thousand new
inhabitants, the influx of expelled, transferred or repatriated persons
aggravated the rural underemployment situation which had always
plagued the economy and which, despite the land reform scheme,
remained a persistently troublesome economic and social problem. In
Rumania the economy seems to have suffered mainly from the virtually
complete disappearance of the Jewish minority, which left large gaps
in trade, the handicrafts and the professions. In Bulgaria the departure
of the Jews had the same effect although they were relatively less numerous. The transfer of the Turkish minority, on the other hand, by
leaving large areas of farmland vacant, probably helped to absorb the
surplus rural population for which the Bulgarian Government had tried
to find temporary work in other countries.1
Far more important were the consequences of the population shifts in
Poland and Czechoslovakia, where they were on a very considerable scale.
In Poland the net result of the war was a steep fall in population from
32.1 million in 1939 to 24.8 million in 1950. The population exchange
1

See below, Chapter VIII.

OTHER POPULATION SHIFTS IN EUROPE

with the Soviet Union led to a gain of about 1 million over the number
of inhabitants originally occupying the area comprised within the new
Polish frontiers, but the spontaneous departure or expulsion of the
German element emptied the provinces acquired under the Potsdam
Agreement of something like 10 million people, i.e. the great bulk of
their former population. On top of this heavy loss came the departure of
well over half a million Jewish displaced persons, refugees and voluntary
emigrants, who left the country for good.
The first as well as the main problem which faced Poland once the
war ended was therefore to resettle the former German provinces, now
abandoned by the rich and industrious population to which they owed
their high degree of industrial development. The Government encouraged
internal westward migration from the east and centre of the country
and systematically channelled the populations transferred from the Soviet
Union and some of the repatriated Poles from the west and the east
towards these provinces. This process of resettlement entailed largescale expenditure on reconstruction and raised an acute training problem
since, not only was it found impossible to replace the former population
by anything like an equal number of Poles, but it proved even more
difficult to train the newcomers up to a comparable standard of skill.
Efforts were concentrated on the Silesian area which, owing to its industrial capacity, is vital to the country's general development.
The departure of the remnants of the Jewish minority in Poland also
had important economic repercussions in a number of urban areas. It
slowed down commerce and the handicrafts and led to lower efficiency
in the nationalised retail trade and small-scale industries by depriving
the new state concerns of the staff they needed. It also helped to produce
a critical shortage of professional workers.
The net result of the population shifts which affected Poland was to
hold up economic development by creating a general shortage of labour.
Owing to the flow of manpower from the farms to more urgent jobs this
shortage even affected agriculture, which before the war had suffered
from an exactly opposite problem. The situation was further aggravated
by a general shortage of skilled workers.
Like Poland, Czechoslovakia suffered a substantial population
decrease within its present frontiers—from 14.7 million in 1939 to only
12.4 million in 1950. As in Poland the departure of the Germans involved
a loss of skilled workers who were difficult to replace—so much so in
fact that the Government kept some of them behind temporarily and,
in some cases, permanently. The departure of the Jewish minority had
similar effects as elsewhere. The cession of the Carpatho-Ukraine also
deprived the country of a region which had been a traditional reservoir

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

of farm labour. Czechoslovakia, therefore, like Poland, was faced with
a labour shortage after the war and this accounts for the Government's
efforts to persuade Czechs abroad to return home and also to bring in
Italian, Rumanian and Bulgarian workers—a policy which, however,
has had slight success.1
As in Poland, the only way to overcome this shortage was to redistribute the population. Large-scale internal migrations were organised
by the Government, mainly from Slovakia (a rural area with a traditional
manpower surplus) towards various other parts of the country, some of
them outside the frontier districts where the great majority of the German
population used to live. Land and forests which had formerly belonged
to Germans or Jews and which were among the most productive in the
country were handed over to Czechoslovak farmers from the interior of
the country, mainly Slovakia. In spite of these measures, however, the
shortage of agricultural labour remained critical during most of the postwar period, and farm productivity lagged because of insufficient equipment and the lack of skilled workers.
In industry, labour shortages were equally serious even though the
capacity of the production facilities left behind by the Germans and
Jews was for various reasons lower than before the slump of the thirties.
The substitution of Czechoslovaks for the previous managements and
skilled workers also led in many cases to a fall in standards of workmanship and productivity. One result was that the mining, textile, glassmaking and certain chemical industries, which formerly were in German
or Jewish hands, found it difficult to meet their production targets.
Bibliographical References
General
J. B. SCHECHTMAN: European Population Transfers, 1939-1945 (New York,
Oxford University Press, 1946).
E. M. KULISCHER: Europe on the Move (New York, Columbia University
Press, 1948).
G. FRUMKIN: Population Changes in Europe since 1939 (New York, Augustus
M. Kelley, Inc., 1951).
J. VERNANT: The Refugee in the Post-War World (London, George Allen
& Unwin Ltd., 1953).
Works Dealing with Non-National Refugees and Displaced Persons
Reports of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (New York, 1953, 1955 and 1957), General Assembly Official
Records.

UNITED NATIONS:

See below, Chapter VIII.

OTHER POPULATION SHIFTS IN EUROPE

UNITED NATIONS: Survey of the Non-Settled Refugee Population in Various
Countries, Report submitted to the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees, by Prof. P. J. IDENBURG, Document A/AC.79/111, 28 Apr.
1958 (mimeographed).
UNITED NATIONS OFFICE OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES : Statis-

tical bulletins issued from time to time on various subjects (mimeographed).
— The Financial Aspects of Integration of the Refugees in the Austrian
Economy, Report submitted to Mr. G. J. van Heuven Goedhart, United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, by Gilbert JAEGER, Document
HCR/RS/3, 29 Feb. 1952 (mimeographed).
— The Integration of the Refugees into the Greek Economy, Document
HCR/RS/7, 10 Feb. 1953 (mimeographed).
— The Assimilation of the Refugees in Germany, Document HCR/RS/9,
Mar. 1954 (mimeographed).
INTERNATIONAL REFUGEE ORGANISATION: Statistical

Report,

with summaries

covering the 54 months of its operations (Geneva, undated (mimeographed)).
— Migration from Europe (Geneva, undated).
— Occupational Skills of Refugees (series of surveys carried out by the I.R.O.
(Geneva, various dates)).
L. W. HOLBORN: The International Refugee Organisation (London, New York
and Toronto, Oxford University Press, 1956).
Works Dealing with National Refugees in Italy, Finland and Turkey
UNITED NATIONS : Report on the Status and Conditions in Turkey of Refugees
from Bulgaria, Document A/AC.36/12, 28 July 1952 (mimeographed).
MINISTERO DEGLI AFFARI ESTERI : Documentazione

sul problema della sovra-

popolazione presentata al Consiglio d'Europa (Rome, Tipografia del Ministero degli Affari Esteri, 1953).
A. DE GADOLIN: The Solution of the Karelian Refugee Problem in Finland,
Publication V, Research Group for European Migration Problems (The
Hague, Martin us Nijhoff, 1952).
H. L. KOSTANICK: " Turkish Resettlement of Refugees from Bulgaria, 19501953 ", in The Middle East Journal (Washington, D.C., The Middle East
Institute), Vol. IX, No. 1, Winter 1955, pp. 41 ff.
Works Dealing with Transfers and Repatriations in Eastern Europe
UNITED NATIONS : Economic Survey of Europe in 1957 (Geneva 1958).
O. JASZI: " T h e Problem of Sub-Carpathian Ruthenia ", in Czechoslovakia:
Twenty Years of Independence, edited by R. J. KERNER (University of
California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1940), pp. 193-215.
E. BARKER: Truce in the Balkans (London, Percival Marshall, 1949).
H. WANKLYN: Czechoslovakia (London, George Philip and Son, Ltd., 1954).
E. WISKEMANN: Germany's Eastern Neighbours (London, New York and
Toronto, Oxford University Press, 1956).
Trybuna Ludu (Warsaw), 1 Dec. and 30 Dec. 1956 issues.
Dziennik Ustaw (Polish Official Gazette), 1947, No. 35, and 1952, No. 11.

CHAPTER III
IMMIGRATION INTO ISRAEL
The immigrants who came to Israel following the proclamation of the
country's independence in May 1948 were engaged in a unique historical
process. The size of the influx, compared with that of the local population, and the tremendous resulting problem of absorption; the homogeneity of the migrants' ethnic background, contrasted with the diversity of their geographic origins ; and the ideological basis of the movement, which made it largely an act of faith—all of these differentiate it
radically from all other recorded migration phenomena. Never before
had migration played a comparable part in the growth of any nation, nor
had any other movement taken place in the face of such uncompromising
physical conditions. While the Israeli economy has yet to become
fully solvent, the progress accomplished to date strikingly illustrates
what a determined people, using modern methods, can do in even the
most thankless natural surroundings when it bends all its energies and
abilities to the task.

Background and Data
BACKGROUND

The massive immigration flow which went to Israel in the years
following the granting of independence marked the final episode in the
long history of the Zionist movement. The latter, though launched
towards the end of the nineteenth century, accomplished very little
before Turkish domination in Palestine came to an end. Only under the
British mandate following the First World War did the Jews begin to
immigrate in any numbers, owing partly to the sympathetic attitude of
the British authorities, but mainly to the growing threat to the Jewish
communities of Central and Eastern Europe. There were two main
immigration waves: in 1924-25 and in 1934-36, both of which were
preceded and followed by lulls; these two waves brought the Jewish
population in Palestine, which in 1914 totalled only 85,000, to 456,000
by 1939.

IMMIGRATION INTO ISRAEL

Towards the end of the mandate, however, under pressure from the
Arab community, the British authorities changed their policy towards
Jewish immigration, and at one point even contemplated stopping it
altogether. After the war they found themselves under fire from both
the Arabs and the Jews and until 1948 only allowed in a few immigrants,
although they were unable to prevent fairly large numbers from entering
illegally. The decision taken by the United Nations on 27 November 1947
to partition Palestine and to create an independent Jewish nation ended
the state of acute tension between the British administration and the two
communities and immediately opened the country to the biggest wave of
immigration it had yet known.
The huge size of this wave—900,000 persons between 15 May 1948
and 31 December 1957—was due to a combination of two factors: the
policy of the Israeli Government, which not only was liberal but strove
actively to promote immigration, and the precarious position of many
Jewish communities as a result of the war and the political upheavals
which followed it.
The immigration policy of the new State was inspired by a twofold
concern—the desire to remain faithful to the Zionist ideal by giving all
the Jews who wished to do so an opportunity of settling in Israel and at
the same time to increase the country's population as quickly as possible.
Accordingly, not only was the principle (reaffirmed in the Law of Return
of 5 July 1950) of completely untrammelled Jewish immigration1 incorporated in the Declaration of Independence of 14 May 1948, but tremendous efforts were made to receive as many immigrants as possible.
For many Jews abroad the birth of the State of Israel, apart from
giving them a chance to end an exile which their religious traditions had
always taught them to regard as temporary, came at a time when, owing
to political developments in various countries, particularly in central and
eastern Europe, the future was beginning to look rather bleak. This,
coupled with the memory of the terror they had endured there for so
many years, deterred those who had been displaced by the war from
going home and impelled those who had remained at home to leave.
Others, in North Africa and the Middle East, felt threatened by the rise
of Arab nationalism. The result was that many hundreds of thousands
of Jews were anxious to emigrate to Israel as soon as they could obtain
permission and the wherewithal to do so.
Both during the mandate and after, the Jewish Agency for Palestine,
as supreme executive body of the World Zionist Organisation, acted as
1
Subject to certain limitations based on considerations of safety and public
health. Non-Jewish immigrants, while allowed to enter the country, are not covered
by the Law of Return.

TABLE 23. ISRAEL 1 : JEWISH IMMIGRATION, BY COUNTRY OF BIRTH, 1946-57 fin thousands)
-J

Countries of birth
Africa :
Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco
Egypt
Libya
Total . . .

1946

1947

1948

1949

1950

1951

1952

1953

1954

1955

1956

1957

Total

—

—
—
—

17.9
7.1
14.1
0.3

9.5
6.7
9.0
0.6

11.4
2.0
6.6
0.1

7.6

3.6

11.0

31.6

43.8

24.0

—
1.2
1.2

0.2
1.1

0.2
1.0

0.1
0.6

0.1
1.0

0.1

167.2
16.2
32.6
6.9

10.0

5.0

12.2

32.4

44.9

24.1

223.2

4.2
1.0
0.4
0.1
1.1

1.1
0.4
0.2

0.1
0.2
0.2

0.6

—
1.3

1.2
0.2
1.5

1.1

0.5
0.2
0.1
0.6
1.8

—
1.0

—

0.8

—
1.6

29.1
126.3
38.1
45.5
22.8

0.1

0.3

6.8
0.1
1.1
0.5

0.5

0.3

8.5

39.4

25.8

20.1

—
—
—
—

—
—

1.8
1.7
26.3
35.1
6.3

10.5
32.5
2.4
8.7
3.7

9.4
89.1
1.2
0.7
2.9

0.3

—

—
—

z
H

Asia :
Iran
Iraq
Turkey
Yemen
Miscellaneous 3
Total . . .

4.4

—

1.7

0.7

0.3
0.1

1.7

0.7

4.9

71.3

57.8

103.3

6.7

2.8

3.2

1.3

2.7

4.7

261.1

20.0
15.7
5.3
6.8
47.3
13.6
10.6

1.0
0.6
0.9
2.7
26.5
46.2
3.2

1.2
0.3
0.5
1.3
3.5
40.2
2.0

0.5
0.1
0.2
0.2
0.6
3.7
0.8

0.4

0.2

—

0.1
0.2
0.2
0.1
0.7

—

0.1

0.1
0.3
0.1
0.5

0.2
0.1
0.1
0.3
0.4
0.3
0.5

—

2.4
0.5
2.1
7.7
4.7
1.0

15.7
2.6
1.6
4.3
32.2
24.8
7.7

—
—
—

25.5

6.6

10.2

39.7
23.4
9.8
19.4
149.9
138.0
48.2

ISA

88.8

119.3

81.3

49.0

6.0

1.6

1.0

1.9

6.7

35.8

428.2

0.8

2.5

2.3

0.6

0.2

3.6

10.5

2.5

0.9

0.5

0.9

0.6

1.5

24.2

169.4

173.9

10.3

17.5

36.3

54.7

69.7

947.2

m
7>
•Z

>
H
O

•z
>

r
S
O

Europe * :
Bulgaria
Czechoslovakia
Germany
Hungary
Poland
Rumania
Miscellaneous

ja
0.5
1.6
0.4
1.4
5.8
4.3
4.4

Total . . .

18.4

U.S.S.R*

0.1

Rest of world and unknown . .

0.6

0.2

8.4

6.6

19.7

111.4

239.1

Total . . .
l

—

21.2
a

23.4

—
—

' Up to 15 May 1948, Palestine under British mandate. Includes the whole of Africa except Egypt for 1946 and 1947 and the whole of Africa except Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco
and Libya for 1952-56; for 1957 the whole of Africa except North Africa. " Includes all Asian countries for 1946-47. * 1937 territories. s Not including the Baltic States.

IMMIGRATION INTO ISRAEL

a link between the Jewish communities abroad and the Jews in Palestine.
Moreover, through a special co-ordination committee, it co-operated (and
continues to co-operate) with the Israeli Government in framing the
immigration policy of the new State. In some countries, where the
Jewish Agency was not allowed to operate, the American Joint Distribution Committee or other unofficial organisations provided the emigrants
with the facilities needed to make the journey to Israel. In practice, a
distinction had to be made between applicants who could afford to
emigrate and settle at their own expense and those whose transport and
temporary maintenance had to be paid for by the Jewish Agency : the
former received immigration visas immediately, whereas for the latter
the co-ordination committee instituted a quota system. This system was,
however, sufficiently flexible for priority to be given to certain groups in
urgent cases. For instance, every effort was made in 1949-51 to evacuate
the Jewish communities in Iraq and Yemen as speedily as possible. By
31 December 1957 some 900,000 persons had reached Palestine under
the auspices of the Jewish Agency since the proclamation of Israeli
independence, and nearly 950,000 since the beginning of 1946. Table 23
gives a breakdown of post-war immigration by year and by country
of birth.
Roughly speaking, four periods can be distinguished.
During the first, extending until the end of the British mandate,
immigration was restricted and did not rise above the average level
reached between the two wars. In addition to some 50,000 immigrants
officially registered up to 15 May 1948—mostly Jews from central and
eastern Europe who had been in refugee camps—there were several
thousand illegal immigrants, most of them also from Europe.
The second period, beginning with the proclamation of independence
and ending in the summer of 1951, witnessed a tremendous increase in
immigration. There were over 650,000 arrivals between 15 May 1948
and 31 July 1951, an annual average of over 200,000. This influx was fed
simultaneously from three sources: I.R.O. camps in Germany and
Austria which, at the beginning of 1948, still contained over 200,000
Jews from central and eastern Europe (mainly Poland and Rumania);
heavy direct immigration from Poland, Rumania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia which the governments concerned tolerated, though not without
some reluctance ; and the communities of North Africa and the Middle
East, some of which, such as those in the Yemen, Iraq and Libya, were
transferred virtually wholesale to Israel.
The third phase of the process extended from the summer of 1951
to the early part of 1955. During this period, immigration fell back to
a much lower level. This was, of course, due in part to the sheer size

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

of the previous movements which had dried up a number of important
sources of emigration. In addition, the eastern European countries
stopped granting emigration permits to their nationals. As a result,
the only large-scale flow which persisted during these years was from
North Africa.
However, during the fourth period, covering the last three years,
immigration jumped sharply, though without reaching the levels of
1948-51, as a result of disturbances in the Arab world and the renewed
willingness of the Polish authorities to allow emigration.
The large-scale immigration of the last 12 years has also been accompanied by a certain amount of re-emigration, which reached its peak
in 1952. This movement, however, was never substantial, having
amounted on the whole to less than 10 per cent, of total immigration.

DATA

Demographic Features
Allowing for the immigrants who entered illegally towards the end
of the British mandate and for several thousand tourists who came after
the proclamation of independence without an immigration visa but
were granted permission to settle, gross immigration between 1 January
1946 and 31 December 1957 was probably of the order of 960,000 while
the net intake exceeded 875,000—a far larger number than the total
Jewish population of Palestine on 31 December 1945 (564,000). Thus
the immediate result of immigration since the beginning of 1946 was to
increase the population by over 150 per cent. Apart from this direct
effect, however, the age composition of the immigrants, the even balance
between the sexes and the above-average fertility of certain groups x
have all had far-reaching indirect results. The annual surplus of births
over deaths rose from 13,000 in 1946 to 41,000 in 1957, and virtually the
whole of this increase can be attributed to the new immigrants.
Thus immigration and, still more, the natural increase resulting from
it, have caused a number of changes in the age composition of the population, e.g. an increase in the proportion of children and of persons over
the age of 55 and a fall in the proportion of juveniles and young adults
(table 24). The age structure of the population is thus slightly less
favourable today than it was in 1948, at least judged by the ratio between
1
Notably the Asian and African Jews, whose large families and high fertility rate
contrasted with the small families of the immigrants from Europe (owing to the
low birth rate and high infant mortality rate of the war years) and their lower fertility
rate.

IMMIGRATION INTO ISRAEL

TABLE 24. ISRAEL : B R E A K D O W N BY A G E O F THE JEWISH
POPULATION ON 8 NOVEMBER 1948 1 A N D 31 DECEMBER 1957
A N D O F I M M I G R A T I O N BETWEEN 1948 2 A N D 1957
Population on
8 November 1948
Age
groups

Immigration,
1948-57

Population on
31 December 1957

Absolute
Absolute
Absolute
PercenPercenPercenfigures
figures
figures
tages
tages
tages
(in thousands)
(in thousands)
(in thousands)

0-15
. . . .
15-25 . .
25-35 . .
35-45 . .
45-65 . .
65 and over
Unknown

205.0
125.5
119.1
129.8
107.1
28.2
2.1

28.6
17.5
16.6
18.1
15.0
3.9
0.3

272.3
172.5
139.5
122.5
148.1
36.0
5.4

30.3
19.4
15.6
13.6
16.5
4.0
0.6

612.5
256.2
252.6
223.1
337.6
80.7

Total.

716.7

100.0

896.3

100.0

1,762.7

Census data.

—

34.7
14.5
14.3
12.7
19.2
4.6

—
100.0

* Since 15 May 1948.

the productive age groups and the remainder of the population. It should
be noted, however, that a relative increase in the non-productive element
would have been inevitable even if there had been no immigration after
the end of the mandate, since the 1948 age structure still bore the mark
of immigration before that date, which had brought in an exceptionally
high proportion of young persons between the ages of 15 and 34. Post1948 immigration thus merely accentuated a trend inherent in the
original population structure. The present situation is in any case
extremely satisfactory, and despite a natural rate of increase which
seems bound to remain very high (of the order of 2 per cent.), the ratio
between the labour force and the non-productive population will probably not fall appreciably in the future. Moreover, recent immigration
has comprised virtually equal proportions of men and women over the
age of 15 and has thus reduced the surplus of adult males disclosed by
the census of 8 November 1948 (table 25).
Breakdown by Country of Origin
Table 23 has shown that immigration after 1948 was fed from a large
variety of sources. Its most distinctive feature compared with immigration during the mandate, most of which came from Europe, was the fact
that it contained a majority of Jews from the Moslem countries of North
Africa and the Middle East. The result was that the composition of the
Israeli population by area of origin changed considerably (table 26)

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957
TABLE 25. ISRAEL : BREAKDOWN BY SEX OF THE JEWISH
POPULATION ON 8 NOVEMBER 1948 AND 31 DECEMBER 1957
Absolute figures
(in thousands)
Age groups

Percentages

On 8 November
1948

On 31 December
1957

Males

Females

Males Females

Males

Females

0-15 . . . .
15-25 . .
25-35 . .
35-45 . .
45-65 . .
65 and over
Unknown

105.5
63.7
61.4
67.7
57.4
13.5
1.1

99.5
61.8
57.7
62.1
49.7
14.7
1.0

297.5
123.7
128.8
112.5
163.1
43.1
—

315.1
132.5
123.8
110.6
174.6
37.6
—

51.5
50.8
51.6
52.2
53.6
47.8
50.9

48.5
49.2
48.4
47.8
46.4
52.2
49.1

48.6
48.3
51.0
50.4
48.3
53.4
—

51.4
51.7
49.0
49.6
51.7
46.6

Total. . .

370.3

346.4

868.7

894.1

51.7

48.3

49.3

50.7

192.9

181.5

365.1

366.9

51.5

48.5

49.9

50.1

15-45

. . . .

On 8 November
1948

On 31 December
1957
Males Females

TABLE 26. ISRAEL : JEWISH POPULATION, BY COUNTRY OF BIRTH,
ON 8 NOVEMBER 1948 AND 31 DECEMBER 1957
Absolute figures
(in thousands)
Countries (or areas) of birth

Percentages

On
On
On
On
8 November 31 December 8 November 31 December
1948
1948
1957
1957

253.4

588.2

35.4

33.4

12.2
57.5

218.9
296.9

1.7
8.0

12.4
16.9

270.7

459.3

37.8

26.1

24.1

62.1

3.4

3.5

85.0
11.3
1.7

113.4
23.9

11.8
1.6
0.2

6.4
1.3

462.6

1,174.5

64.5

66.6

Foreign countries or areas :
Africa
Asia
Poland,
Rumania
and
U.S.S.R
Bulgaria, Greece and Yugoslavia
Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany and Hungary . . .
Rest of world
Unknown
Total . . .

0.7

Unspecified
Total . . .

716.7

0.1
1,762.7

100.0

and the relative importance of the European element, which had formerly
been overwhelmingly predominant, dropped sharply whereas the Jews of
African and Asian origin now form quite a substantial minority. Their

IMMIGRATION INTO ISRAEL

emergence as a significant factor in the country's economic, social and
even political life has added a further difficulty to the general problem
of integration: that of amalgamating two important sections of the
population still separated by wide cultural differences.
Social and Economic Data
The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics did not publish any occupational classification of immigrants before 1 September 1948 and it
changed its system of classification after 1950, so that it is impossible to
supply uniform data on this point for the whole period. Table 27 gives
a breakdown by occupation of the immigrants who entered from 1950
on; it omits the figures for the preceding years which are deficient in
several respects.1
In social and economic terms, immigration since 1950 has had two
main characteristics which are clearly brought out by table 27. These
are the high proportion of economically inactive persons and, among
the labour force, the high proportion of workers in service (tertiary)
occupations. While the proportion of dependants among the immigrants
who came in between 1950 and 1957 is officially put at 62.8 per cent.,
the total percentage of non-self-supporting elements was appreciably
larger since many of the immigrants whose source of income could not be
ascertained—probably a majority—belonged to the non-productive
group. Among the labour force itself only a small number had been
employed in primary industry, the remainder being split more or less
evenly between the secondary and tertiary sectors and the largest group
(handicraft and industrial workers) comprising many more of the former
than of the latter.2
Thus among the post-1950 immigrants there were more than twice
as many dependants as there were workers and almost as many workers
from the tertiary sector as from the other two put together. Furthermore,
among the latter there were few who had worked in either agriculture or
industry proper. During this phase the chief sources of immigration
were North Africa and the Middle East, so that the general pattern to
a large extent reflects the demographic and social structure of the Jewish
communities in these areas. The composition of the immigration flow
before 1950, most of which came from Europe, was somewhat different
since it comprised more economically active persons; on the other hand,
1

The statistics for the period between 1 September 1948 and 31 December 1949
include a large proportion of men who declared no occupation, with the result that
the proportion of active persons is less than 20 per cent.
2
A particularly high proportion had worked in the leather, clothing and food
trades.

TABLE 27. ISRAEL : IMMIGRANTS BY OCCUPATION IN COUNTRY OF ORIGIN, 1950-57
oo
O

(In thousands)
Total
1950

1951

1952

1953

1954

1955

1956

1957

Absolute
figures

Percentages

4.5

3.5

0.7

0.4

0.5

0.6

1.1

3.9

15.2

2.7

. . . .

7.6
7.8
2.4
1.4
18.8
3.7
1.2
1.8
0.3

6.7
10.6
2.7
1.2
14.3
4.9
1.1
1.8
0.3

1.1
0.9
0.5
0.2
2.5
0.8
0.3
0.2

0.5
0.4
0.3
0.1
1.3
0.3
0.1
0.1

0.5
0.5
0.3
0.1
2.1
0.3
0.3
0.1

0.7
0.8
0.6
0.3
5.4
0.4
0.6
0.3

1.4
1.3
0.9
0.5
7.3
0.7
0.7
0.5

3.7
1.6
0.5
0.6
10.5
0.8
0.8
0.8
0.1

22.3
24.0
7.9
4.3
61.9
11.9
5.0
5.6
0.8

4.0
4.3
1.4
0.8
11.2
2.2
0.9
1.0
0.1

. . .

49.4

47.0

7.3

3.3

4.6

9.8

14.3

23.2

158.9

28.6

36.0
47.7
8.6
5.2
0.5

35.8
60.0
6.6
7.3
4.6

4.4
7.3
1.8
0.7
0.7

1.7
3.2
1.1
0.3
0.1

3.0
7.5
0.5
0.5
0.3

6.0
16.2
0.3
1.1
1.2

9.3
22.3
0.8
0.6
3.1

11.8
26.4
1.4
2.4
0.5

108.1
190.6
21.0
18.2
10.9

19.5
34.2
3.8
3.3
2.0

97.9

114.5

14.8

6.4

11.8

24.8

36.1

42.5

348.8

62.5

22.2

12.5

1.2

0.6

1.0

1.8

4.5

4.0

47.7

8.6

169.4

173.9

23.4

10.3

17.5

36.3

54.9

69.7

555.4

100.0

Occupational status

Gainfully occupied:
Professional and technical workers
Managerial, administrative and
Farmers1
Transport workers
Craftsmen and industrial workers
Labourers
Building workers
Service workers
Unspecified
Total

. . . .
clerical

Not gainfully occupied:
Children
Students
Old people

Total

. . .

Source of income unknown
Total
1

And other workers in primary industry.

. . .

IMMIGRATION INTO ISRAEL

the proportion of workers in tertiary occupations, particularly
professional workers, was even higher than among the post-1950
immigrants. 1
If it is further borne in mind that the immigrants brought very little
capital with them, most of them having left nearly all their possessions
in their countries of origin, the net social and economic gain resulting
from the influx of so many individuals in the non-productive age groups,
women without any working experience and men with no agricultural
or industrial background will seem to have been slight indeed. This
situation was, of course, largely the result of an intentionally liberal
and, until recent years, completely non-selective immigration policy.
Notwithstanding, the newcomers, as will be seen further, settled down
in their new jobs far more rapidly and successfully than might have
been expected.
Absorbing the Immigrants
GENERAL

The absorption of immigrants during the period immediately following the proclamation of independence raised a tremendous problem
for the new State, not only because of their sheer numbers but also to
some extent because of the types of persons involved.
For three years a flood of newcomers, out of all proportion to the
average volume allowed in during the mandate, poured into a territory
which was over 20 per cent, smaller than the former State of Palestine
and half of which was a desert, doubling the local Jewish population.
As mentioned earlier, the Israeli Government refused to make any
discrimination among the immigrants, most of whom had neither the
capital nor the skills needed in an infant economy, and deliberately
made unrestricted Jewish immigration the cornerstone of its policy,
overriding all other considerations. The extent of the economic
and social problems which such a course would entail was readily
apparent from experience acquired during the mandate, and the risk was
taken advisedly.
Under the impact of the flood of immigrants the balance of Israeli
economy was suddenly and completely upset. Even before 1948 immigration had created a number of acute problems owing to the barrenness of
the country and the heavy investment needed to develop it. As a result
1
This is not borne out by the statistics for the years 1948 and 1949, which in fact
show a high proportion of industrial workers; but these statistics, as already explained,
are far from complete.

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

the British authorities had been forced to keep immigration within
relatively narrow bounds and to give preference to immigrants with
capital of their own. Despite this policy, however, the Palestine Jews
would have been unable to achieve a standard of living comparable to
that of Europe if the country's own scanty funds and the capital brought
in by the immigrants had not been supplemented by large-scale injections
of foreign capital in the form of either direct investment or (above all) of
gifts from world Jewry to the Palestine Foundation Fund and the Jewish
National Fund.
The infant economy of Jewish Palestine thus had the benefit of
foreign aid on an exceptional scale which enabled it to expand sufficiently
fast for immigration to be a help rather than a hindrance and at the
same time to maintain the country's balance of payments; but the far
larger number of immigrants that the Israeli Government now proposed
to admit could obviously not be absorbed without a collapse in living
standards, unless far greater help could be obtained from abroad. The
crucial question was how far such help would be forthcoming and
whether the country would be spared the inconveniences of austerity or
the greater evil of inflation—the problem being further complicated by
the large portion of its resources which the Government was forced to
devote to national defence.
Two factors helped Israel out of this predicament. The first was the
departure of the bulk of the Arab population which had been living on
Israeli territory before the country was partitioned by the United Nations.
The number of Arabs who left substantially exceeded the number of
Jewish immigrants during the first few years l , and this made it easier to
provide land, housing and, to some extent, jobs for the newcomers.
However, while the Jewish and Arab economies had lived side by side they
had remained largely alien to one another, with a considerable difference
in respective degrees of development. As a result a high proportion of
jobs that were part and parcel of the Arab economic system disappeared
with the Arabs themselves. Moslem standards of farm productivity and
housing were also a good deal lower than those of the Jewish population
and despite the Arabs' departure a great deal of investment in construction of all kinds was still necessary. It would therefore be wrong to
assume that what took place was a process of simple substitution. The
Israeli economy undoubtedly benefited by the departure of the Arabs
1
The non-Jewish population living within the present boundaries of Israel was
736,000 persons on 31 December 1946, with the exception of nomads. Had there
been no emigration, and allowing for the natural increase since that date it should
by now total some 950,000 persons instead of the 213,000 counted on 31 December
1957. Thus the departure of the Arabs more than offset the total Jewish immigration
between 1948 and 1951.

IMMIGRATION INTO ISRAEL

but far from enough to offset the extra burden of immigration. Moreover,
this departure, owing to its suddenness, led to a fall in food output,
while the political events which had caused it simultaneously resulted in
the cutting off of food supplies from neighbouring countries just when
the influx of immigrants made heavier imports necessary.
The second favourable factor was a psychological one—the persistence in Israel of a pioneer spirit which bears witness to the vitality of the
Zionist ideal. This spirit, which the early settlers had to a large extent
succeeded in imparting to the newcomers, not only inspired workers to
unusually high standards of performance (at least in terms of quantity)
but ruled out any serious possibility of social friction. The original
population accepted the immigrants without any discrimination and the
attempts of the General Confederation of Labour (Histadrut) to prevent
wages from being forced down by immigrant labour were designed as
much to stop the newcomers from being exploited as to safeguard the
living standards of workers already established in the country. These
psychological factors, combined with the experience already acquired by
the Jewish community in Palestine in dealing with practical immigration
problems, e.g. in the field of vocational training, helped the Government
to plan efficiently and facilitated the absorption of the newcomers.
Despite these favourable circumstances the Israeli Government's
policy of unrestricted immigration was unquestionably an economic
gamble, particularly as the outcome depended largely on external factors.
The Government could not confine itself to soliciting foreign aid. It
also had to plan economic development in such a way as to make the
best possible use of such aid as was forthcoming, and this could not be
expected to last indefinitely.
FOREIGN AID

In view of the tremendous pressure to which the somewhat shaky
Israeli economy was about to be subjected, a disastrous fall in average
real incomes was inevitable unless substantial aid could be obtained from
abroad to cover the cost of the sharp rise in imports.
Such a rise was inevitable, both as regards consumer goods to meet
the rapidly increasing demand and capital goods to increase home
production and employment. As the country could not increase its
exports—or even, temporarily at least, maintain them at existing levels—
the huge gap in its balance of payments could only be covered by gifts
or credits from abroad. Thus the country's economic future depended
first and foremost on external aid, the size and duration of which were
at best problematical.

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

As things turned out, it was substantial and took a number of different forms, e.g. funds collected by Zionist organisations in all the
Jewish communities throughout the world, particularly in the United
States, official aid from the United States Governmentx, reparations
from the Federal Republic of Germany 2, loans from the Import-Export
Bank and the International Monetary Fund 3 public loans ", private
loans, direct investment5 and funds brought in by the immigrants
themselves. Thus between May 1948 and the end of 1957 the State of
Israel benefited by large-scale imports of capital, mostly in the form of
grants. Table 28 shows the importance of these capital movements in
the country's balance of payments from 1950 to 1956. They remained
significant in 1957.
This influx of capital (which was used in roughly equal proportions
for the purchase of consumer goods and capital goods), while both
steady and substantial, was not, however, sufficient to obviate the need
for a policy of austerity during a number of years. The use of gifts and
long-term credits to finance the import of consumer goods, though a
TABLE 28. ISRAEL : BALANCE OF PAYMENTS, 1950-56
(Millions of dollars)
Item

Goods and transportation
Investment income . .
Other services . l . . .
Private donations . .
Private capital . . . .
Official donations 2 . .
Official capital:
Long-term
Short-term
. . . .
Errors and omissions .

1950

1951

-261.8 -329.1
- 1.1 - 0.8
- 17.4 - 24.2
113.9
118.3
14.0

44.4
62.0
60.0

87.6
28.1

106.1

1952

1953

-269.6
- 11.9
- 25.2
104.8
22.9
86.4

-217.3

85.0
8.5
- 0.9

1954

-197.4
- 16.4 - 16.7
- 29.2 - 22.0
133.3
84.6
11.2
17.1
129.3
88.2
47.7
52.2
10.5 - 62.4
14.8 - 27.5

1955

1956

-234.6 -243.5
- 18.6 - 22.6
- 29.5 - 91.8
83.2
122.6
9.3
2.8
127.2
120.5
64.2
1.4
- 2.6

70.2
19.5
22.3

Source: United Nations Statistical Yearbook, 1957.
1
Including capital brought in by immigrants.
* American aid and German reparations.
1

Such aid was granted to Israel in 1951 in the form of gifts spread over a number
of years.
2
Under an agreement signed in Luxembourg on 10 September 1952 these came to
more than 820 million dollars, about half of which have already been used.
3
The Import-Export Bank has granted two loans to the Government of Israel,
one in January 1949 and the other in December 1950. The International Monetary
Fund made a loan of 3.75 million dollars in 1957.
4
Chiefly the large " independence " loan launched in the United States in May
1951.
6
An Act of 29 March 1950, designed to encourage capital investment, grants
major concessions to foreign investors, particularly as regards taxation and customs
duties, to induce them to invest in the country's development.

IMMIGRATION INTO ISRAEL

necessary stopgap measure, reflected a thoroughly abnormal state of
dependence on the outside, to which an investment policy designed to
narrow the gap in the balance of payments was the only possible answer.
This meant that it was essential for consumption of imported or exportable products to be cut back temporarily for the sake of investment, if a
sound economy was to be built up on the new demographic basis resulting from immigration.

INVESTMENT, FULL EMPLOYMENT AND INFLATION

However, an investment drive of the kind required involved a serious
risk of inflation, especially in view of the poverty of the country itself.
This meant that the Government had to keep a firm grip on the situation,
taking care not to overstep certain limits.
Various considerations of social policy, however, stood in the way
of strict orthodoxy and monetary stability. Top priority had to be given
to setting the immigrants up as soon as possible with jobs and houses,
and since such a policy of full employment and accelerated construction
was incompatible with conventional financing methods, a certain amount
of inflation was inevitable—all the more so as defence expenditure and
trade union resistance to any fall in real wages constituted further
sources of inflationary pressure which it was quite impossible to eliminate.
The inevitable outcome was too much money chasing too few goods and
services, and the problem was not so much to stop inflation altogether
as to prevent it from getting out of hand.
The situation called for careful handling, since any stoppage or even
a marked slow-down in the rate of monetary expansion was liable to
have deflationary consequences, i.e. to cause unemployment and hamper
development. On the other hand, in view of the extreme precariousness
of the balance of payments, any increase in imports of consumer goods
to mop up excess purchasing power could only have an adverse effect on
the import of capital goods, and would run directly counter to the policy
which had been decided upon and which offered the only hope of achieving economic independence in the long run.
In attempting to resolve this dilemma—permanent unbalance of the
country's internal finances versus a worsening of its debtor position visà-vis foreign countries—the Government had a number of powerful
weapons at its disposal. Apart from the classic devices of a planned
economy, it was able, either directly or through the Jewish Agency, to
control the bulk of the foreign capital available for investment and to
ensure that it was used to the best advantage for the development of the

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957
TABLE 29. ISRAEL : GROSS INVESTMENT BY BRANCH OF THE
ECONOMY, 1949-56
(Millions of Israeli pounds ; 1956 prices)
Branch

1949

1950

1951

1952

1953

1954

1955

1956

104

110

144

135

125
186
66
182
56

Agriculture 1
Industry, handicrafts, mining and electric power
Communications
Housing and construction .
Services2

89 123
89 76
— 222 235
65 73

130 107 111
78 57 51
181 136 172
47 36 33

149
71
194
63

Total . . .

340 557 611

532 446 511

612 615

Including irrigation, forestry,fishingand land clearance.

Including public building.

economy as a whole. The distribution of investment among the various
branches of the economy from 1949 to 1956 is illustrated by table 29.1

Economic Trends from 1948 to 1957
The various phases that the Israeli economy has gone through since
1948 have been determined by shifts in economic policy, which has not
varied in its aims but has undergone major changes in practical execution,
particularly in the early days, when there was inevitably a certain amount
of trial and error. By and large the expansion of the economy to keep
up with the enormous increase in population which took place after 1948
was astonishingly rapid, but its balance was, and to a certain extent
remains, precarious. The policy of full employment, the construction
drive, the need to keep down imports of consumer goods to limit the
deficit in the balance of payments, and labour resistance to any wage cuts
have combined to feed the process of inflation, which has still not yet
been brought to a halt.
FROM 1948 TO 1951: SUPPRESSED DEMAND INFLATION

The Government realised from the start that the rate at which the
immigrants were coming into the country made a policy of austerity
essential and that, even so, inflation could not be avoided. It was only
at the end of the War of Independence, however, in the second half of
1
The figures for 1957 are not comparable, since they are expressedin 1957prices;
however, data published by the Bank of Israel show that investment increased by
over 20 per cent, compared with the previous year and that most of this increase was
devoted to transport, housing, construction of all kinds, and services.

IMMIGRATION INTO ISRAEL

1949, that the inflationary process got under way and, in order to keep it
in check, it was decided to impose certain controls. By that time,
unfortunately, a prevailing attitude of easygoing confidence had already
fostered a number of illusions and led to a certain amount of waste.
The anti-inflationary measures taken were not wholly effective because,
instead of tackling the problem at its source, i.e. preventing the formation of an excessive money supply, the Government merely froze wages
and the prices of staple items in the cost of living, in an attempt to stop
a race between them. It was able to do this because the majority of
consumer goods which entered into the cost-of-living index were imported and their delivery prices were fairly stable; they were marketed at
an exchange rate of one Israeli pound for 2.8 dollars. But this policy only
produced a semblance of equilibrium, since in fact none of the conditions of financial stability had been achieved. In order to cope with its
military expenditure and carry out the investments made necessary by
the influx of immigrants, the Israeli Government was constantly forced
to create new means of payment 1 without any equivalent increase in
the quantity of goods and services available since imports of consumer
goods had been severely restricted and local output had not risen fast
enough. This situation led to the rationing of most essential goods.
The ensuing accumulation of surplus purchasing power in the hands
of the public—which only a policy of stiff taxation could have prevented
—coupled with rationing and other controls placed on the supply of
essential goods and services, resulted in what has been termed a process
of " suppressed demand inflation ". This not only produced a flourishing black market but, above all, caused such an increase in all prices of
uncontrolled goods and services that economic development would, if
matters had been allowed to continue, have been seriously hampered by
the distortions which were beginning to appear in the general price structure. As profits were higher in non-essential trades, capital and labour 2
were inevitably attracted towards them, although their prosperity could
do nothing to improve the balance of payments or the economic situation
in general.
The fact that most of the essential goods whose prices had been
frozen until the beginning of 1952 were imported only aggravated the
threat to the country's economic future. By discouraging local
production of certain types of goods, it made it harder to reduce the
deficit in the balance of payments and was even liable to make it worse.
1
Between January 1949 and September 1951, the total means of payment in the
economy more than doubled from 111 to 252.3 million Israeli pounds.
2
Whereas an increase in the proportion of workers in agriculture and industry
would have been desirable, there was an actual decrease from 39 to 37 per cent.
between the middle of 1947 and the middle of 1952.

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

Moreover, the cheapness of imported goods tended to encourage the
purchase of raw materials which were used wastefully or of machinery
which led to technological unemployment at just the wrong time.
Matters came to a head towards the end of 1951. By this time prices
and incomes in the uncontrolled section of the economy were soaring
and the deficit in the balance of payments, widened by the need for higher
imports to meet the essential needs of a population which had suddenly
doubled, was reaching alarming proportions. Meanwhile, the country's
internal and external credit position was deteriorating. The fact had to
be faced that, despite the substantial growth in output, the economy was
still seriously unbalanced owing to the way in which the authorities, after
having allowed inflation to develop (as in fact they could hardly avoid
doing) had then tried to keep it in check : the cure had proved worse than
the disease and a new approach was needed.

1952:

THE CHANGE FROM SUPPRESSED DEMAND INFLATION
TO COST INFLATION

In February 1952 a series of measures were taken to halt inflation
and break the vicious circle in which the economy was caught. The year
before the Government had put an end to the issue of Treasury and
Land Bills which had been the main source of inflation. It was announced
that these issues would not be resumed and that the bulk of the development budget would henceforth be covered by funds obtained abroad.
Tighter controls were imposed on credit so as to channel resources into
given sections of the economy, i.e. agriculture, industry and the export
trades. Lastly, the Israeli pound was pegged to the dollar, except for
the purchase of essential products on the priority list, for which a more
favourable exchange rate was temporarily maintained. In this way it
was hoped to revert to a normal price pattern and to improve the balance
of payments by sharply reducing the incentive to import. In June 1952
these steps were supplemented by the launching of a compulsory loan
designed to siphon off into the development budget any surplus purchasing power which had not already been absorbed by the rise in prices.
These reforms did not immediately bring about the stability the
Government hoped for. The devaluation of the Israeli pound led to a
steep rise in the cost of living and made an adjustment of wages necessary.
This in turn caused a substantial increase in production costs and had to
be followed by a further expansion in the money supply to prevent
deflationary consequences in the shape of falling sales and unemployment. Thus, suppressed demand inflation had merely been replaced by

IMMIGRATION INTO ISRAEL

cost inflation. Fortunately, owing to a combination of favourable
factors, this new form of inflation was not as far-reaching or as serious
as its predecessor. The years after 1952 were marked by a rapid return
to a more balanced financial position which in itself reflected improved
economic conditions.

FROM 1953 to 1957 : TOWARDS ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL STABILITY

Despite the gradual lifting of price controls and the introduction
of a sliding scale for wages \ inflation during the next few years was
not as severe as might have been expected, and in fact slowed down
very quickly. The cost-of-living index, which had risen by 66 per cent.
in 1952, rose by only 20 per cent, in 1953 and 7.5 per cent, in 1954.
This was particularly remarkable as the Government's financial policy,
so far from being over-cautious, had been concentrated on avoiding
deflation rather than inflation.
The trend towards financial stability was due to two main reasons,
namely the ending of mass immigration in the summer of 1951 and the
increase in non-repayable capital aid from abroad after 1952. The
former of these two factors made it possible to shift the emphasis in
investment policy from housing to agricultural and industrial development 2 ; this was partly because the housing shortage had become less
acute and partly because labour was scarcer. The new switch in policy
made it possible to increase over-all productivity much more rapidly.
Similarly, the increase in foreign aid made it possible to maintain imports
of consumer goods at a high level and to end rationing without compromising the investment drive. The expansion of domestic production
was thus sufficient to check inflation and gradually stabilise prices.
The improvement in the economic position was evidenced by a
number of other signs—the rise in the rate of production increase, the
fall in unemployment 3 , the movement of labour from the less productive
sectors of the economy to agriculture and industry, the relative fall in
income derived from tertiary activities and the corresponding rise in
1
Wages themselves remained frozen, but there was a cost-of-living bonus tied
to the cost-of-living index.
2
See table 29 above for the annual distribution of gross investment by branch
of the economy.
3
The daily average number of unemployed showed the following trend between
1949 and 1957 (in thousands):

1949
1950
1951

1.1
5.9
6.3

1952
1953
1954

9.4
17.7
13.4

A rate of 3 per cent, was only exceeded in 1953.

1955
1956
1957

10.7
12.3
12.5

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

the other two sectors, the growth of exports and, lastly, the reduction
in imports of consumer goods in relation to raw materials and capital
goods.
The trend towards economic stability has been less marked, however,
in the past few years. Inflationary pressures began to build up again
from 1955 onwards. The resumption of immigration which, without
reaching the 1948-51 levels, increased the already booming demand for
consumer goods, has forced the Government to speed up the housing
programme once more and provide the newcomers with services of all
kinds. The military operations of 1956-57 represented a further burden,
while at the same time the Government was unable to obtain any substantial increase in foreign aid to meet the extra cost. Credit was further
tightened and the total volume of means of payment increased substantially.1 The balance of payments also deteriorated once more owing
to the increase in imports and the widening of the gap between domestic
and foreign prices.
Owing to the rapid increase in output, however, this new inflationary
pressure was kept within fairly narrow bounds and living standards
did not suffer appreciably. Consumer prices only rose by 6.4 per cent.
in 1956 and by 6.5 per cent, in 1957, while average wages rose slightly
more. These new inflationary trends did not prevent unemployment
from increasing slightly (to 12,500 in 1957) because of the difficulty of
finding work for the new immigrants, most of whom were unskilled.
Although by 1957 the balance-of-payments position had improved
to some extent, the new difficulties which had arisen owing largely to
political developments, had shown up the persistent economic weakness
of the new State. They had also demonstrated that any further mass
immigration would inevitably create a need for further investment and
additional foreign aid.

Arrangements for the Integration of Immigrants
The Jewish Agency, and not the Government of Israel, assumes
responsibility (as it did during the mandate) for supporting the immigrants
until they find work and for housing them until permanent accommodation is ready.
Arrangements for the settlement of the new arrivals have changed
considerably since 1948. The entire procedure has been greatly speeded
1
Between 1954 and the end of 1957 it rose by more than 60 per cent.—from
348.5 to 576 million Israeli pounds.

IMMIGRATION INTO ISRAEL

up and now aims at transferring immigrants directly from the boat to
their place of work.
During the early years the immigrants were first sent to a reception
camp from which, after a few days, all those who could not obtain
housing by their own means or move directly into employment were
transferred to a transit camp. Normally the able-bodied were not
expected to stay in these camps very long, and during the first year
most of them could in fact be housed in urban areas or villages abandoned
by the Arabs. After a while, however, as this readily available housing
was used up and the rate of building continued to lag far behind the
volume of immigration, the transit camps (which between May 1948
and March 1950 had increased in number from seven to 36) tended to
become congested. On top of the shortage of permanent housing there
was the difficulty of finding work for the immigrants near the camps,
with the result that large numbers of them had to endure the idleness as
well as the discomforts of camp life for months on end. For example,
on 1 March 1950 nearly half of the 90,000 immigrants in transit camps
had been there for five months or more, and while Hebrew lessons
and vocational training courses were given, more than this was
needed to counteract the adverse psychological effects of prolonged
inactivity.
The Jewish Agency therefore decided in the summer of 1950 to
disperse the immigrants into work camps known as maabarot (temporary villages) which were set up wherever permanent or temporary
jobs were available, e.g. near the farm settlement centres, in the suburbs
of the new towns or in the neighbourhood of large public works schemes.
These villages rapidly absorbed the population of the transit camps
which were progressively closed down. By the end of 1952 the villages
contained a record population of 230,000 people. They emptied in
turn as permanent housing was built by the Government on neighbouring sites.
As new construction gradually caught up with the population's
needs, new reception arrangements for the immigrants were introduced
in 1955, abolishing any intermediate stage between the boat and the
place of work. An immigrant who is unable to find his own housing is
now taken direct to a village or town where a permanent job and home
await him. These arrangements form part of the schemes for developing
hitherto neglected areas.
The Jewish Agency has thus managed to meet the immigrants'
essential needs during the transition period. But their integration has
involved a number of other practical and, in some ways, interrelated
problems, such as the steering of the immigrants into sections of the

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

economy which the Government wishes to expand and the provision
of permanent housing.
The Government was reluctant to use compulsion to direct immigrants into essential primary and secondary occupations which required
more labour for expansion, particularly since the law of supply and
demand was quite effective in channelling the newcomers into such
trades (which in the main were completely new to them). This process
was, of course, helped by the fact that the Zionist movement has managed
to kindle an enthusiasm in the country for manual work in general and
for work on the land in particular. Nevertheless, certain difficulties did
arise and they called for government action.
The first was the lopsided distribution of the population throughout
the country and its over-concentration in the big towns. This was an
inheritance from the days of the mandate when the farm settlements
only absorbed a small part of the Jewish population, the bulk of which
settled in the cities. Inevitably, during the early days of the immigration
wave, it was also in the cities that the newcomers had least difficulty
in finding homes and jobs; in fact, by the end of 1950 nearly half the
Jewish population was concentrated in the three urban areas of Haifa,
Tel-Aviv-Jaffa and Jerusalem. Accordingly, the Government's development policy was linked with a plan for spreading the population out
more evenly. The aim was to attract labour towards the empty parts
of the country by launching public works schemes and above all by
building more farm settlements to which every effort was made to channel
the immigrants. On the whole the new villages were populated without
much difficulty because of the facilities provided, which afforded the
prospect of a reasonable standard of living.1 But the cost of the scheme
was very high and it could only be carried out with large-scale financial
assistance from the Jewish Agency. Thanks to this help, the new State
was able to take effective possession of large areas of its territory in the
extreme north and south, particularly in Galilee and the Negev while
at the same time solving the problem posed by the absorption of tens
of thousands of immigrants.
The second difficulty was the inadequate skill of most of the immigrants. Tremendous efforts were required by the Ministry of Labour, the
Ministry of Agriculture and the Settlement Department of the Jewish
Agency to train workers, both young and adult, for their new tasks.2 The
former benefited from the progress made since 1948 in the vocational
1

Although on occasion indirect pressure had to be used, e.g. the cut in building
and public works credits in the big cities during the 1952-53 switch in economic
policy.
2
Annual expenditure on vocational training is of the order of 4 million Israeli
pounds.

IMMIGRATION INTO ISRAEL

guidance and training of young people in general. Since 1949 the Youth
Aliyah, which is the section of the Jewish Agency dealing with the education of young immigrants, has provided training and found work, mainly
in agriculture, for about 20,000 of them from the Moslem countries.
Accelerated vocational training courses, both basic and advanced, for
industrial trades and certain services have also been organised for adults
in co-operation with the Histadrut, although owing to the shortage of
instructors and facilities and the general lack of money, training could not
be given on a large enough scale during the years when immigration was
at its peak. Between the foundation of the State and the end of 1957 about
100,000 adult pupils were given vocational training for 200 non-agricultural trades, either in special centres or in schools. The agricultural
settlers were usually trained by instructors on the farms themselves, the
course of training varying according to the type of settlement. Large-scale
efforts were also made on the Government's initiative to rehabilitate the
disabled so as to make full use of all available manpower resources.
Thus the MALBEN Organisation x has organised large numbers of
rehabilitation courses in hospitals and in specially equipped centres.
The housing drive, however, has probably represented the most
successful effort to fit the immigrants into the general development
plan. It not only helped to meet the needs of the greatly increased
population, but also changed the population pattern in the general
interest. Here too the Government and the Jewish Agency worked in
close co-operation.
The scale of the housing drive since 1949 is evidenced by the high
proportion of housing expenditure (the greater part of which was borne
from public funds) in total gross investment.2 The new housing built
between 1949 and 1957 totalled over 508,000 rooms, more than 73 per
cent, of which was financed in whole or in part by the Government,
the Jewish Agency or various public bodies. The geographical pattern
of public and private building was, however, different. In accordance
with the population policy, public building was largely concentrated
in the countryside and the new towns, particularly in the extreme north
and south, whereas private building tended to concentrate in the Tel-AvivJaffa and Haifa areas. The housing problem, which was nearing a
solution, once more became acute with the new wave of immigration,
and at the beginning of 1957 the Ministry of Labour drew up a three1

A relief agency for physically handicapped immigrants set up in 1949 under the
sponsorship of the American Joint Distribution Committee, the Jewish Agency and
the Israeli Government. During the first year, one-half of its expenses were paid by
the first of these three bodies, which subsequently took over full financial responsibility.
The name MALBEN represents the initials of the organisation's full Hebrew title.
2
See above, table 29.

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

year plan to provide permanent housing for all those—numbering
20,000 at the end of 1957—who still needed it. A total of 500 million
Israeli pounds was set aside for this purpose. The over-all situation
position is slowly improving, but by and large housing conditions
among the Jewish population are not much above the fairly low standards
which existed during the mandate.

Immigration Results
SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTRY

The integration policy pursued by the Israeli Government has
brought about substantial changes in the distribution of the population.
These are illustrated by table 30.
TABLE 30. ISRAEL : DISTRIBUTION OF THE JEWISH POPULATION BY
AREA ON 8 NOVEMBER 1948 AND 31 DECEMBER 1957
On
8 November 1948
Districts

Northern
Haifa
Central
Tel-Aviv
Jerusalem
Southern
Unknown
Total . . .

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

60.5
140.7
106.3
302.0
84.1
6.0
17.1

8.5
19.6
14.8
42.2
11.7
0.8
2.4

716.7

100.0

On
31 December 1957
Absolute
figures
(thousands)

ages

180.6
303.4
368.7
617.1
171.2
121.7

10.3
17.2
20.9
35.0
9.7
6.9

Increase
Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Per-

—

120.1
162.7
262.4
315.1
87.1
115.7
-17.1

198.5
115.6
246.8
104.3
103.5
1,928.4
-100.0

1,762.7 100.0

1,046.0

145.9

—

Per-

ages

The table shows that the population increase between 8 November
1948 (the date of the first Israeli census) and 31 December 1957 varied
greatly from one area to another. It was well below the average (145.9 per
cent.) in the areas containing the major cities, i.e. Haifa, Tel-Aviv and
Jerusalem. On the other hand it was well above this average in the most
thinly populated districts, i.e. the Northern district (despite the presence
of a strong non-Jewish minority) and the Central and the Southern
districts. This latter area, which is almost entirely covered by the Negev
Desert, was virtually uninhabited at the start of the period and its
present settlement, although still sparse, is a completely new development. As the Government had hoped and planned, the countryside

IMMIGRATION INTO ISRAEL

TABLE 31. ISRAEL : COMPARATIVE TRENDS IN THE
JEWISH POPULATION OF THE COUNTRYSIDE, MAJOR CITIES AND
OTHER URBAN AREAS, 1948-57
On
8 November 1948

On
31 December 1957

Areas

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Countryside
Haifa, Tel-Aviv, Jaffa,
Jerusalem
Other towns
Reception centres and
unknown

105.1

14.7

396.8

22.5

291.7

277.5

413.0
168.5

57.6
23.5

683.5
679.0

38.8
38.5

270.5
510.2

65.5
311.5

29.8

4.2

3.4

0.2

-26.4

-88.6

100.0 1,762.7

100.0

1,046.0

145.9

Total

. . .

716.7

Increase
Percentages

and the small and medium towns inland benefited most from the influx
of immigrants. This is brought out by table 31.
Thus, the immigration that took place after 1948 not only raised the
population of Israel to two-and-a-half times its former level but enabled
the country to make rapid strides towards a more balanced distribution
of this population, without which its resources could not have been
properly exploited.
However, the present situation is still not considered fully satisfactory, and a two-pronged drive for agricultural settlement, aimed both
at newly arrived immigrants and at the inhabitants of the big cities
is now under way.
ECONOMIC EXPANSION

Immigration was accompanied by rapid economic expansion, at
least after the end of 1949, as evidenced by the increase in the labour
force and in total production.
The figures given in table 32 show that between the census of
8 November 1948 and June 1957 the number of persons in employment
increased by more than 280,000, i.e. by about 90 per cent. Taking
account of the already sharp increase that had taken place between May
and November 1948, it had in fact just about doubled in little over
nine years.
The increase in production was also considerable, particularly in
agriculture where output had fallen when the Arabs left. Between 1948

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

TABLE 32. ISRAEL : JEWISH EMPLOYED PERSONS, BY BRANCH OF
THE ECONOMY, IN NOVEMBER 1948 AND JUNE 1957
November 1948

June 1957

Branch of the economy

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Agriculture
Industry and handicrafts (including extractive industries)
Building and public works
Transport and communications
. . . .
Water, gas, electricity and sanitation . .
Commerce, banking, insurance
Public and private services
Unspecified
. . . .

38.1

12.1

93.0

15.6

85.8
16.4
16.7

27.3
5.2
5.3

22.4
9.3
6.8
2.5

36.4
80.8
40.8

11.5
25.6
13.0

133.1
55.1
40.7
15.1
81.2
176.6
2.7

Total . . .

314.8

100.0

597.5

100.0

Employed persons as percentage of total
population

43.9

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

13.7

29.7

35.1

and 1957, the area under cultivation increased by more than 125 per
cent.—from 1,650,000 to 3,840,000 dunams. 1 The main effort was concentrated on irrigation, with the result that the total irrigated area
increased from 300,000 dunams to 1,226,000 during the same period.
This, together with the doubling of the labour force, led to a rapid
growth in the output of most products, particularly vegetables, fruit,
oil seeds, fodder and animal products. Industrial expansion, for its
part, took the form of a steep rise in the output of electric power
(from 329,200 kWh in 1949 to 1,142,600 in 1956), expansion in certain
traditional industries such as foodstuffs, cement and fertilisers and,
in recent years, the establishment of a wide range of completely new
industries.
Nevertheless, despite the increase in the labour force and the rise
in output, it cannot be claimed that the immigrants have been completely
integrated or that the economic problems resulting from immigration
have been fully overcome.2 The growth in employment has been slower
than the growth in the population, due not only to changes in the age
distribution of the population since 1948 but also to a substantial fall
in female employment. A breakdown of the labour force by occupation
l

4 dunams=1 acre.
It is estimated that of the workers who have joined the labour force in recent
years some 10 per cent, were not absorbed and 20 per cent, were only partly employed.
2

IMMIGRATION INTO ISRAEL

also shows that a markedly higher proportion of workers are now
employed in services than in 1948 x—too many, in fact, for a country
whose agricultural and industrial output is still far from meeting its needs.
Lastly, owing to lack of capital or skill, the output of industry, and above
all of agriculture, is still very often lower than it should be. Not only,
therefore, is the present labour force relatively small but its productivity
has not yet reached a satisfactory level.
In all, the expansion of production, though remarkable for a country
with such scanty natural resources, seems barely to have kept pace with
the increase in population that has occurred since 1948. Nevertheless,
with the achievement of financial stability since 1953, a major campaign
has been launched in a variety of directions to step up productivity, e.g.
through improvements in farming methods, farm mechanisation, the
extension of vocational training, industrial concentration, more efficient
organisation and output bonuses. This campaign, which has gone hand
in hand with large expansion schemes in both agriculture and industry,
should gradually lead to a better distribution of the labour force and,
as a result of rising efficiency, to a distinctly faster rate of production
growth. Such a trend has in fact already been apparent over the past
few years.
DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME

Foreign aid, by keeping the market amply supplied with consumer
goods 2 , prevented the fall in productivity caused by immigration from
leading to a sharp and lasting drop in real average incomes. Moreover,
it limited the fall that did occur by greatly increasing the volume of
productive capital. As a result the decline in the income of labour
compared with that of capital—the classic consequence of uncontrolled
large-scale immigration—was comparatively slight. For the great
majority of wage earners the inflation caused by the influx of immigrants
led to nothing more than a halt between 1950 and 1953, and a slackening
1
This is, of course, due in part to the fact that less capital is necessary to create
new jobs in services than in other trades.
2
Details regarding consumption and income per head between 1948 and 1950
are not available but the following indices (1950=100) show that from 1953 onwards
both rose sharply.

Year
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956

Income

Consumption

110
93
93
106
114
120

106
105
105
122
126
128

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

between 1955 and 1957, in the rise of real wages. The only exceptions
were the most highly paid workers, who were more directly affected
by the Government's social policy of providing everybody, and particularly the unskilled immigrants, with a decent standard of living. Similarly,
the difference between the social and economic status of most immigrants
and that of the earlier settlers—another classic feature of mass migrations—was relatively unimportant. Nor did immigration, in most cases,
involve a fall from a previously higher status: a very large number of
the immigrants from the Moslem countries, and even many of those
from Eastern and Central Europe, are now just as well off in Israel as
they were before and in many cases distinctly better off.

Conclusion
The challenge to the laws of nature and economics which immigration to Israel from 1948 to 1951 represented could obviously not have
succeeded so remarkably if the country had been left to fend for itself.
The terms of the problem were fundamentally altered by the scale on
which foreign aid was made available. As a result, the population was
spared any lasting fall in its standards of living, unemployment was kept
in check, inflation was conquered and the economy was able to achieve
its spectacular expansion.
The size of this outside contribution must not, however, be allowed
to overshadow the sheer hard work put in by the entire population in
coping with the tremendous handicaps resulting from the size of the
influx, the poverty of the country, the inadequacy of its capital equipment and the low standards of skill of the new arrivals. But the problem
will not be finally solved until the Israeli economy has ceased altogether
to depend on foreign assistance, and this will take a good many years,
particularly if the new wave of immigration which began in 1955 continues. Assistance will also be required for a long time to come to finance
needed investment. Finally, a marked improvement in standards of skill
and working methods remains imperative.
Bibliographical References
Statistical Sources
Unless otherwise stated the statistics quoted in this chapter are taken from
the following publications of the Central Bureau of Statistics in Jerusalem:
Statistical Abstract of Israel, 1949-50 to 1956-57 ; and
Statistical Bulletin of Israel (monthly), since 1950.

IMMIGRATION INTO ISRAEL

Other Sources
Apart from information supplied directly to the International Labour
Office the following have been used:
UNITED NATIONS: The Manpower Contribution of Immigration into Israel, by
Benjamin G I L (paper submitted to the World Population Conference,
Rome, 1954), Document E/CONF. 13/130, 30 Apr. 1954 (mimeographed).
BANK OF ISRAEL : Annual reports.
MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY : Israel Economic Bulletin (Jerusalem),

monthly.
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, BUREAU OF THE CENSUS: Israel:

Jewish Population and Immigration, by Norman LAWRENCE, International
Population Statistics Reports, Series P-90, No. 2 (Washington, D.C., U.S.
Government Printing Office, 1952).
H. B. M. MURPHY: " T h e Resettlement of Jewish Refugees in Israel, with
Special Reference to Those Known as Displaced Persons ", in Population
Studies (Cambridge, The University Press), Vol. V. No. 2, Nov. 1951, p. 152.
R. BACHI: " L a population juive de l'Etat d'Israël", in Population (Paris,
Institut national d'études démographiques), Seventh Year, No. 3,JulySep. 1952, p . 405-452.
M. LEVY: Israel Economie Survey, 1953-54 (Jerusalem, The Economic Department of the Jewish Agency, 1955).
R. BACHI: (Edited by, on behalf of the Eliezer Kaplan School of Economics
and Social Sciences): Studies in Economic and Social Sciences, Scripta
Hierosolymitana, Vol. I l l (Jerusalem, The Magnes Press, Hebrew University, 1956), including in particular " Monetary and Price Development in
Israel, 1949-1953 ", by D . PATINKIN, and " Professions and Social Structure
in Israel " , by J. BEN DAVID.

— Trends of Population and Labour Force in Israel, Report prepared for a
symposium on " The Challenge of Development ", held in Jerusalem on
26 and 27 June 1957 (Jerusalem, the Eliezer Kaplan School of Economics
and Social Sciences, the Hebrew University (mimeographed)).
M. SICRON: Immigration to Israel, 1948-53 (Jerusalem, Falk Project for Economic Research in Israel and Central Bureau of Statistics, 1957).
Economic Review of Israel, No. 22, Jan. 1958, Three-Monthly Economic Review
series (London, The Economist Intelligence Unit, Ltd.)
The Israel Economist (Jerusalem), published monthly since 1949 (successor to
the Palestine Economist).

CHAPTER IV
POPULATION SHIFTS IN ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST
The political changes that have taken place in Asia and the Middle
East since 1945 have, as in Europe, led to a number of large-scale population shifts : in the Near East the exodus of the Arabs from Palestine,
which followed the establishment of the State of Israel; in India, the
two-way movement of part of the Hindu and Moslem minorities left
by the 1947 partition outside the frontiers of the State to which they
owed religious allegiance; and, in the Far East, the repatriation of the
Japanese who had settled in their country's former dependencies and
of the Koreans who had settled in Japan and Manchuria, the influx of
Chinese refugees into Hong Kong and Formosa, and the flight of
refugees from North to South Korea and, more recently, from North
to South Viet-Nam.
Unlike most of the major post-war population shifts in Europe, these
movements were neither forced nor planned; they were not, therefore,
properly speaking, transfers. Rather, they were due in most cases
to a more or less rational belief on the part of those concerned that
trouble lay ahead—a belief which often assumed panic proportions,
with the result that such movements generally developed into headlong flights which did great damage both to individuals and to communities.
The resulting economic problems varied from one country to another.
Those countries which received the refugees or repatriated persons were
themselves, by and large, overpopulated and, with the exception of
Japan, unindustrialised, so that most of them had the utmost difficulty
in providing elementary relief for the newcomers, let alone integrating
them in their economies. In the Near East the burden of relief was
almost entirely assumed by the United Nations, while in India and
Pakistan the need was largely met by private charity. Nowhere, however, except in the Near East, did the influx of refugees cause more than a
minor worsening of the long-standing problem posed by a rapidly
growing population coupled with slow capital accumulation and backward production methods. Thus, while the refugees swelled the povertystricken masses, the over-all effect of such population shifts on the local
demographic situation was not always very noticeable; nor is their

ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST

101

economic impact on the countries concerned easy to measure by the
standards used in earlier chapters, particularly since most of the necessary
numerical data are lacking. What follows, therefore, is a description
rather than a statistical account of these various movements.

The Palestine Arab Refugees

BACKGROUND
The flight of the Arab population from the territory of Israel was a
consequence of the decision taken by the United Nations General
Assembly on 29 November 1947 to partition Palestine between the
Jewish and Arab communities which had hitherto lived there side by
side. This decision, while it left only a small Jewish minority in the
territory granted to the Arabs, gave the Jews an area inhabited by at
least 400,000 Arabs—nearly as many as there were Jews. The decision
was rejected by the Arabs, and this led in 1948-49 to a war between Israel
and the neighbouring States, as a result of which the Israelis occupied,
and subsequently held, a slice of territory beyond the demarcation line,
though still within the former frontiers of Palestine, in which some
340,000 Arabs were living. These events led most of the Arabs inside
the former frontiers of Palestine to seek refuge in the neighbouring
countries, hoping to return before long. In fact, however, their exile
has already lasted for more than ten years, and the danger that most
of them may go on indefinitely simply eking out an existence on international relief is a very real one.
The first to leave were about 30,000 well-to-do Arabs from Jerusalem,
Haifa and Jaffa, who decided to take shelter in the neighbouring countries as soon as the United Nations decision was announced. A second
exodus on a much larger scale began in March 1948 and continued
until the opening of hostilities; this also involved townsfolk, mostly
from Haifa, Jaffa and various other cities. By mid-May 1948 the
number of Arab refugees was already a quarter of a million. The later
movements took place in such confusion that it is impossible to reckon
the exact numbers involved. Nevertheless, by October their number
exceed half a million and by the end of the year it was approximately
750,000. In other words, the war had driven the great majority of the
Arab population of Palestine into exile. According to an official Israeli
Government estimate, only some 100,000 Arabs were left in Israel by
19 December 1948.

102

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957
STATISTICAL DATA

The scale of this flight by the Arabs is difficult to assess with any
accuracy since the refugees refused to be counted. The relief rolls also
seem to have been swollen considerably because many people were
registered more than once and because a number of the local poor
managed to register as refugees even though they were not entitled to
do so. The high rate of increase of the refugee population complicated
the problem still further. As a result, the numbers involved can only be
estimated roughly.
At the end of 1945, 736,000 Arabs were living within the present
frontiers of Israel. Reckoning the nomad population as well, and
allowing for the natural increase as well as subsequent illegal immigration,
the total Arab population at the end of 1947 can be generously estimated
at about 860,000. At the end of 1948 there were only about 110,000 left,
which means that some 750,000 must have emigrated. An estimate
made in September 1949 of the distribution of the Arab population
of the former territory of Palestine (see table 33) appears to bear out
this calculation. It shows that the number of refugees at that date,
when a proportion of them had already gone back to Israel, was a little
TABLE 33. FORMER ARAB POPULATION OF PALESTINE,
BY COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE, IN SEPTEMBER 1949
Country of residence

Absolute figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Non-refugees :
150

11.8

105
299

8.3
23.6

554

43.7

200
220
88
100
100
5

15.8
17.4
6.9
7.9
7.9
0.4

Total refugees . . .

713

56.3

Total . . .

1,267

100.0

Outside Israel:
Central Palestine
Total non-refugees . . .
Refugees :
Central Palestine
Jordan
Syria
Lebanon
Iraq

Source: S. G. THICKNESSE: Arab Refugees: A Survey of Resettlement Possibilities (London and
New York, Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1949).

103

ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST

TABLE 34. REFUGEES REGISTERED WITH U.N.R.W.A., BY YEAR
AND COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE, 1950-57 (FIGURES ON 30 JUNE)
(In thousands)
Country of residence

1950

1951

1952

1953

1954

1955

1956

1957

. . . .

198.2 199.8 204.4 208.6 212.6 214.6 217.0 221.0
506.2 465.7 469.6 475.6 486.6 499.6 512.7 517.4
127.6 106.9 104.9 102.1 101.6 103.6 102.6 102.6
82.2 82.9 84.2 85.5 86.2 88.2 90.0 92.5
i
i
i
i
i
45.8 24.4 19.6

Total . . .

960.0 879.7 882.7 871.7 887.1 906.0 922.3 933.5

Gaza area
Jordan
Lebanon
Syria
Israel

Source: United Nations: Annual Report of the Director of the United Nations Relief and Works
Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, Covering the Period 1 July 1956 to 30 June 1957,
General Assembly Official Records, Twelfth Session, Supplement No. 14 (A/3686) (New York, 1957).
1
In June 1952, the Israeli Government decided to assume responsibility for the last Arab refugees
remaining within its territory.

over 700,000. Some who, having gone «back, could not return to their
former homes should, however, be reckoned as refugees in Israel and
added to the above estimate.
The number of refugees registered for international relief was,
however, much higher. In the summer of 1949 it reached something
like a million persons, although this figure, for reasons already indicated,
is probably too high.
Annual statistics have been regularly published by the United
Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near
East since May 1950, when this organisation took over responsibility
for the refugee relief programme (table 34).
As the table shows, the total number of 960,000 refugees in the care
of U.N.R.W.A. on 30 June 1950 fell sharply (by about 80,000)
during the following 12 months. This was because a check-up had been
carried out among the refugees, resulting in the removal of a number
of names from the rolls, particularly in Jordan, and also because of
progress accomplished towards resetthng refugees in Israel. The latter
process was virtually complete by June 1952, when the Israeli Government decided to assume full responsibility for those remaining within
its territory. Since 1952 the total number of refugees has, on the whole,
increased, owing to natural growth, except in Lebanon, where some
of them have been gradually absorbed into the remainder of the
population.
Not only was the influx of refugees enormous in itself, but in two
of the receiving territories it produced a huge increase in the population.

104

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

The biggest relative increase occurred in the Gaza area where there are
nearly two refugees for every three inhabitants. It was also very high
in Jordan where it amounted to about 80 per cent, of the existing population. This was on top of the burdens already borne by the local population which, in Gaza as in Jordan, had already suffered heavily from the
economic consequences of the partition of Palestine. In Lebanon and
Syria, the refugees accounted respectively for a little under 7 and a little
over 2 per cent, of the local population.
The statistics also give some idea of the composition of the refugee
population by age. Its most striking feature is its extreme youth,
nearly 45 per cent, of the refugees consisting of children under the
age of 15. This high percentage is the result of a high birth rate,
coupled with a remarkably low infant mortality rate which may be
ascribed to proper health care. The large number of children and of
expectant mothers, or mothers with young families, is one of the salient
features of the problem of resettling the refugees and an additional
source of difficulty.
A breakdown of the refugee population by previous occupation
reveals a very small proportion of economically active persons and a
heavy preponderance of farmers and unskilled workers. In. 1951 only
150,000 refugees out of a total of 880,000 could be reckoned as having
had an occupation in Palestine, nearly 40 per cent, of them as farmers
and 20 per cent, as servants or labourers. Detailed percentages for each
occupation are given in table 35.

TABLE 35. BREAKDOWN OF ECONOMICALLY ACTIVE PALESTINE
ARAB REFUGEES BY PREVIOUS OCCUPATION, 1951
Occupation

Labouring and domestic service
Agriculture and
fishing
Industry and construction
Commerce and clerical
Professions and other services
Landlords, students and miscellaneous

Percentages

20.0
37.9
14.6
15.6
4.5
7.4
100.0

Lastly, a breakdown of the refugees by religious affiliation shows a
very large majority of Moslems and a small minority of Christians,
varying in size according to the country of residence. Before the mass
flight, 70,000 Arab Christians were living within the frontiers of what
is now the State of Israel, but only a little over half of them were among
the refugees. The proportion of these Arabs is highest in the Lebanon—

ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST

105

about one-quarter of the total in June 1951—whereas in Jordan, Syria
and the Gaza area the proportions were 6, 1.7 and 0.3 per cent.
respectively.

RELIEF AND ASSISTANCE

During the first few months following their departure, the refugees
were given a certain amount of relief by the governments of the
countries in which they took shelter. Nevertheless, the burden soon
proved too heavy for these countries and the United Nations Mediator
in Palestine, for obvious humanitarian reasons, asked for and obtained
international assistance for this purpose, which was later rapidly increased.
As early as August 1948 the United Nations International Children's
Emergency Fund (U.N.I.C.E.F.) granted large-scale cash assistance,
and in the following month began to provide staff as well. The Mediator
then drew up a project for helping the homeless and called in a number
of voluntary organisations to assist in distributing the supplies he had
collected.
In November 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations
established the United Nations Relief for Palestine Refugees to distribute
relief in kind. It became apparent, however, by the end of the summer
of 1949 that the refugee problem was not going to be settled quickly
and that further action was called for. An Economic Survey Mission for
the Middle East was appointed and made a report to the General
Assembly in November 1949 recommending the establishment of an
agency with responsibility for distributing relief to the refugees on a
reduced scale and, above all, for preparing public works schemes in the
interests of the receiving countries and the refugees themselves in order
to enable a growing proportion of the homeless to become self-supporting.
The United Nations General Assembly endorsed these recommendations
and set up the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine
Refugees in the Near East (U.N.R.W.A.) which took over the assets and
liabilities of the U.N.R.P.R. and began operations in May 1950. In
December 1954 the United Nations decided to keep the Agency in being
until 30 June 1960.
Its relief and assistance activities include the provision of food,
accommodation and clothing, together with medical, health and social
services (particularly schools). As the Agency's budget is limited, it
has been forced to keep its benefits down to the bare minimum. Despite
this, it has been able to give the refugees a standard of living which is no
lower than that of a large section of the local population. By providing

106

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

food, which is by far the biggest item in the relief budget, it has managed
to prevent undernourishment, the normal issue being supplemented by
special rations for children, expectant or nursing mothers, hospital
patients and tubercular cases not in hospital. Refugees who manage
to find work are, of course, better fed.
In 1950 less than a third of the refugees were still living in camps run
by the Agency, the great bulk of them having managed to rent accommodation or to find some sort of shelter, however rudimentary. In
order to prevent the emergence of a " professional refugee " mentality,
they were encouraged to find their own accommodation. Nevertheless,
many of them, having exhausted their savings or given up any hope of
finding work, drifted back to the camps. This, together with the natural
process of growth, resulted in a rise, instead of a fall, in the camp population which, by 1957, accounted for 38.6 per cent, of the total number
of refugees. The Agency tried to avoid establishing permanent or
semi-permanent camps in areas with few opportunities for employment
and at first accommodated the refugees under canvas. But in the end
it had no alternative but to build permanent camps to which those who
had been living in tents or other inadequate accommodation were
gradually transferred. At the same time it tried to make it clear to its
charges that better housing for them did not mean permanent settlement
or abandonment of their political claims.
The refugees' health had been one of the foremost concerns of the
international relief organisations. From the start the programme of the
United Nations Mediator had made provision for the supply of medicines,
and as soon as the U.N.R.P.R. began functioning it made plans, in
co-operation with the World Health Organisation, U.N.I.C.E.F. and a
number of voluntary organisations, to meet certain essential needs. Later
the Agency managed to provide the refugees with various preventive
facilities in addition to normal hospital services, e.g. insect control,
sanitary inspection of living quarters, detection and control of endemic
or epidemic diseases, vaccination, and education in health and hygiene.
Owing to lack of money and staff the Agency was unable to provide
medical care of a standard substantially higher than that provided
under local public assistance arrangements, and therefore had to concentrate on sanitation and preventive medicine.
A fairly comprehensive school system was built up by U.N.R.W.A.
with the help of U.N.E.S.C.O. and the I.L.O. During the 1956-57 school
year, 169,000 refugee children of both sexes were receiving elementary
or secondary education at the Agency's expense, either in schools run
by the Agency itself or in official or private establishments in their
country of residence. A number of abler pupils were awarded university

ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST

107

scholarships. Substantial progress has also been made in vocational
training.
The social welfare side of the Agency's work has also covered a
wide field, ranging from the distribution of clothing and milk to social
assistance, and including the organisation of leisure activities, evening
classes and training courses for welfare workers. The Agency has
likewise set up a placement service for refugees willing to work,
and makes loans to those who wish to emigrate but cannot afford to
do so. It also keeps in touch with a number of official bodies and
employers in its efforts to find work for the refugees.

INTEGRATION PLANS

The United Nations Economic Survey Mission, in its report issued
in December 1949 1 , emphasised the need to provide stable employment
for the refugees as the only way out of what looked like a hopeless
impasse in view of the existing political situation. It made detailed
suggestions concerning public works schemes which could be carried
out using refugee labour, and provided a plan for taking the refugees off
relief and enabling them to earn their own living. Action was taken
on these recommendations and various schemes were launched, including
the establishment of new industrial undertakings. By 1950-51 jobs had
been found for an appreciable number of refugees but most of these
schemes had to be abandoned because they were uneconomic. In more
advanced economies, public works of this kind would have stimulated
other industries and created more jobs, but in this case they were simply
operating in a vacuum. Apart from these difficulties, which were
inherent in the economic structure of the receiving countries, there
was also the opposition of governments and the refugees themselves
to any plan which smacked of resettlement. Thus this initial programme
ended in failure.
In January 1952 the United Nations General Assembly gave its
approval to a new programme which, it was hoped, would be of more
direct benefit to the receiving countries. This provided for the expenditure of 200 million dollars on various schemes which would provide
work for the refugees over a number of years and open the way for the
permanent resettlement of some of them. The two biggest schemes
called for the irrigation of some 125,000 acres in Jordan through the
1
United Nations : Final Report of the United Nations Economic Survey Mission
for the Middle East, United Nations Publications, Sales No. 1949. IIB.5 (New York,
1949).

108

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

damming and canalising of the River Jordan, and of about 50,000 acres
in the Sinai Peninsula by diverting Nile water from the canal linking
the river with the Suez Canal. Apart from the thousands of jobs which
these schemes would create directly, between 100,000 and 150,000 refugees
would be permanently resettled under the first scheme and between
50,000 and 70,000 under the second. Owing, however, to political and
technical difficulties, both of these main schemes have had to be postponed indefinitely.
On the other hand, U.N.R.W.A. has succeeded in carrying out a
number of smaller schemes, such as the establishment of small farm
settlements and handicraft concerns, mainly in Syria and Jordan. Further
schemes of this type are being carried out as rapidly as funds allow.
Syria and Iraq appear to offer further scope for such agricultural development schemes, but these do not seem likely to materialise in the near
future. Thus, even assuming that the political climate in the area does
gradually improve, it is hard to see how the problem of the Palestine
refugees can be finally settled for many years to come.

Population Movements between India and Pakistan
HISTORICAL SURVEY

The large-scale population shifts which took place between India and
Pakistan were the direct result of the Indian Independence Act of
18 July 1947, whereby British sovereignty was transferred to these two
new States—India, with a Hindu majority, and Pakistan, with a Moslem
majority. One of the arguments in favour of establishing a separate
Moslem State was the fact that the bulk of the Moslem minority in
India (about 60 per cent.) was concentrated in two fairly well-defined
regions and therefore the geographical basis for the proposed partition
already existed. These two regions, however (76 out of the 435 districts
which made up British India), contained a large Hindu minority amounting to roughly a quarter of the population.
In 1947 it was decided to partition the country on religious lines,
Pakistan being formed of two groups of districts with a strong Moslem
majority (separated from each other by some 1,000 miles of Indian
territory), ' one of which became West Pakistan and the other East
Pakistan, the former six times as big as the latter but with only three
quarters of its population. The whole of the remainder became the
Union of India with three times the area of Pakistan and four-and-a-half
times its population.

ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST

109

The immediate—and tragic—result of this decision to partition the
country was a huge two-way exodus of minority groups seeking to join
their co-religionists on the other side of the frontier. These movements had in fact begun even before partition took place. During the
early months of 1947 many hundreds of thousands of Hindus from the
Punjab and the Northwest Provinces had left their homes, while a flight
of Moslems had also taken place to the west during the period immediately preceding independence. The two-way movement, however, did
not reach its peak until after independence when for months on end a
horde of refugees poured in both directions, swamping all available
means of transport or travelling on foot in small groups or in long
straggling columns. By the end of 1948 Pakistan had received 6.7
million refugees and India approximately the same number. The movements went on for a long time afterwards, since for Pakistan as a whole
the number of refugees rose from 7.2 million at the 1951 census to
8.4 million at the 1957 census while in India their number increased
from 7.3 million to 8,850,000 between the same dates. 1
These figures show the net results of the population exchange, including natural growth. On the other hand, the actual size of the various
movements is impossible to ascertain since, apart from deaths on the
way, for which there are no figures at all, a fairly large number of refugees
went back to their homes. A figure of 18 million can, however, be
claimed as a minimum for the total number of people who left their
homes. While this figure was divided about evenly between the two
countries, the demographic impact of the movement was quite different
in each case, since the proportion of refugees to the total population,
as disclosed by the 1951 census, amounted to a full 10 per cent, in
Pakistan, as compared with 2 per cent, only in India. Within Pakistan
itself, moreover, the density of the refugee population was very uneven,
ranging from about 20 per cent, in the western part of the country to
about 1.7 per cent, in the east.

CONSEQUENCES OF THE POPULATION SHIFTS

In order to be properly appreciated, the difficulties caused by the
influx of refugees into India and Pakistan must be viewed against the
general economic background in the two countries, both of which have
very low levels of productivity and standards of living. The refugee
problem in fact merged into—and, to some extent, no doubt aggravated—•
the far wider problem of improving the living standards of the peoples, of
1

Ministry of Rehabilitation (India): Report, 1957-1958.

110

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

whom the majority live on the borderline of hunger, and millions are
without work or shelter.
Nevertheless, among the economic and political problems that
India and Pakistan had to grapple with after the granting of independence, those arising out of the population shifts which followed partition
for a time definitely overshadowed the others. In the first place, the
departure of the refugees left gaps in the economies of the two countries
which the incoming refugees, whose occupational pattern was completely
different, could only partially fill. In some industries this dislocation
had serious consequences and the authorities had to take action to deal
with them (mainly by providing vocational training facilities). In the
second place, the task of relief and resettlement in both countries was
hamstrung by the desperate inadequacy of resources to deal with the
situation.
Both countries had the utmost difficulty in providing the refugees
with the relief they needed, although their demands were well below
what would be considered the bare minimum in the West. This difficulty
TABLE 36. INDIA: BREAKDOWN OF REFUGEES BY AREA, 1951
Refugees
Population
(in thousands^

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

63,215.7

480.3

0.8

6.6

9,043.7
24,810.3
56,307.2

274.5
2,099.1
202.4

3.0
8.5
0.4

3.8
28.8
2.8

90,161.2

2,576.0

2.9

35.3

75,600.8
40,661.1
52,268.0

16.6
409.9
195.9

0.0
1.1
0.4

0.2
5.6
2.7

1,744.1
12,641.2
3,493.7
17,093.6

495.4
2,376.0
356.0
389.8

28.4
18.8
10.2
2.3

6.8
32.5
4.9
5.3

Total . . .

34,972.6

3,617.2

10.3

49.6

Over-all total . . .

356,879.4

7,295.9

2.0

100.0

Area

Northern India
(Uttar Pradesh)
Eastern India :
Assam
West Bengal
Other

. . . .

Total . . .
Southern India
Western India
Central India
North-western India :
Delhi
Punjab
P.E.P.S.U. 1
Other

Source: 1951 census data.
Patiala and East Punjab States Union.

percentAs percent- Asage
of
age of
total
number
population of refugees

111

ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST
TABLE 37.

PAKISTAN: B R E A K D O W N O F REFUGEES
BY AREA, 1951
Refugees

Area

Population
(in thousands)

East Pakistan (East Bengal)
West Pakistan :
Punjab
Bahawalpur
Sind
Other

41,932.3

699.1

1.7

9.7

18,814.2
1,822.5
4,605.9
5,583.0

4,908.3
372.9
540.3
89.1

26.1
20.5
11.7
1.6

67.9
5.2
7.5
1.2

Total . . .
Federal District (Karachi) .

30,825.6
1,122.4

5,910.6
616.9

17.0
55.0

81.8
8.5

Over-all total1. . .

73,880.0

7,226.6

9.8

100.0

percentAbsolute
As percent- Astage
of
figures
age of
total
number
(in thousands) population of refugees

Source: 1951 census data.
1
Excluding population of frontier districts not covered by census.

was not only due to the lack of money but also to the absence of certain
facilities and the administrative disorganisation caused by partition. As
a result, most of the refugees' immediate needs were met, in accordance
with the Indian tradition, by private hospitality, so that the burden of
maintaining them became not so much a national as a regional and even
an individual responsibility. The very uneven distribution of refugees
within each of the two countries naturally forced the receiving areas to
bear much more of the cost of integration than the others, and this
situation, despite the efforts of the two governments to distribute the
burden more equally, has persisted to this day owing to a variety of
factors common to most underdeveloped economies and ranging from
low productivity to inadequate administrative resources. Similarly,
and for the same reasons, the refugees were not able to make their full
contribution to production and economic development.
Demographic Consequences
Although these refugee movements involved equal numbers on both
sides and therefore, at the national level—and even, in many cases, at
the regional level—represented merely a person-for-person population
exchange, they nevertheless altered the geographical distribution of the
population in both countries to some extent. The 1951 census figures
regarding the distribution of refugees by area (tables 36 and 37) and a

112

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

comparison between the 1941 and 1951 census figures regarding the
distribution of the population by religious groups and by area give some
idea of the changes caused by this two-way exodus in the geographical
pattern of the population.
In India, the 1951 census shows that only the north-west and eastern
areas, i.e. in the main, those adjoining the two halves of Pakistan,
received refugees in any numbers. Eastern India received nearly 2.6
million, of whom nearly 2.1 million entered West Bengal alone, while
north-west India received 3.6 million, of whom nearly 2.4 million entered
the Punjab and 0.5 million the state of Delhi. The concentration of
refugees was, and still is, heaviest in these two areas, representing 2.9 per
cent, of the population in eastern India as a whole (8.5 per cent, in
West Bengal); and 10.3 per cent, in north-west India as a whole (18.8 per
cent, in the Punjab and 28.4 per cent, in Delhi state). Elsewhere the
refugees form sizeable groups in absolute terms, e.g. in Uttar Pradesh
and Bombay state, but their proportion is negligible. A comparison
between the 1941 and 1951 censuses also shows that the areas which
received most refugees were, in the main, those from which there was
heavy Moslem emigration, i.e. West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi,
Patiala and East Punjab States Union, the Punjab and Rajasthan. The
movements in both directions, however, did not balance out everywhere.
In West Bengal, especially, the number of incoming Hindu refugees was
three or four times higher than the number of outgoing Moslems,
whereas in the Punjab, where virtually the whole Moslem minority
emigrated, immigration had by 1951 filled only half the gaps left. On
balance the changes caused by the movement in the distribution of the
population throughout India were virtually nil over most of the country
but did seriously affect certain provinces, e.g. West Bengal and Delhi
state, where they appreciably increased the density of the population,
and the Punjab and Patiala and East Punjab States Union, where they
had the opposite effect.
In Pakistan the influx of refugees affected the western part of the
country far more than the eastern part; in 1951 the latter contained less
than 10 per cent, of the refugee population although its population was
a good deal larger. The Punjab received the bulk of the immigrants
(more than two-thirds of the total) but the influx was relatively greatest
in the Federal District where, in 1951, 55 per cent, of the population
were refugees. As in India the interchange did not balance out everywhere and in the Punjab it would appear that despite the departure of
almost all the Hindus there was a heavy surplus of immigrants, whereas
in East Bengal the balance was tipped even more markedly the other
way.

ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST

113

These, at least, are the conclusions which emerge from a study of the
1941 and 1951 censuses. Since then movements have continued in both
directions which have altered the pattern to some extent but without
changing its main outlines. The biggest movements have taken place
in Bengal, where 0.5 million Moslems left West Bengal for East Bengal
between 1951 and 1956, while over 1.5 million Hindus emigrated to
eastern India. Elsewhere the number of Hindu refugees appears to have
remained stable, but a further 650,000 Moslems left India for West
Pakistan during the same period. Thus, these more recent movements,
which have continued to affect mainly the partitioned states of
Bengal and the Punjab, have accentuated the disrupting effects of the
previous movements by increasing the population density in the Pakistani
part of the Punjab and the Indian part of Bengal and by producing the
opposite effect in the two other halves.
Another major demographic result was an appreciable change in
some areas in the ratio of the urban to the rural population. Usually
there was an increase in the former, particularly in India, where in 1951
54 per cent, of the refugee population was living in towns, i.e. three
times as many as the corresponding proportion among the local
population.
Economic and Social Consequences
The refugees confronted the two countries with both short and longterm economic problems. The former included the mobilisation of
transport and the provision of emergency relief. Of these two, the latter
placed a heavy burden on the families which took the refugees in and
on the governments themselves, whose precariously balanced budgets
suddenly had to cope with a steep rise in expenditure, most of which,
being for camps, food, clothing and essential medical and health services,
was of no real value as an investment.
But a second, even more difficult, task remained—the closing down
of the camps, which it was in the authorities' interest to do as soon as
possible. This meant providing stable employment for the refugees.
Those from the country districts were, where possible, provisionally
settled on land abandoned by the emigrants, this being the only way
of avoiding famine, but the integration of the refugees from the towns
was a far more difficult process. The shortage of housing, the lack of
jobs and the distortions caused by the two-way movement in the occupational structure of the labour force in the two countries created difficulties on such a scale as to affect national planning priorities. Whereas
the bulk of the Moslem refugees were peasants and rural handicraftsmen,

114

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

most of the Hindus were town dwellers, e.g. shopkeepers, government
employees and clerical workers. The result was that the departure of
the Moslems seriously affected Indian food output and at the same time
left a shortage of skilled manual workers, while the majority of the
immigrants from Pakistan lacked the skills required to fill the gaps. In
Pakistan, on the other hand, the departure of the Hindus deprived the
country of civil servants and shopkeepers who were badly needed during
the early years of the new State's existence. Furthermore, while the
farms and farming facilities abandoned by the Hindus in Pakistan were
of a higher standard than those left by the Moslems in India, the
immigrants had to master unfamiliar techniques before they could use
them.
Table 38 gives the occupational breakdown of the refugee population
in India compared with that of the local population in 1951.
TABLE 38. INDIA 1 : OCCUPATIONAL BREAKDOWN OF THE
REFUGEE AND LOCAL POPULATION, 1951
(Percentages)
Local population

Branch of activity

Agriculture :
Owner-farmers
Non-owner farmers
Farm labourers
Non-farming landlords
Total . . .
Other activities :
Production other than agriculture . . .
Commerce

Refugees

47.7
8.7
12.7
1.6

5.6
18.0
4.3
0.9

70.7

28.8

10.5
1.6
5.6
11.6

11.8
4.3
24.0
31.1

29.3

71.2

100.0

Other services and miscellaneous . . .
Total . . .
Over-all total . . .
Source: 1951 census data.
Including dependants.

These figures show that in India the refugees increased the proportion
of persons in commerce and other service occupations, both of which
were already overcrowded. Moreover, the high proportion of refugees
living in the towns (54 per cent, as against 17 per cent, for the local
population) accentuated an existing deficiency in the country's social

115

ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST

structure, namely the undue proportion of the population living in
towns in relation to opportunities of urban employment. In other
words, the presence of the refugees in India aggravated the social problems associated with big cities, e.g. roads, public hygiene, transport,
supplies and, above all, employment.
There are no equally precise figures illustrating the impact of these
movements on Pakistan, and figures showing the proportion of refugees
living in the towns and the countryside are completely lacking. Nevertheless, a breakdown of the refugee and local labour forces (given in
table 39) shows that, while 75 per cent, at least of the refugees came
from rural areas, a little over half (or much less than the proportion
of farmers among the original population of Pakistan) had found work
in agriculture by 1951. On the other hand, a far greater number of
refugees had found non-agricultural employment.
TABLE 39. PAKISTAN: BREAKDOWN BY r OCCUPATIONAL STATUS
OF THE REFUGEE AND LOCAL POPULATIONS (1951)
(Percentages)
Local population

Occupational category

Refugees

Gainfully occupied :
23.7
6.7

18.0
15.4

Total . . .

30.4

33.4

Self-supporting, not gainfully occupied .

0.6
69.0

0.9
65.7

Over-all total . . .

100.0

Non-agricultural activities

Even allowing for the fact that some of these refugees may still form
part of the rural population, this disproportion does suggest that a
substantial section of the Moslem refugees from the countryside settled
in the towns, causing the same problems as in India.
The foregoing gives an idea of the background against which the
integration of the refugees had to take place in both countries. In
Pakistan, or at least in the western half, in spite of the relatively large
number of refugees, the flight of the Hindus, by emptying large areas of
good farmland, made the resettlement of the Moslem farmers much
easier. In India the refugees were a comparatively much lighter burden,
but, being mainly urban in origin, they naturally settled in towns where
they only added to the overcrowding of some occupations, particularly in the tertiary sector.

116

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

The exchange of population between the two countries caused not
only marked changes in the social and occupational structure of each
(mainly for the worse), but also capital gains and losses, the net
effect of which is hard to judge. The point has already been mentioned
with reference to agriculture, but the problem was a good deal wider
than this. Generally speaking, few refugees were able to take mobile
assets of any great value with them. Those who had money or valuables
usually had to leave them behind, hide them or deposit them with banks.
The result was that the quantity of capital in the shape of either mobile
assets or real estate which the refugees left behind them represented very
large sums and their preservation, exchange and compensation faced both
governments with a troublesome problem. The authorities agreed to
appoint administrators of abandoned property on either side. In 1955,
after the failure of the first agreement which had been negotiated in
1950, lists of movable property were officially exchanged between the
two governments and transfers from one country to the other began.
The fixed assets left behind were used to compensate refugees, either by
being distributed amongst them or by being sold for their benefit.
This compensation procedure entailed a great deal of work in checking
claims and valuing property. From what is known of the economic
and social status of the two groups of refugees, the system adopted
would appear to have benefited Pakistan, where the property left
behind by the Hindus in the form of land, buildings, industrial concerns
and businesses was probably worth appreciably more than what the
Moslems left behind in India. The benefit derived by Pakistan from
these assets seems, however, to have been limited by the shortage
of experienced Moslems capable of managing them and by the general
disruption of trade.
To sum up, there can be no doubt that the influx of refugees imposed
a heavy burden on each of the two countries. Large-scale expenditure
was needed for relief and resettlement, which might otherwise have been
spent on general economic development. The refugees increased the
demand for jobs and consumer goods and distorted the social and
occupational structure of the population. All these factors plainly
helped to worsen the already precarious economic position of the two
countries. The only redeeming feature to emerge from this very
general analysis is the impulse the refugees gave to planning and development, e.g. through the construction of new towns and related public
works, the bringing into cultivation of new land and the introduction of
better farming methods, the extension of certain government departments and the improvement of the planning machinery itself. It is
likely, however, that even without the influx of uprooted populations,

117

ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST

demographic pressure alone would in due course have produced the
same results. In any case, such benefits as may have accrued from the
population shift probably did not offset the cost of repairing the damage
which it caused.
GOVERNMENT ACTION

The two governments helped in the integration of the refugees by
providing assistance in a variety of forms. This entailed great expense
and required the setting up of special machinery.
India
Apart from the distribution of relief, the Government of India
has since 1948 made a big effort to speed up solution of the problem of
integrating and resettling the refugees. This programme, taking the
form mainly of rural and urban loans, construction work and school
projects, has figured since 1951 in the two five-year plans for 1951-56
and 1956-61. In all, between the financial years 1947/48 and 1957/58
more than 3,000 million rupees were spent by the Government in relieving
the refugees and assisting in their integration—1,700 million on refugees
from West Pakistan and 1,300 million on those from East Pakistan.
The breakdown of these totals by major items of expenditure is shown
in table 40.
This financial effort, which was very great during the first years of
partition and diminished subsequently, was intensified afresh during
the first few years of the second plan period.
TABLE 40. INDIA : EXPENDITURE BY THE GOVERNMENT
ON DISPLACED PERSONS, 1947/48 TO 1957/58
(Millions of rupees)
Displaced persons from
Item of expenditure

Total
West Pakistan

East Pakistan

. .

19.5
801.1
320.7
598.2

4.5
601.3
359.8
303.8

24.0
1,402.4
680.5
902.0
2.5

Total . . .

1,739.5

1,269.4

3,011.5 '

Grants
Loans (excluding housing)
Housing
Miscellaneous

Source: Ministry of Rehabilitation (India): Report, ¡957-58, p. 71.
1
Excluding 29 million rupees in Rehabilitation Finance Administration loans during 1955/56,
1956/57 and 1957/58.

118

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

The following figures will indicate the scale of the results. By the
end of the financial year 1957/58, 568,000 families from West Pakistan
and 546,000 from East Pakistan, making 1,114,000 families and over
4 million persons in all, had been resettled on the land thanks to government assistance. At about the same time the number of housing units
for refugees erected by the Government or with its financial aid
approached 600,000. Furthermore, many small loans (maximum of
5,000 rupees per family) had been allotted to self-employed persons
belonging to small-scale commerce, handicrafts and the professions;
and a special Rehabilitation Finance Administration under the Ministry of Finance had arranged much larger credits for the re-establishment of large undertakings. Lastly, in education, big subsidies had
been paid to schools so that refugee children in need of assistance might
be able to attend them; scholarships had been granted to refugee
students ; and vocational training centres had been established or adapted
for the teaching of certain trades. By 1957 over 100,000 persons had
already been through these centres.
The determination of the authorities to help to integrate the refugees
is also reflected by the preference given to them in the recruitment of
civil servants. In the eastern states of India alone, 143,000 displaced
persons were employed in provincial and federal services at the beginning of 1958.
Lastly, apart from maintaining refugees in camps, where there were
still about 300,000 in February 1957 \ the Government bears the cost
of temporary and permanent allowances to the needy, the disabled, and
widows and orphans.
At the end of the first five-year plan period it was possible to consider
integration in the western part of the country as almost completed,
but it still raised serious problems in the east, where the influx of refugees
continued at a high rate after 1951. Accordingly, the second five-year
plan provides much larger credits for the integration of refugees from
East than from West Pakistan—668 million and 187 million rupees
respectively, the total being 855 million. This figure excludes expenditure on the maintenance of refugees; nor does it include 45 million rupees
to be distributed among all refugees by the R.F.A. The proposed allocation of these credits is shown in table 41.
Lastly, it should be remembered that the Government of India has
undertaken to compensate refugees for their loss of capital. By the end
of March 1957,172,000 applications for such compensation had been met,
1
See Government of India, Planning Commission : Second Five-Year Plan,
pp. 610 ff.

ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST

119

TABLE 41. INDIA: CREDITS F O R INTEGRATION O F
DISPLACED PERSONS U N D E R THE SECOND FIVE-YEAR PLAN (1956-61)
(Millions of rupees)
Displaced persons from
Item of expenditure

Total

West Pakistan

East Pakistan

14.7
1.6

42.5
144.4

57.2
146.0

57.8

48.0
186.8

48.0
244.6

56.2
37.5

56.0
109.6

112.2
147.1

19.2

52.5
28.2

71.7
28.2

187.0

668.0

855.0

Urban loans
Rural loans
Development of agricultural
land
Housing
Industrial loans, including cottage industries
Education
Vocational and technical training
Medical facilities
Total . . .
Source: Second Five-Year Plan, op. cit., p. 611.

out of a total of 460,000. The expenditure amounted to 537 million
rupees.
Pakistan
Solution of the main problem, that of resettling the displaced rural
population, did not cause any serious difficulties, as there was sufficient
land available, particularly in West Pakistan. By September 1955,
95 per cent, of some 1.2 million applications for land received in the
Punjab had been satisfied; in Baluchistan, allocation of land abandoned
by the Hindus had been completed; it was being completed in Sind, and
was going forward satisfactorily in East Pakistan.
The resettlement of refugees in the cities was a more difficult task,
particularly owing to the acute shortage of housing. According to a
count made by the Central Rehabilitation Department in 1955, more than
half a million persons, very many of them probably refugees, were
homeless in the Karachi urban area alone, and having regard to all those
who were accommodated by their relatives and friends, the number of
ill-housed persons in Karachi probably reached a million. It was therefore necessary to construct a number of housing centres for refugees in
the neighbourhood of the city. The Government took the initiative of
constructing six such centres (or " townships ") to house 53,500 famiHes

120

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

in all; they had been practically completed by the end of 1955, and
extension was being considered. Outside Karachi (where the situation
was most serious) the Government had approved the construction of
27 housing centres (known as " satellite towns ") on the outskirts of
various cities in West Pakistan, and of buildings inside some of these
cities. A similar effort was made in East Pakistan. Altogether, by late
1957 it had been possible to provide satisfactory housing for only
1.4 million displaced persons out of 2.4 million in the cities of West
Pakistan, excluding the capital. The situation was even less satisfactory
in the Karachi district, and still less so in East Pakistan.
Traders and craftsmen were helped to settle by the Pakistan Refugees
Rehabilitation Finance Corporation, established in 1948 with a capital
of 10 million, subsequently increased to 30 million rupees. This agency
has provided loans in money and in kind, drawn up plans for establishment, supplied raw materials at less than market price, organised
industrial units under its own direct supervision and provided working
and living accommodation for refugee artisans.
Other measures taken by the Government included maintenance
allowances for middle-class refugees who had lost their property in
India and had no livelihood in Pakistan, free medical care for refugees,
and scholarships for needy students.

Population Movements in the Far East
REPATRIATION OF JAPANESE

The armistice of August 1945 closed a chapter not only in the political
and military, but also in the demographic history of Japan. It gave
the signal for the return en masse of Japanese whom 50 years of emigration had scattered all over the Far East. At the end of this movement,
which was more or less completed towards the end of 1948, over 6 million
persons—about half civilian and half military personnel—had returned
and there were practically no Japanese left in the Far East outside the
metropolitan islands.
Occurring as they did at a time when the Japanese economy was
thoroughly disorganised and had to face not only the tasks of reconstruction and reconversion but also a formidable population pressure,
these mass repatriations contributed greatly to making Japan's burden
in the immediate post-war years well-nigh intolerable.
Military and civilian personnel were brought back under different
arrangements. The repatriation of the military, decided at the Potsdam

121

ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST

Conference, was carried out under the supervision of the Allied forces.
The return of the civilians, although generally voluntary, had been
rendered inevitable by various circumstances—the collapse of government services which had employed many of them and protected the
persons and interests of the remainder; disorganisation of the economic
system from which they had derived their livelihood; and in many cases
the hostility of the local population. Accordingly, the return started
very soon after the cessation of hostilities, and was so rapid that by
the end of 1946 over 5 million persons had already re-entered Japan.
The rate of the movement in subsequent years is given by the following
approximate figures (representing thousands of persons).
To the end of 1946 . . . .
1947
1948
1949
1950 to 1956
Total . . .

5,096.3
743.8
303.6
97.8
43.7
6,285.3

There is no information on the distribution of these repatriates by
age, sex and occupation. The only data available relate to the countries
of departure and the civil or military status of the persons concerned.
These are reproduced in table 42.
TABLE 42. JAPAN: REPATRIATES, BY COUNTRY OF DEPARTURE
AND CIVIL OR MILITARY STATUS, 1945-56
(Thousands of persons)
Country of departure

U.S.S.R
Kurile Is. and Sakhilin
Manchuria
Dairen
North Korea
South Korea
China
Hong Kong
Formosa
South-East Asia
Indochina

. . .

Philippines
Islands near Japan
Ryu-Kyu
Pacific Islands
Australian territories
New Zealand
Total . . .

Civilians

Military
personnel

Total

19.2
276.6
1,003.6
215.0
297.2
415.1
488.1
5.1
322.1
56.2
3.5
1.5
24.2
2.4
12.1
27.5
0.3
8.4
0.4

453.8
16.0
41.9
10.9
25.4
181.2
1,043.9
14.3
157.4
655.3
28.7
14.1
108.9
60.0
57.4
103.5
3.3
130.4
0.4

472.9
292.6
1,045.5
226.0
322.6
596.3
1,532.0
19.3
479.5
711.5
32.2
15.6
133.1
62.4
69.4
131.0
3.7
138.8
0.8

3,178.5

3,106.8

6,285.3

122

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

The final repatriation figure was thus about 6.3 million or roughly
as much as Japan's natural population increase between 1946 and 1950.
The movement—which was practically over by the end of 1948—therefore
accounted for about half of the enormous over-all increase which took
place from 1945 to 1950; between these dates, despite the departure of
1.2 million foreigners, the population of Japan rose from 72 million
to 83.2 million. Integration of the repatriates into the economy required
government assistance, but this was restricted both by the inadequacy
of available resources and by certain political factors. The urgent need
for public investment in some sectors of the economy at a time of
budgetary stringency prevented large sums from being spent on the
material problems of a minority, however considerable; moreover,
the Occupation authorities opposed any legislation which would give
repatriates a privileged status before the law. However, they permitted
certain limited administrative measures in their favour—free transport
to the chosen place of residence, grant of a small allowance 1 , provision
of clothing and free medical care; they also authorised the Japanese
administration to establish guidance services for the repatriates, to
issue them with the most necessary household utensils, and even to
make loans to them; but on the whole the assistance which the repatriates
received formed part of wider schemes applicable to the entire population
and including poor relief, improved housing, land settlement and action
by the employment services.
Nevertheless, in implementing the Government's housing policy,
the Ministry of Social Welfare had at its disposal special credits for the
construction or conversion of buildings to house repatriates having no
relatives in Japan. About 126,600 families benefited by these arrangements between 1945 and 1956.
Employment data on the repatriates are very sparse and no general
conclusions can be drawn from them. While they were particularly
hard-hit by unemployment during the early years, the position appears
to have improved substantially in 1952. This, however, was due
more to economic recovery, which picked up speed from 1950 onwards,
than to any special measures; and there is reason to believe that
things improved still further in the most recent period, when the
economy has been remarkably dynamic. The relative youth of the
repatriates and the high occupational qualifications of many appear
to be among the circumstances which facilitated their integration in
the economy. However, the administration, which made special voca1
Paid from 1953 onwards at the rate of 10,000 yens per adult and 5,000 yens per
child.

ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST

123

tional guidance arrangements for their benefit and gave them priority
in notifying job vacancies, probably contributed a good deal to the solution of this problem.
Apart from its achievements in housing, the Ministry of Social
Welfare set up a business credit fund which, between 1946 and 1956, made
interest-bearing loans in a total amount of 6,356 million yens ; the number
of individual loans was 375,000, 60 per cent, of which went to repatriates.
These covered businesses of all kinds, particularly in wholesale and retail
commerce, followed by industry, services and agriculture.
Lastly, the repatriates benefited by an extensive land settlement
scheme launched by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests at the close
of the war to make good the shortage in farm output, which had grown
alarming since the loss of the overseas territories. Under this scheme,
which included loans for installation and for starting operations, priority
was given to repatriates in the allocation of land. According to an
official statement made in 1957, about 37,000 repatriate families out of
a total of 155,000, had been settled on the land under this programme.
Despite the results achieved, the repatriates have continued to cause
the Government some concern. Their organisations claimed compensation for the property which they had to abandon abroad, and legislative
action was taken to give them at least partial satisfaction.1 The
repatriates' housing conditions—still substandard on the whole—
remain a critical problem, particularly in view of the gradual deterioration
of temporary housing put up immediately after the war. Moreover,
despite the economic progress of recent years, unemployment still affects
a substantial number of the repatriates. Lastly, despite the Government's
efforts, those who have gone in for land settlement have a much harder
time than the rest of the farming population owing to the comparatively difficult natural surroundings in which they have been resettled.
It may be wondered—leaving aside the problem of the repatriates'
living conditions and considering only the over-all impact of their
return to Japan on the country's post-war economic development—
whether the net effect of the migratory influx was really an unfavourable
one. Japan, an overpopulated country with a food production deficit
and a still unsatisfactory position as regards employment opportunities,
undoubtedly suffered from having to spend a large proportion of its
meagre national income on the upkeep of 6 million persons who
immigrated within a very short time; but in the long run the presence
1
An Act adopted in May 1957 provides for the payment of temporary allowances
to the repatriates (or, in case of death, to their beneficiaries) and for the grant of
business loans. Statistics published in July 1958 show that 2,363,000 persons were
at the time covered by these provisions.

124

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

of this additional population had some favourable effects on development.
It provided a stimulus for increasing the output of agricultural goods
and exports, and so for the adoption of more productive techniques.
It also met a very real need for certain classes of skilled workers. As
in the case of Germany, therefore, it appears certain in retrospect
that its advantages were sufficient to dispose finally of the view that it
was a national catastrophe.

REPATRIATES AND REFUGEES IN SOUTH KOREA

The decision to re-establish Korean independence, taken at the Cairo
Conference in 1943 and confirmed at Potsdam, was implemented by
means of a partition into two States—the Republic of Korea, established
in August 1948 south of the 38th parallel, and the People's Republic of
Korea, proclaimed in the following month to the north of that line. A
conflict was to break out between these States two years later, lasting
until the summer of 1953.
Each of these stages in the recent history of Korea has been marked
by a big population movement. Japan's defeat, opening the way to
independence, was followed by the mass return of military and civilian
personnel who had been scattered over the former Japanese empire,
particularly Manchuria, as well as in Japan itself. Soon afterwards,
political complications caused emigration from the north of the 38th
parallel, which had been the line of demarcation between the Soviet
and United States occupation zones before becoming the state border.
Lastly, the war considerably amplified the southward movement, which
became for a time a mass exodus accompanying the retreat of the South
Korean and United Nations armies. The case of Korea, therefore,
resembles that of Germany in some ways—the same sharp split between
two political units, and the same succession of repatriation and flight
from one zone to the other.
Statistical information regarding repatriation and the immigration
of refugees into South Korea is scanty and unreliable. The periods at
which the largest movements took place—the months after Japan's
surrender, and the period of the Korean War—were times of chaos. In
March 1946 the Commander-in-Chief of the United States Forces in Korea
announced that South Korea had taken in 1 million repatriates from
Japan and 0.5 million refugees from the north. A count made in October
of the same year showed that there were about 1.8 million repatriates and
refugees in South Korea. Two years later, the newly established Government of South Korea published a figure of nearly 2.8 million, including

ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST

125

2.2 million repatriates and about 600,000 refugees. It was stated in 1950
that two-thirds of the repatriates, or about 1.4 million persons, came
from Japan: but it is probable that many refugees, if not many repatriates,
escaped administrative control altogether; it therefore seems justifiable
to estimate the total number of repatriates and refugees up to 1950
at approximately 3 million. There was no check on the arrival of refugees
during the Korean War, and none of the attempts made to register them
met with any success. Shortly after the war, a count indicated that, in
South Korea, among the 2.5 million persons displaced by the military
operations there were 840,000 refugees from the north: this, together
with the 3 million repatriates and refugees estimated to have been there
before the war, and the total number of persons who had settled in
South Korea since 1946, raises the total to over 3.8 million. In 1955
the number was estimated at 4 million.
Repatriates and refugees thus swelled the population of South Korea
by some 25 per cent., as compared with its size in 1945 (probably not
exceeding 17 million).1 Repatriation almost entirely cancelled the effect
of the considerable emigration which had taken place between 1925
and 1940.2 Together, repatriates and refugees have greatly accentuated
the pressure of population on resources in one of the most densely
inhabited countries of the world. Moreover, this aggravated pressure
came at a time when the division of the country deprived the south of
goods produced in the north; it was a big factor in keeping the South
Korean economy in a precarious condition, reflected by a persistently
adverse trade balance and a recurrent budgetary deficit.
Between the end of the war in the Pacific and the beginning of the
Korean War, South Korea received considerable aid from the United
States: this enabled the country to subsist and contributed indirectly
towards moderating the distress of the repatriates and the refugees from
the north. The South Korean Ministry of Social Affairs also took some
direct action on the immigrants' behalf. However, the results obtained
were almost entirely nullified by the Korean War of 1950.
In December 1950 the General Assembly of the United Nations
adopted a resolution setting up a United Nations Korean Reconstruction
Agency. The aid actually given by the United Nations to South Korea
through this agency had reached 620 million dollars by 30 June 1957 ; but
it was greatly exceeded by direct aid from the Government of the United
States, which gave the South Korean Government assistance amounting
1

It was a little over 20 million at the 1949 census.
Nearly 3 million Koreans (actually 2.8 million, or 12 per cent, of the total)
lived outside Korea in 1940 (1.4 million in Manchuria, 1.2 million in Japan and
somewhat less than 200,000 in the Soviet Union).
2

126

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

to almost double the above figure (apart from military aid). However,
the enormous sums involved did not prevent the average income per head
from falling, between 1949-50 and 1954-55, from 92.4 to 88.1 dollars l
as a result of war and demographic pressure. The precarious economic
situation of South Korea has of course not facihtated integration of
the repatriates and refugees, whose position is still a cause for concern.

CHINESE REFUGEES IN HONG KONG AND FORMOSA

In the final stages of the Chinese civil war—i.e., the retreat of the
Nationalist armies towards the south and finally the transfer of the official
seat of government to Formosa—hundreds of thousands of Chinese
fled in various directions. Some went to the Portuguese colony of Macao,
but the majority went to the Island of Formosa and the British Crown
Colony of Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong, where the population trebled between the end
of 1945 and the middle of 1956, increasing from 900,000 to 2.8 million,
immigration from China took on enormous proportions between 1945
and 1949 and was in fact free of all control. However, it is extremely
difficult to determine what proportion of the immigrants were actually
political refugees: Hong Kong had for a long time been a centre of
immigration from China, and the flood of recent arrivals contained an
admixture of several classes : refugees in the proper sense of the term,
former residents who had left during the Japanese occupation, and
workers in search of employment.
There are other difficulties, besides that of distinguishing between
refugees and other classes of immigrants. The total immigration figure
itself can be estimated only by an indirect method, using annual estimates
of the population and official statistics of births and deaths. The result
of these estimates, for each year, will be found in table 43, but the
registration of births during the period was probably somewhat incomplete and this makes the figures less reliable.
According to the data reproduced in this table, net immigration
between 1 September 1945 and 30 June 1954 amounted to 1.3 million
persons. Immigration reached its peak in the immediate post-war years,
and remained high until the end of 1949. From 1950 till 1954, on the
other hand, emigrants exceeded immigrants by about 220,000.
Most of the immigrants in 1945-47 seem to have been former inhabitants of Hong Kong who had been born there or came in before the
war; they had fled to escape the Japanese occupation and were now
1

Constant dollars.

127

ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST
TABLE 43. HONG KONG: ESTIMATED POPULATION GROWTH
FROM 1 SEPTEMBER 1945 TO 30 JUNE 1954
(Thousands of persons)

1945
1946
1947
1948
1949 . . . .
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954

Population
on 1 January

Natural
increase

Total
increase

Net
immigration

600 J
900
1,400
1,800
2,000
2,300
2,100
2,175
2,250
2,250

_
+ 14
+29
+ 34
+ 38
+42
+48
+ 53
+ 57 2
+28

+ 300
+ 500
+400
+200
+ 300
-200
+ 75
+ 75

+ 300
+486
+ 371
+ 166
+262
-242
+ 27
+ 22
- 57
- 28 2

—

Source: E. HAMBRO: The Problem of Chinese Refugees in Hong Kong, Report Submitted to the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Leyden, A. W. Sijthoff, 1955).
1
Population on 1 September * First half of year.

returning to settle. During 1949 this return current diminished, but the
flow of new immigrants, whom the events in China were inducing to
leave the Continent, increased. Many of these persons returned to the
Continent later when the situation was more normal, i.e. in or after 1950;
however, the new arrivals continued (though at a much slower rate),
the repatriation movement went on, and a current of re-emigration also
developed. It has been estimated that, out of a total net immigration
of 1.3 million persons 60 per cent. (800,000) were repatriates and 40 per
cent. (500,000) newcomers, of whom at least one-half can be considered
as political refugees. To those who left China because of the events
there, it is necessary to add those who had migrated from the Continent
previously and whom these same events turned into " refugees on the
spot ". 1
Most of the persons who left Hong Kong during the period returned
to China, but those who did so after 1950 included only a small number
of refugees. Of the refugees who remained in Hong Kong after that date
1
The only data available on this subject come from an inquiry carried out by a
mission sent to Hong Kong by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
for an on-the-spot investigation (See E. HAMBRO: The Problem of Chinese Refugees
in Hong Kong, Report Submitted to the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (Leyden, A. W. Sijthoff, 1955, Chapter IV). Questions were put to a number
of heads of families who had immigrated after the war. Of these, 53.2 per cent, said
that they had left China for political reasons, 37.2 per cent, for economic reasons and
8.5 per cent, for both these reasons together; 1.1 per cent, gave no reply. Moreover,
64.1 per cent, of the persons questioned said that for political reasons they would not
return to China. On this very approximate basis the refugee population may be
estimated at 320,000. The same inquiry revealed, among those who could be classified
as refugees by reason of their replies, an abnormally high proportion of adult males, a
prevalence of relatively small families and a large majority of persons formerly engaged
in non-manual occupations.

128

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

the majority were not disposed to return to the Continent; and of those
wishing to leave it appears that the great majority were desirous of
settling in Formosa, but were prevented from doing so by the unfavourable
economic conditions prevailing there. However, 150,000 refugees have
been admitted to Formosa since 1949, coming from Macao or Hong
Kong, probably mainly the latter. Emigration to other destinations
has been small : a few hundred refugees only appear to have taken advantage of the United States Refugee Relief Act 1 , and about 1,000 persons
in comfortable circumstances have emigrated to Brazil. Thus the
very large majority of those who came to seek refuge in Hong Kong
have remained there, although a large number would like to re-emigrate.2
Many have been able to find a place in the local economy, but at the
price of change of occupation and often of a pronounced fall in the
social scale. Unfortunately no social and economic data concerning
the refugees, as distinct from other immigrants, are available. Of the
post-war migrants as a whole, very few among those who came from the
agricultural sector seem to have remained there; as for those who
were employed on professional work, most of them have had to accept
manual jobs or become unemployed. This fall in the social scale seems
to have occurred mainly among the refugees. It would appear also that
those refugees who were previously employed in manual occupations
other than agriculture have almost all found jobs, and that the unemployment which still affected some 15 per cent, of the refugees in 1954 was
common only among professional persons and farmers. This relatively
favourable situation is explained by the speed of post-war industrial
development. Consequently, the only serious social problems remain
those of refugee farmers (5,000 families were still awaiting land in 1954)
and certain classes of non-manual workers whose skills are unlikely to
be used.
The Hong Kong authorities and some private institutions have
made effective efforts to speed up a solution of the refugee problem,
although the action taken was more often in the form of aid to needy
persons in general than to refugees as such.
The population of Formosa, like that of Hong Kong, rose considerably
between 1945 and 1954. Of the total increase (from 5.8 million to
8.6 million) probably a quarter was caused by immigrants coming
directly or indirectly 3 from continental China after the seat of government was transferred to Formosa.
1
This Act, passed in 1953, provided for the issue of 5,000 non-quota immigrant
visas to Asian refugees.
2

See HAMBRO, op. cit., Chapters VII to IX.

Via Hong Kong or Macao.

ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST

129

Migration to and from the Island in 1947-53 has resulted in an
immigration surplus of 610,000 persons, 72 per cent, of whom—about
445,000—came during 1949 and 1950. In 1954-55, some 30,000 more
persons took refuge in Formosa. There should be added a substantial
number of refugees from North Korea.
The integration of the refugees in the economic life of the Island
has been greatly facilitated by the Government and the Free China
Relief Association, but little precise information is available on the subject.

REFUGEES IN SOUTH VIET-NAM

The latest large-scale population movement in the Far East was
that from the north to the south of Viet-Nam. As in the case of Korea,
this followed a partition, the former associated State of the French Union
having been divided into two zones, one north and the other south of the
17th parallel. The Geneva Agreement of 1954, which put an end to the
hostilities between France and the Viet-Minh Government of Hanoi,
provided for the organised movement of all persons (no numerical
limit was laid down) who might express the wish to go from one zone
to the other within 300 days.
The information available on this movement, and on those which
preceded it while hostilities were still under way, is unfortunately
very fragmentary: it neither adds up to a precise statistical picture
nor gives an idea of the effect of these movements on the South Viet-Nam
economy. It is, however, known that during the latter part of 1954
and early in 1955 some 820,000 refugees from North Viet-Nam sought
asylum in the south; the final figure probably exceeded 1 million.1 The
exodus was organised and assisted by the French and United States
authorities, who arranged for the transport of the refugees, gave them
individual financial assistance and provided temporary housing.
This movement, even more than those which preceded it during the
war, caused grave and immediate problems for the Government of
South Viet-Nam. The presence of a considerable number of refugees
very much aggravated the economic difficulties which had been left
by 15 years of war, and were reflected in insufficient production, disorganisation of trade, widespread unemployment, a big adverse trade
balance and an equally considerable budgetary deficit.
The problem of integrating the refugees in the economy of South
Viet-Nam was, however, solved, more easily than might have been
1
The World Almanac, 1957 (New York, the New York World-Telegram, 1957),
p. 445.

130

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

imagined, thanks to the big development programme undertaken
by the Government : France and the United States made a great contribution to it, and the United Nations—together with several of its specialised
agencies, including the I.L.O.—provided technical assistance. The
Government also undertook a big construction programme, mainly in
the rural areas, in order to meet the refugees' need for housing.
Thus by 1957 the whole refugee population, though still not completely integrated under what could be described as fully satisfactory
conditions, was at least assimilated into the general population at levels
of employment and productivity roughly equal to the prevailing standards
—i.e. still rather low. Fishing, forestry, handicrafts and agriculture
absorbed the greater part.

Bibliographical References
General
: Economic Survey of Asia and the Far East (published
annually).
J. B. SCHECHTMAN : Population Transfers in Asia (New York, Hallsby Press,
1949).
J. VERNANT: The Refugee in the Post-War World (London, George Allen &
Unwin, Ltd., 1953).
UNITED NATIONS

Works Dealing with Arab Refugees in Palestine
: Annual reports of the Director of the United Nations
Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (1951 to
1957). (General Assembly Official Records.)
MINISTRY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (ISRAEL) : The Arabs in Israel (Jerusalem, 1958.)
S. G. THICKNESSE: Arab Refugees: A Survey of Resettlement Possibilities
(London, Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1949).
J. B. SCHECHTMAN : The Arab Refugee Problem (New York, Philosophical
Library, 1952).
W. DE SAINT-AUBIN : " Peace and Refugees in the Middle East ", in The Middle
East Journal (Washington, D.C., The Middle East Institute), Vol. 3, No. 3,
July 1949, p. 249.
" The Arab Refugees, 1952 ", in The Economist (London), Vol. CLXII, 5 Jan.
1952, p. 28.
Works Dealing with Population Shifts in India, Pakistan and the Far East
UNITED NATIONS

: Annual reports of the Agent General of the United Nations
Korean Reconstruction Agency (General Assembly Official Records).
— Chinese Refugees in Hong Kong (Submitted by the High Commissioner for
Refugees to the UNREF Executive Committee at its Fourth Session),
Document A/AC.79/47, 10 Dec. 1956 (mimeographed).
UNITED NATIONS

ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST

131

E. I. HAMBRO: The Problem of Chinese Refugees in Hong Kong, Report Submitted to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Leyden,
A. W. Sijthoff, 1955).
" Rehabilitation of Displaced Persons in India ", in International Labour
Review (Geneva, I.L.O.), Vol. LVIII, No. 2, Aug. 1948, pp. 187-198.
" Rehabilitation and Resettlement of Displaced Persons in the Indian Union ",
ibid., Vol. LXI, No. 4, Apr. 1950, pp. 410-426.
" Resettlement and Rehabilitation of Displaced Persons in Pakistan ", ibid.,
Vol. LXV, No. 3, Mar. 1952, pp. 379-385.
MINISTRY OF REHABILITATION (INDIA): Annual reports.

— Rehabilitation Retrospect (May 1957).
PLANNING COMMISSION (INDIA): Second Five-Year Plan (New Delhi, 1956).

Kingsley DAVIS: The Population of India and Pakistan (Princeton University
Press, 1951).
Pakistan Today and Tomorrow (Karachi, Pakistan Publications, 1951).
Pakistan, 1955-1956 (Karachi, Pakistan Publications, 1956).
Republic of Korea Statistical Summation (monthly), No. 16, Apr. 1950 (mimeographed).
Monthly Civil Affairs Summary for Korea (Seoul, Korea Civil Assistance
Command), Jan. and Feb. 1954 (mimeographed).

PART TWO

ECONOMIC MIGRATION

SECTION A
MAJOR POST-WAR CURRENTS
Before proceeding to describe the economic migration currents
which have taken place since the Second World War a few preliminary
remarks concerning available sources of information and the use made
of them are in order. 1 For one thing, statistical material on the subject is
highly unsatisfactory, since it is both incomplete and heterogeneous.
This is partly due to the theoretical difficulty of compiling adequate
statistics and also to the fact that government departments often do not
keep the necessary check on movements.
The theoretical problem arises out of the complexity and relative
vagueness of the concept of " migrant ". If a migrant is defined as " a
person travelling internationally with a view to taking up a civilian job
for a certain time in a country other than his usual country of residence
(migrant worker) or with the intention of settling down there for a considerable time without any immediate intention of working (nonworking migrant) ", the definition is not precise enough to allow of the
establishment of practical, i.e. uniform, simple and clear-cut statistical
criteria. On the other hand, any attempt at greater precision would
necessarily lead to definitions covering only part of the subject, with
the result that the compilation of satisfactory, i.e. both detailed and
complete migration statistics would have to involve the collection of
elaborate data based on many different criteria.
The fact is, however, that countries sacrifice such theoretical needs to
considerations of usefulness. They keep only minimum records and in
determining the numbers involved in particular movements arbitrarily
choose their criteria on grounds of sheer practicality. As a result there are
considerable gaps and a general lack of comparability between the
figures, all of which correspond to different definitions.
In these circumstances it is obviously impossible to draw up a comprehensive, accurate and uniform balance sheet of international migration over the last 12 years. A more or less approximate reckoning is all
that can be made on the basis not only of migration statistics proper, but
also of figures not specifically collected for the purpose, such as statistics
of voyagers or passengers, statistics of work or residence permits and
1

See also United Nations : Problems of Migration Statistics, United Nations
Demographic Studies, No. 5 (New York, 1949).

136

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

possibly even census returns. The description in the following two
chapters is therefore not designed to provide a mere inventory of current
statistics but rather a selective and critical analysis of all existing numerical data relating directly or indirectly to migration, with a view to
extracting from them as accurate a knowledge as possible of the essential
facts.
It should also be pointed out that for the purposes of this description
the expression " international migrants " has been used in the widest
sense, so as to include in particular people migrating between a metropolitan country and its non-metropolitan territories. However, it was
not thought proper to include such movements as those between France
and its Algerian or overseas departments or between the United States
and the non-continental parts of its territory, as these constitute internal
movements from the legal point of view.
It should be added that the division between continental and intercontinental movements, dealt with respectively in Chapters V and VI, is
not one of mere convenience. The two types of movement exhibit a
number of basic differences and are not always covered by the same
statistics. In particular, the distances in the case of continental migration
are generally shorter, and as a result even the longer-term movements
which they include are often of a temporary nature by comparison with
intercontinental ones.

*
*

CHAPTER V
CONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS
The lack of adequate statistics is particularly noticeable in the case of
movements taking place within the same continent. The fact that most
of them are over land frontiers and for varying periods of time, ranging
from daily commuting to more or less permanent migration, makes
it very difficult to keep track of each one of them. Since, moreover,
the vast majority of countries do not carry out the checks that would be
necessary for this purpose, figures not compiled specifically for migration
records—statistics of arrivals and departures of travellers, counts of
the foreign population and statistics of residence or work permits—often
have to be used, and since such figures do not always exist, there are
movements in respect of which no numerical data are available at all.
In spite of these shortcomings an attempt has been made in this
chapter to separate, whenever possible, the various classes of movements
according to their duration. In accordance with United Nations standards the demarcation line between permanent and temporary, migration
has been drawn at one year of residence.1
An attempt has also been made to assess the extent of frontier movements, but it has rarely been possible to do so with sufficient accuracy,
particularly in areas outside Europe and North America for which the
information available is not always sufficient even for rough estimates.
Europe
Europe has been covered by a multitude of migratory cross-currents,
of which the most important converged on five countries—Sweden, the
United Kingdom, Belgium, France and Switzerland—and branched out
from those countries in the form of return movements. In Sweden most
of the immigrants came from neighbouring countries ; in the United
Kingdom they came from Ireland and indirectly from eastern Europe,
and in Belgium, France and Switzerland they came from Italy. The
remaining currents were of very minor importance.
1

See paragraph 17 of the recommendations for the improvement of international
migration statistics adopted by the United Nations Population and Statistical Commissions (United Nations: International Migration Statistics, Statistical Papers,
Series M, No. 20 (New York, 1953), p. 17).

138

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957
SWEDEN

Over the years 1946-57 as a whole, immigrants to Sweden from other
European countries numbered a little more than 310,000 and emigrants
to those countries a little over 100,000. Migration to and from other
parts of Europe therefore showed a net immigration gain of 210,000.
Details by year and by country of origin and of destination are given in
table 44.
Throughout the period immigration continued at a steady rate,
which did, however, slow down on two occasions—in 1949 and again in
1952-54. These two falls are visible from the gross, and even more so
from the net, immigration figures.
About two-thirds of the total gross immigration (63.4 per cent.)
came from the other three Scandinavian countries, with Finland alone
accounting for more than one-third (33.7 per cent.) Movements in the
reverse direction were relatively numerous towards Denmark and
Norway, so that the three Scandinavian countries account for 59.8 per
cent, of total net immigration. Sweden also exerted quite a strong
attraction on Germans (15.4 per cent, of the gross immigration figure
and 16.5 per cent, of net immigration). The rest of the immigration
movement involved refugees from the Baltic States and Poland and
much smaller numbers of Austrians and Italians.
TABLE 44.

SWEDEN: MIGRATION TO AND FROM THE REST OF EUROPE, BY
COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN AND DESTINATION, 1946-57
(In thousands)
Denmark

Year

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

3.7
6.1
6.8
4.9
4.0
4.7
4.1
2.6
2.8
5.6
6.6
5.6

Total

57.5

1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957

Immigration

And Iceland.

Finland

Germany

Norway

Emi- Imgra- migration
tion

EmiImgra- migration
tion

Emi- Imgra- migration
tion

2.0
1.5
1.9
2.9
2.7
2.4
2.6
3.0
2.4
2.0
2.2
2.4

4.0
6.6
8.9
6.4
11.9
12.8
8.2
6.8
8.4
11.3
9.1
11.0

0.3
0.4
0.6
1.0
1.2
2.0
3.7
3.9
3.0
2.8
3.4
2.7

2.0
3.0
3.6
3.3
4.1
6.1
6.6
3.9
3.5
4.6
4.1
3.4

0.1
0.1
0.3
0.3
0.5
0.6
1.1
2.0
1.9
2.0
2.2
2.2

3.6
4.2
4.2
3.9
3.2
3.2
2.3
1.9
1.8
2.4
2.3
2.3

1.9
1.2
1.1
1.4
1.7
1.6
1.9
2.1
1.5
1.4
1.4
1.4

28.0 105.4

25.1

48.2

13.3

35.2

18.7

Other
countries *

Emi- Imgra- migration
tion

Total

Emi- Imgra- migration
tion

Emigration

16.2
9.7
7.9
3.7
2.8
2.9
3.1
2.0
2.1
3.9
3.7
8.3

0.7
0.7
1.0
1.3
1.4
1.3
1.3
1.8
1.5
1.5
1.8
1.8

5.1
3.9
4.8
7.0
7.5
7.9
10.6
12.8
10.3
9.7
11.0
10.7

66.2

16.1

* Mainly the Baltic States and Poland (1946-49), Austria and Italy.

29.5
29.6
31.4
22.2
26.0
29.6
24.3
17.1
18.6
27.8
25.8
30.7

312.5 101.3

139

CONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS

The Swedish statistics seem to give quite a faithful picture of the
situation, at least as regards the balance of arrivals and departures. 1
The fact that they draw no distinction between Swedish nationals and
aliens, however, gives rise to a certain amount of uncertainty regarding
the nature of the emigration towards other Scandinavian countries, in
which there is a mixture of returnees and emigrating Swedish nationals.
Moreover, the Swedish statistics are drawn up in such a way that they
give no indication of the length of the migrants' stay, although it does
seem that a large number of the migrants were temporary entrants from
the other Scandinavian countries.

UNITED KINGDOM

The United Kingdom does not compile statistics of migration to and
from the Continent. There is available, however, some information
collected for other purposes which gives a rough idea of the inflow of
migrants from other European countries and of the numbers returning
to those countries. First of all, there are statistics of arrivals and
departures of aliens compiled by the Home Office, which give the net
migration figures for non-British nationals. As regards nationals of
European countries, there was a net immigration of some 245,000 persons over the 1946-57 period. Details by year and by nationality are
given in table 45.
This total figure calls for a few comments. Not only does it not take
into account the movement of Irish citizens, who are not regarded as
aliens in the compilation of these statistics, but it does not include, at any
rate among the arrivals, either the 95,000-odd demobilised Polish armed
services personnel and their dependants who have settled in the United
Kingdom under the auspices of the Polish Resettlement Corps since
May 1946, or the 25,000 German, Italian and Ukrainian prisoners of
1
For the period 1 April 1948 to 1 April 1957 this can be checked by a rough
calculation based on the estimated foreign population on each of these two dates
and on the number of naturalisations which took place in the meantime. The details
of the calculation are as follows :

Foreign population at 1 April 1957
„ 1 April 1948

250,000
-146,300

Difference
Naturalisations, 1948-56

103,700
+53.700

Total increase in the foreign population, 1948-56

157,400

During the same period net immigration from Europe involved a total of 141,200
persons. The gap between the two figures is easily explained partly by the natural
increase in the foreign population and partly by the fact that the second figure allows
for the net emigration of Swedish nationals.

140

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

TABLE 45. UNITED KINGDOM: NET IMMIGRATION OF NATIONALS
OF EUROPEAN COUNTRIES 1 , BY NATIONALITY, 1946-57
(In thousands)
Year

1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957

Baits
and Finns Germans

1.0
21.2
5.4
-0.5
-0.4
-1.9
-2.5
-0.6
-0.5
0.2
-0.1

—
Total . . .

20.9

Italians

Poles

Miscellaneous '

Total

21.5
60.6
57.9
19.6
14.2
1.7
-5.9
6.0
10.2
16.3
29.0
15.4
246.5

-0.1
5.6
1.8
15.3
7.9
2.2
0.5
1.0
1.6
2.0
1.8
3.9

0.8
2.9
3.6
3.8
4.3
7.3
2.3
2.9
4.9
8.5
8.9
6.8

11.9
8.4
24.1
-4.6
-8.1
-4.2
-1.1
-0.7
0.1
-0.1
1.4

7.9
22.5
23.0
5.6
2.4
2.2
-2.0
3.8
4.9
5.5
18.5
3.2

43.5

57.0

27.1

97.5

1
Excluding passengers of doubtful nationality, for whom the net figures are negligible.
* Refugees who came from various countries of eastern Europe, mostly between 1946 and 1948, and from
Hungary, mostly in 1956. The other national groups with relatively high net immigration figures are the
Austrians, the French, the Greeks and the Norwegians.

war who chose to remain in the United Kingdom after their release.
Both these groups should be included in the civilian immigration data
for 1946. For the years 1946 to 1957 this would give a net immigration
figure of some 365,000 for nationals of European countries, the vast
majority having arrived during the immediate post-war years and well
over half of them being refugees from eastern Europe. Apart from the
Polish armed services personnel and the prisoners of war the bulk of the
immigrants consisted either of workers recruited in groups under official
schemes or of workers admitted to the country under individual employment permits, together with dependants in each case. With regard to
these admissions there are figures issued by the Ministry of Labour and
National Service and others obtained from the Home Office which are
given in table 46. They show that at least 470,000 nationals of European
countries were admitted to the United Kingdom between 1946 and 1957
under one or the other of the two procedures.1 This figure includes
dependants, of whom there were very few in either case. On the assumption that the number of people who immigrated under other arrangements was negligible the net immigration figure was 225,000 lower than
the gross figure. The explanation lies partly in the emigration of many
1
This is certainly a minimum figure, since it does not include persons of doubtful
nationality, a majority of whom must nevertheless have been Europeans.

141

CONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS

TABLE 46. UNITED KINGDOM: EUROPEAN WORKERS ADMITTED
UNDER GROUP RECRUITMENT SCHEMES OR INDIVIDUAL PERMITS,
1946-57
(In thousands)

Germans

Italians

persons

G.R.* LP. 3

G.R.* i.p. 3

G.R.2 LP.'

laneous *

Total

Year

1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
Total4. . .

—
—
—
—
—
—
—

1.0
6.4
9.3
10.7
6.5
6.3
7.5
8.2
9.4
9.3

0.3
1.9 34.3
2.9 37.0
4.1
1.8
5.8 0.8
7.7 —
3.2 —
4.1 —
5.6 —
8.5 —
11.1 —
8.5 —

—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—

9.9

74.6 17.4 62.7 73.9

—

2.1
5.9
1.9

—

0.3
0.1
0.2
1.4
4.8
2.6
1.0
1.3
2.3
2.1
1.3

G.R.»

LP. 3

G.R. !

LP."

1.2

6.2
20.5
20.6
22.9
23.0
24.1
15.6
16.3
19.3
19.8
21.3
20.2

1.2
34.6
40.0
8.8
4.7
4.8
2.6
1.0
1.3
2.3
2.1
1.3

6.5
22.4
24.5
33.4
38.1
42.5
25.3
26.7
32.4
36.5
40.8
38.0

—

0.8
0.9
0.6

—
—
—
—
—
—
—

3.5 229.8 104.7 367.1

Source : For workers recruited in groups, statistics published by the Ministry of Labour and National
Service; and for workers under individual employment permits and for their dependants, statistics compiled by the Home Office. Since 1952 the Home Office statistics also cover workers recruited collectively
and their dependants. The number of workers admitted under individual permits during these years has
therefore been obtained by making the necessary adjustments in the latter figures.
1
Mainly from
Switzerland (49.5), France
(38.6), the Netherlands (26.5), Austria (20.5) and Den2
3
mark (18.8).
Group recruitment.
Individual permits.
* Does not include persons of doubtful
nationality.

Poles and displaced persons to various overseas countries and partly in
the fact that a large proportion of the immigrants admitted under
individual employment permits remain in the United Kingdom for only
a short time.
The figures for Irish immigration can be obtained from two sources:
the statistics compiled by the Ministry of Labour and National Service,
covering Irish workers recruited under its responsibility, and the Board
of Trade statistics, which show the annual balance of arrivals and
departures by sea and air between Ireland and Great Britain. The first
of these series covers too small a proportion of total movements to be
worth reproducing. The second gives what may be regarded as a plausible account of net movements, although it does not allow for overland
migration between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
According to this series net Irish immigration to Great Britain involved
some 320,000 people from 1946 to 1957. The details are given in
table 47.

142

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

TABLE 47. UNITED KINGDOM: ARRIVALS FROM AND DEPARTURES
TO THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND, 1946-57
(In thousands)
Year

1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
Total . . .

Arrivals

Departures

Net
immigration

431
490
625
730
747
781
827
799
821
888
971
991

426
472
603
714
735
764
797
771
788
844
929
940

5
18
22
16
12
17
30
28
33
44
42
51

9,101

8,783

318

Source : Passenger movement and migration from and to the United Kingdom, published yearly in
the Board of Trade Journal (London, Board of Trade).

The figures show also that Irish immigrants were much more numerous in the second half of the period than in the first. No conclusion can
be reached, however, regarding the relative importance of permanent
and temporary movements, particularly seasonal ones.
To sum up, net immigration to the United Kingdom from other
European countries from 1946 to 1957 would seem to have considerably
exceeded the 600,000 mark. There were, of course, ups and downs:
while in the immediate post-war years the number of immigrants was
very high, consisting chiefly of nationals of eastern European countries,
it subsequently fell a great deal. At the same time, the proportion of
immigrants from the Continent fell off as compared with that of Irish
immigrants, which increased almost continuously from 1950 to 1957.
Since 1953, however, immigration from the Continent has increased
again, with the result that the total net immigration balance has risen
rapidly over the last few years.

BELGIUM

Only from 1948 onwards do post-war Belgian migration statistics
include a breakdown by country of origin and of destination. Details
of the movement of foreign nationals between Belgium and the rest
of Europe by year and by country from 1948 to 1957 are given in
table 48.

143

CONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS

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144

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

Between 1948 and 1957 total gross immigration to Belgium from
other European countries involved over 420,000 persons. However,
movements in the reverse direction were also considerable and left a net
immigration balance of only about 185,000 persons. Over half the immigrants (51.7 per cent.) came from Italy, and Italians also accounted
for nearly three-fifths (57.3 per cent.) of the total net immigration.
The other major currents originated in France, Germany and the
Netherlands. Immigration of refugees from eastern Europe was still
sizeable in 1948 but fell to a very low level thereafter. A current of
Greek immigration became apparent after 1955 and a current of Spanish
immigration has become manifest even more recently.
For the years 1946 and 1947 only Italian and I.R.O. statistics are
available. The former set total net emigration to Belgium over the
two years at 45,000 persons \ and the latter disclose that some 16,000
displaced persons were resettled by the I.R.O. in Belgium in the
second half of 1947.2 European migration to Belgium since 1946 has
been characterised by marked ups and downs. It first showed a rise in
the immediate post-war years, reaching a peak in 1947-48. Subsequent
highs occurred again on two occasions, in 1951-52 and in 1955-56.
Between these three peaks there were two troughs in 1949-50 and 1953-54
respectively, the former being much lower than the latter.
The interpretation of Belgian statistics, however, is rendered very
difficult by the fact that they probably include a very large number of
temporary, and in some cases non-migratory, movements. This helps to
explain the rather large difference between the gross and net immigration figures ; another reason is the instability of foreign labour (particularly Italians) recruited for work in mines. A comparison of the results of
the census taken on 31 December 1947 and of the count of aliens made
on 1 November 1954 even suggests that the records of departures are
probably defective and that net immigration of aliens to Belgium from
the rest of Europe was actually much lower than the figure given by the
migration statistics. Such a comparison discloses an increase of only
about 12,000 persons in the foreign population 3 and a fall in the numbers
of all the major nationalities other than Italians. 4 In the case of the latter,
1
Notiziario dell'emigrazione (Rome, Ministero degli Affari Esteri), Ninth Year,
No. 5, May 1955, p. 584.
2
I.R.O.: Statistical Report (Geneva, 1951).
8
Even if allowance is made for the fact that movements of aliens to and from
other continents showed a net emigration surplus of some 20,000 during the same
period, this gives a net European immigration figure of only 32,000—still far removed
from the 105,000 given by the migration statistics.
4
Annuaire statistique de la Belgique et du Congo belge (Brussels, Ministère des
Affaires économiques, Institut national de statistique), Vol. 78, 1957, p. 42.

145

CONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS

the Italian statistics show an even larger figure for net emigration to
Belgium from 1948 to 1957 than the Belgian statistics.1

FRANCE

The French immigration statistics relate exclusively to workers
brought into the country by the National Immigration Office as either
permanent or seasonal workers under the statutory monopoly in regard
to recruitment conferred on that body, and to dependants of permanent
workers who accompany or join them in accordance with official procedure. These statistics are reproduced in tables 49 and 50.
In addition to permanent and seasonal movements there were large
frontier movements from Belgium which involved an average of 40,000
to 50,000 people during the period under review.2
Permanent gross immigration for the years 1946-57 as a whole
therefore amounted to over 600,000 people. In addition, there were a
number of German war prisoners who, after their release, were kept on
in France as free workers; of these some 40,000 chose to remain permanently when their contracts expired and should be added to the 1947
1

The detailed figures are as follows :
Immigration to Belgium

Emigration from Belgium

Year

1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
Total . . .
1

Belgian figures

Italian figures 1

46.4
5.3
4.2
33.3
22.4
8.8
3.3
17.1
10.4
10.6

13.1
15.1
11.2
10.9
12.5
12.0
10.9
9.6
8.9
8.6

16.0
10.4
4.0
9.4
3.3
0.6
0.1
1.2
1.2
1.0

161.8

112.9

47.3

Belgian figures

Italian figures

48.9
9.1
6.9
38.1
28.6
14.3
9.5
22.8
19.8
20.8
218.9

Figures from Notiziario dell'emigrazione, op. cit.

The discrepancies between the two series are very marked, the figure for net
immigration to Belgium being higher by about 10,000 according to the Italian statistics.
They are due to differences in the definition of emigration and immigration in the two
countries. However, the number of emigrants returning to Italy as given by the
Italian statistics is probably too low.
2
According to information collected in Belgium (and published in the Annuaire
statistique de la Belgique et du Congo belge) the position as regards the number of
frontier workers employed in France developed as follows (in thousands):
On
On
On
On

30 April 1946
31 March 1948
15 May 1952
15 October 1955

42.1
54.9
42.7
48.4

146

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

TABLE 49. FRANCE : PERMANENT IMMIGRATION OF WORKERS AND
THEIR FAMILIES, BY NATIONALITY, 1946-57
(In thousands)
Year

1946 3
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1°54
1955
1956
1957
Total . . .
1

MiscelSpaniards Displaced
persons 1 laneous *

Germans

Italians

3.7
21.8
16.4
2.8
1.6
1.5
0.8
0.6
0.5
0.7
1.0

28.0
53.1
38.7
47.9
11.2
19.3
32.5
14.3
11.2
17.7
57.4
87.1

0.8
1.6
2.6
2.1
2.6
9.4
24.5

418.4

47.0

51.1

1.3
1.7
0.3

—.
—

1.4
3.5
3.6]
1.9
3.8
4.3
3.4
2.1
2.2
2.8
3.9
8.0

7.4
17.5
19.2
1.5
0.2
0.2
0.3

—
—
—
—
46.3

41.1

Total

30.7
69.5
81.9
85.5
19.2
26.2
39.2
20.0
16.2
23.6
71.3
120.5
603.9

Mainly from Poland and Hungary.
Including Spanish workers for 1949-50 and dependants
of Spanish workers for 1947-52. The other nationalities with the3 largest representation were thePortuguese (about 10,000, mostly in 1956-57) and the Moroccans.
Second half.

TABLE 50. FRANCE: SEASONAL IMMIGRATION, BY COUNTRY
OF ORIGIN, 1946-57
(In thousands)
Year

1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957

Belgians

Italians

10.9
17.5
20.2
15.9
11.1
12.4
15.5
13.2
12.0
9.6
9.6
8.5

0.7
2.0
1.6
4.1
4.8
13.3
18.3
19.5
16.7
22.8
30.2
33.4

Spaniards

—
—
—
—
—
—
—

1.1
2.9
8.9
15.1

Total

11.5
19.4
21.8
19.9
15.9
25.7
33.8
32.7
29.9
35.3
48.7
57.1

immigration figure. Thus the actual total came to something like
650,000 persons, of whom approximately two-thirds came from Italy,
14 per cent, (prisoners of war and official immigrants) from Germany,
7 per cent, from eastern Europe (displaced persons in 1948-50) and
another 7 per cent, from Spain, mostly over the last few years.
The official figures, however, do not cover all the recent immigration.
They exclude not only self-employed workers and their families, whose
entry into France is not supervised by the National Immigration Office,
and workers' families which did not make use of the facilities provided

147

CONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS

by the Office, but also illegal immigration in the first few months of 1946,
the refugees who were given asylum, and all the aliens who settled in
France as ordinary residents. In view of all these omissions from the
statistics, total European immigration to France for the years 1946-57
may be reasonably estimated at not less than 700,000 people, of whom
about one-half entered the country during the four-year period extending
from 1946 to 1949. After the summer of 1949 there was a sharp drop,
and no marked rise occurred until 1956, the peak for the whole period
being reached in 1957.
There is unfortunately no information from French sources concerning persons who, having originally entered as permanent immigrants,
subsequently re-emigrated. However, by comparing the census returns
of 10 March 1946 and 10 May 1954, an attempt can be made to estimate
roughly the net balance of immigration from the rest of Europe between
the two dates. The balance does not seem to have exceeded 250,000, as
compared with a gross immigration figure probably well in excess of
450,00o.1 The explanation lies in the fact that many immigrants returned
to their countries of origin. This is true chiefly of Germans, but also of
Italians.2 Moreover, some 70,000 Poles and Yugoslavs who had immigrated before the war returned to their homelands in 1947-48, and
many refugees emigrated overseas. In view of the movements which
have occurred since May 1954, the net European immigration figure for
the entire period probably lies somewhere between 400,000 and 450,000.
x
In 1946 the census return for the foreign population of European origin in
France was 1,610,000 persons. The figure was only 1,455,000 in 1954, so that there had
been a fall of about 150,000. In the meantime about 350,000 foreigners of European
origin acquired French nationality while some 50,000 foreigners, most of whom were
probably of European origin, emigrated to countries outside Europe. The net movement between France and the other European countries would therefore seem to have
involved about 250,000 people. The two census returns on which this calculation
is based are not, however, strictly comparable; nor has the natural increase—
admittedly not considerable—been taken into account.
2
The Italian statistics for 1946-57 show the following movements to and from
France (in thousands):

Year
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951

.
.
.
.
.
.

Emigration

Immigration

28.1
50.0
38.7
49.0
13.3
21.8

0.1
8.9
1.6
2.4
1.7
3.4

Year
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957

.
.
.
.
.
.

Emigration

Immigration

35.5
17.2
13.1
17.9
57.5
87.1

4.2
4.4
4.7
0.9
2.6
13.8

The Italian emigration statistics agree roughly with the French immigration data,
although they show a somewhat higher gross emigration figure (about 430,000). As
regards net emigration, it totalled 380,000 according to the Italian statistics. This
figure seems excessive, owing no doubt to an under-estimation of the number of
returns.

148

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

As for seasonal movements, they increased greatly during the second
half of the period, when they were more than twice as numerous as they
had been in the first half. This increase was accompanied by a gradual
substitution of Italians for Belgians. Spaniards also began to enter in
large numbers from 1956 onwards.

SWITZERLAND

The statistics published by the Swiss Government do not really
permit of a complete analysis of recent immigration since there are only
two sources, namely statistics of residence permits issued to foreign
workers for the first time and the count of foreigners subject to employment restrictions which is carried out in February each year. These
two series are reproduced in tables 51 and 52.
These statistics relate only to workers, who constituted an overwhelming majority, though not the totality, of the immigrants. Subject
to this reservation, they are a source of useful information.
The first series gives gross immigration figures, broken down both by
types of immigration and by major nationalities. Permanent immigraTABLE 51 : SWITZERLAND : RESIDENCE PERMITS ISSUED FOR THE FIRST
TIME TO FOREIGNERS AUTHORISED TO TAKE UP EMPLOYMENT, BY TYPE
OF PERMIT AND NATIONALITY, 1946-57
(In thousands)
Nationality 1

Type of permit
Permanent Seasonal
workers workers 2

1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
Total . . .

Frontier
workers *

Total

Austrian

French

German

Italian

6.3
39.4
5.7
27.6
31.6
62.9
66.5
66.7
73.0
87.3
104.2
119.2

34.3
95.6
107.7
47.4
31.6
50.0
63.5
72.0
81.1
98.4
123.8
136.3

8.0
14.5
16.0
11.0
12.0
23.9
19.8
23.6
27.5
35.1
41.4
42.7

48.6
149.5
129.4
86.1
75.2
136.8
149.8
162.3
181.6
220.9
269.4
298.3

2.7
9.5
9.6
11.6
20.1
21.7
25.5
26.7
24.0
22.8
22.4

8.5
9.8
8.2
5.0
6.1
5.8
6.6
6.2
7.1
7.3
7.0

5.9
8.5
8.2
10.1
25.6
28.0
32.9
40.1
49.4
57.4
59.2

126.6
95.3
55.9
46.0
82.1
91.1
93.8
105.1
135.9
176.3
204.0

690.4

941.7

275.5

1,907.8

196.6

77.6

325.3

1,212.1

Source: Annuaire statistique de la Suisse (Berne, Bureau fédéral de statistique) and I.L.O. information.
1
a
Main nationalities only.
The figures for the years 1946-48 also include permits for longer periods issued
to agricultural workers, domestic servants and the lower grades of personnel in the hotel and catering trades.

149

CONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS
TABLE 52.

SWITZERLAND : FOREIGN WORKERS SUBJECT TO EMPLOYMENT
RESTRICTIONS, BY NATIONALITY, 1949-58 >
(In thousands)

Nationality

Austrian
French
German
Italian
Other
Total . . .
Frontier workers incl.
in above figures .

1957

1949'

1950

1951

1952

1953

1954

1955

1956

—

11.8
6.7
12.9
54.0
4.7

15.7
6.3
15.6
53.6
4.4

22.4
6.9
28.1
70.2
4.8

24.7
6.2
32.4
71.4
4.7

28.9
6.5
38.6
71.3
4.7

30.9
7.0
45.3
77.9
5.1

30.4 31.1 31.0
8.6
7.7
8.5
56.0 64.2 71.5
94.8 126.1 142.2
5.7
7.1
8.3

106.1 90.1

95.4

11.6

8.5

10.0

1958

132.3 139.4 150.0 166.2 194.6 237.0 261.6
16.6

15.9

18.5

22.8

28.5

32.9

Source : Annuaire statistique de la Suisse, op. cit.
1
Position in February each year.
' Breakdown by nationality not available.

tion, which provided some 690,000 workers over the whole period, rose
steadily from 1949 onwards and had increased fourfold by 1957. Seasonal
immigration also increased considerably after that date since the number
of people involved was three times as large in 1957 as it had been in 1949,
while frontier movements increased roughly to the same extent. However, previous to 1949, immigration had already reached a 1947-48 peak
in Switzerland as elsewhere. The subsequent decline extended into 1950
but was followed thereafter by a rapid and almost continuous rise.
Tables 51 and 52 also bring out the very great preponderance of Italians
among the immigrants. However, the number of Austrians and Germans
increased greatly in the second half of the period, at any rate among
non-seasonal immigrants, since Italy continued to supply almost all
seasonal workers.
Immigration of labour to Switzerland in the post-war period was
therefore considerable; yet—and even though there were also other,
minor immigration currents—the net immigration figure for aliens of
European origin does not seem to have exceeded 250,000 for the whole
of the 1946-57 period.1 This figure, of course, includes neither frontier
nor seasonal workers. The reason is that even foreigners admitted as
permanent immigrants, particularly Italian workers, are very unstable,
owing to the types of occupations in which they are employed and the
high proportion of women workers.
1
From 1941 to 1957 the foreign population, though reduced by some 55,000 as a
result of naturalisations, showed a net increase of some 200,000 persons, 135,000 of
them since 1950. The balance of the increase seems to have been largely, if not wholly,
due to immigration between 1946 and 1950.

36.4

150

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957
OTHER COUNTRIES

By comparison with those discussed above, other migratory movements within Europe were much smaller. Western Germany only began
to attract immigrants in substantial numbers, particularly from Italy and
from Austria, in 1956. Until then immigration had been confined to a
relatively small inflow from Austria, consisting largely of persons of
German ethnic origin who chose to settle permanently in Germany.
The Netherlands were another minor centre of attraction, particularly
over the last few years when the numbers of foreign workers employed
rose rapidly. This increase was due partly to permanent immigration
from Belgium, Germany and Italy and partly to the emergence of
frontier movements from the first two countries. Movements involving
quite large numbers also occurred in the form of frontier, permanent
and, above all, seasonal migration between Belgium, Germany and
mainly Italy on the one hand and Luxembourg on the other. These
movements have also increased considerably over the last few years.
In northern Europe Norway has attracted Danes and Denmark has
attracted Germans, especially frontier workers. In eastern Europe
Czechoslovakia brought in about 10,000 Bulgarians in the immediate
post-war years, as well as a small number of Rumanians and Italians.
These movements ceased in 1948, and by now most of the immigrants
seem to have returned to their own countries. Bulgarian immigration
began again in 1956 on a temporary basis and on quite a small scale.
The other movements affecting eastern European countries involved
highly skilled workers from other countries in the area, or even (at least
as regards Poland, and only in very recent years) from western Europe.
These movements have always been of a temporary character and
numerically unimportant.
CONCLUSIONS

A number of conclusions emerge from this rapid survey. The first is
that most continental migration in Europe involved movements over
short distances between neighbouring countries and even, in many cases
(as is shown by the number of frontier movements and as would, no
doubt, be demonstrated by a detailed study of the location of emigration
and immigration centres), movements between contiguous areas in
neighbouring countries. Of all the major emigration movements only
that from Italy and, for a few years, that from Germany, covered a
relatively extensive area and were not altogether regional. Moreover,
the movements over short distances were often of a short-term character:

CONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS

151

daily or weekly movements, movements over a frontier, seasonal movements or movements which, though permanent under official terminology,
were still of short duration since in most cases net immigration figures
were low. This latter trait constitutes one of the major differences
between intra-European movements and European emigration overseas.
The statistics also reveal that, apart from Italy, the southern European
countries were relatively untouched by continental migration currents
over the last 12 years (although the position in this regard has tended
to alter recently). If it is borne in mind, moreover, that a clear majority
of Italian emigrants to other European countries came from the northern
part of Italy, it may be concluded that continental migration in Europe
over this period affected mainly the more industrialised parts of the
Continent and their immediate vicinity.
The Americas
Most of the migration currents between American countries converged on the United States. Little information is available concerning the movements that took place among Latin American countries but
it seems that none of them were on a comparable scale.

UNITED STATES

Immigration
For the years 1946-57 as a whole, permanent immigrants to the
United States from the rest of the American Continent numbered about
880,000. Movements of foreign residents in the reverse direction over
the same period involved little more than 95,000 persons, which leaves a
net immigration figure of about 785,000. Details of these movements by
countries of origin and of destination are given in table 53.
Most of the immigrants came from Canada, which accounted for
43.7 per cent, of the total. A similar proportion came from Latin
America as a whole (Mexico, Central America and South America),
and Mexico alone accounted for 30.1 per cent. By and large, it would
appear that the number of immigrants from other parts of the American Continent increased greatly during the period under review and
that their proportion in the total number rose steadily. Over the
whole period the proportion was about one-third (32.7 per cent.),
but it has always exceeded 40 per cent, since 1952 and reached about

152

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

TABLE 53. UNITED STATES: MIGRATION TO AND FROM THE REST OF THE
AMERICAN CONTINENT \ 1946-57
(In thousands)
Canada

South America

Miscellaneous *

Total

Year

Immigration

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

23.9
24.4
25.4
23.3
23.3
27.3
37.8
35.8
32.9
37.2
44.1
50.1

0.9
0.9
1.1
1.8
2.9
2.9
2.4
1.9
2.8
2.6
3.3
3.1

7.9
7.6
8.5
7.6
6.2
6.9
11.8
23.3
39.3
52.1
62.2
32.6

1.0
1.0
0.8
1.2
1.2
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.4
0.3
0.5
0.5

3.2
3.0
3.0
3.2
3.4
4.0
5.1
6.2
7.0
8.5
9.8
12.7

0.9
1.5
2.4
2.7
3.0
2.3
2.0
2.5
3.8
1.9
2.2
1.4

10.3
10.9
10.0
8.5
8.4
8.1
11.5
11.2
13.9
20.8
25.5
24.2

2.5
1.6
3.0
4.4
4.0
3.1
2.8
3.3
3.7
1.6
1.4
0.8

45.3
45.9
46.3
42.7
41.2
46.2
66.2
76.5
93.1
118.6
141.6
119.6

5.3
5.0
7.3
10.2
11.1
9.3
8.2
8.6
11.7
6.3
7.4
5.8

Total .

385.5

26.6

265.9

10.9

69.1

26.7

163.3

32.1

883.8

96.2

1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957

Mexico

ImEmigra- migration
tion

Immigrants and foreign residents leaving for good.

ImEmigra- migration
tion

Emigration

' Chiefly the West Indies and Central America.

45 per cent, in 1957.1 This development was less a result of immigration
from Canada (although this has been rising markedly for some years)
than of movements from Latin America, particularly Mexico and the
West Indies. Yet, after rising steadily since 1951, the number of immigrants from Mexico fell appreciably in 1957.
In any case the real volume of continental immigration to the United
States was in all likelihood a good deal greater than is suggested by the
figures in table 53, since for the period as a whole the statistics of the
United States Immigration and Naturalization Service include some
90,000 immigrants of unspecified origin, the majority of them probably
from other American countries.2
Finally, it should be noted that net immigration from the rest of the
American Continent is actually a matter of some uncertainty, since
United States statistics cover only foreign residents who leave the
country for good, and not departures of persons who have acquired
United States citizenship. This observation would appear to apply
chiefly to re-emigration to Canada, where some 60,000 Canadians
1

For the total immigration figures, see Chapter VI.
The immigrants in question are persons who first enter the United States under
visas other than immigration visas and obtain an immigration visa at a later date.
Such cases seem to be more common among nationals of non-quota countries than
among others.
2

153

CONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS

returning from the United States were counted between 1946 and 1957
(as compared with some 27,000 departures recorded by the United
States Immigration and Naturalization Service), while from 1946 to
1950 there were over 7,000 returns from the United States of persons
previously admitted to Canada as immigrants.1 In other words net
immigration from Canada was probably lower by almost 50,000 than
the figure shown by the statistics of the United States Immigration and
Naturalization Service. On the basis of available information, it is
impossible to say whether net immigration from other American countries was overestimated to the same extent.
In addition to permanent immigrants the United States have, since
1946, attracted a considerable number of seasonal immigrants, mainly
from Mexico. Not all of these enter the country legally, so that only
partial records are available. The official figures by year and country of
origin are reproduced in table 54.
This table shows the importance of regular seasonal immigration
from Mexico and the large increase in such immigration over recent
years. Unfortunately, it does not give a complete picture of Mexican
seasonal immigration as a whole, most of which was illegal until 1950.
Even now, illegal entries have not ceased altogether, although they have
been considerably reduced by stricter supervision and by the entry into
force of a new recruitment agreement concluded with the Mexican
Government in August 1951. Statistics concerning the employment of
seasonal labour are equally unenlightening since they cover only workers
whose papers were in order. Little, therefore, can be added concerning
this problem.
Emigration
Conversely with the movements just described, there was an
emigration of United States nationals towards Canada and Central and
South America, with regard to which available statistics provide only very
inadequate information.
1

The number of annual returns (in thousands) was as follows:
Year

1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951

.
.
.
.
.
.

Canadian
citizens

Immigrants

4.6
7.0
4.6
4.0
3.4
3.6

0.9
2.8
1.7
1.3
0.7

—

Year
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957

.
.
.
.
.
.

Canadian
citizens

Immigrants

4.7
5.3
5.6
5.1
5.9
6.6

—
—
—
—
—

154

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

TABLE 54. UNITED STATES : IMMIGRANT FARM WORKERS ADMITTED
INTO THE COUNTRY, BY COUNTRY OF ORIGIN, 1946-57
(In thousands)
Year

1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957

Canada

4.1
5.2
6.2
7.0
6.7
6.7
7.3

British
West Indies

Mexico

9.0
7.9
7.7
4.7
6.6
7.6
8.2

32.0
19.6
35.3
19.6
66.1
190.7
197.1
201.4
309.0
398.6
445.2
436.0

Miscellaneous

Total

0.4
0.7

201.7
210.2
215.3
320.7
412.0
459.8
452.2

Source: For 1946-50, Eleanor M. HADLEY: " A Critical Analysis of the Wetback Problem ", in Law
and Contemporary Problems (Durham, N.C., Duke University School of Law), Vol. XXI, No. 2, Spring
1956, pp. 351-352; and, for 1951-57, Organisation for European Economic Co-operation: Annual Report on
the Manpower Situation in 1957 : United States, Document MO (58)7/30 (Paris, 21 July 1958 (mimeographed)).

According to a Canadian source immigrants from the United States,
an overwhelming majority of whom were United States citizens,
numbered about 110,000 over the period as a whole. Details of these
movements by year are given in table 55.
This was partly offset by a reverse flow of about 40,000 United States
citizens between 1946 and 1955.1
TABLE 55. CANADA : IMMIGRATION FROM THE UNITED STATES,
1946-57
(In thousands)
Year

1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952

Number of
immigrants

9.6
9.4
7.4
7.8
7.8
7.8
9.3

Year

Number of
immigrants

9.4
10.1
10.4
9.8
11.0

1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
Total . . .

109.8

1
See Canada Yearbook (Ottawa, Dominion Bureau of Statistics), 1956 and 1957.
The exact figures (in thousands) were as follows, by years ending 30 June:
1945-46
1947 .
1948 .
1949 .
1950 .

6.8
5.0
4.9
5.8
3.9

1951
1952
1953
1954
1955

4.3
4.0
2.8
2.1
2.3

CONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS

155

Movements towards Latin American countries can be measured
only for the few countries which compile migration statistics in the strict
sense. Those to Argentina, Uruguay and even Brazil (about 10,000 United
States citizens between 1946 and 1956) were apparently negligible; on
the other hand there were many migrants to Venezuela, as may be
seen from table 56.
TABLE 56. UNITED STATES : MOVEMENTS OF UNITED STATES
CITIZENS TO AND FROM VENEZUELA, 1950-561
(In thousands)
Immigration

Year

1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
Total . . .

Emigration

13.3
13.3
15.8
16.5
16.9
18.9
23.0

15.9
13.0
15.0
16.0
16.7
17.8
21.9

117.6

116.4

1
Includes United States citizens registered on arrival or departure as " immigrants *', " residents "
and " transients ".

The table shows that movements in the reverse direction were almost
as numerous, so that from 1950 to 1956 at any rate the net immigration
balance was negligible. This is because movements of United States
citizens to Venezuela are generally short-term ones ; Venezuelan statistics in any case include many temporary movements in the statistical
sense of the term. Movements of United States citizens to other Latin
American countries were no doubt of a similar character but the only
available information concerning them consists as a rule of statistics of
travellers, which give no indication of the number of actual migrants.
What they do indicate is that in all cases arrivals and departures of
United States citizens have balanced out over comparatively few years.
Mexico compiles migration statistics which show that between 1946 and
1953 some 9,000 United States citizens immigrated into that country
and that almost as high a number re-emigrated.1
LATIN AMERICA

Analysis of migratory movements within Latin America is hampered
by the usual statistical difficulties. Only in Argentina does there appear
1
Anuario Estadístico de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos (Mexico City, Secretaría
de Economía, Dirección General de Estadística), 1954.

156

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

TABLE 57. ARGENTINA: NET IMMIGRATION OF NATIONALS OF
OTHER SOUTH AMERICAN COUNTRIES, BY NATIONALITY, 1946-57
(In thousands)
Brazilians

Year

Para-

Uruguayans

Miscellaneous

Total

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

0.4
0.1
0.4
0.1
1.6
0.8
0.8
1.7
1.7
26.5
-1.6
2.7

1.8
0.5
0.9
0.8
1.6
3.6
3.1
0.1
1.1
-0.2
1.4
1.0

0.7
2.6
2.3
2.7
5.4
6.4
1.6
3.3
6.8
6.1
8.7
4.0

0.6
3.0
6.4
4.2
6.9
9.5
10.0
7.1
7.5
9.6
25.5
22.7

-10.1
-6.4
-11.6
-2.0
12.3
7.6
-8.9
-1.0
-1.1
-3.9
1.7
12.1

0.4
0.3
0.7
0.1
0.9
2.5
1.4
0.7
0.7

—
—
—

-6.1
0.1
-0.9
6.0
28.8
30.5
7.9
11.8
16.7
38.1
35.7
42.5

Total

35.2

15.7

50.6

113.0

-11.3

7.7

211.1

1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957

. . . .

Source: For 1946-54, Dirección Nacional de Estadística y Censos: Informe Demográfica de la República Argentina 1944-1954 (Buenos Aires, 1956); and, for 1955-56, Boletín Mensual de Estadística (Buenos
Aires, Dirección Nacional de Estadística y Censos), various issues.

to have been a sizeable immigration surplus, as revealed by that country's
statistics of travellers' arrivals and departures, most of the immigrants
coming from Paraguay and Chile (table 57). However, quite apart from
the reservations to which statistics based largely on records kept at land
frontiers are necessarily subject, the figures give no idea of the extent of
gross movements, which would seem to include many seasonal ones,
particularly from Bolivia.
As regards Venezuela most of the immigrants were Colombians, as
may be seen from table 58.
Thus about half the immigrants to Venezuela from other Latin
American countries and 90 per cent, of the net movement between 1950
and 1957 came from Colombia. Moreover, total immigration from
other parts of the American Continent may have been considerably
greater than is shown by the figures in table 58, as some immigrants
entering the country as tourists probably settled there subsequently.
For the other Latin American countries the statistics available—
whether migration statistics in the strict sense or statistics of arrivals and
departures of travellers—suggest that there were no major movements
among them, or at any rate none of a permanent character. On the
whole, therefore, Latin America was less affected by continental migration than by European immigration.1
1

See below, Chapter VI.

157

CONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS

TABLE 58. VENEZUELA: MIGRATION BY NATIONALS OF OTHER
LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRIES, BY NATIONALITY, 1950-57
(In thousands)
Immigration
Colombians

1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
Tota il

. . . .

Emigration

Others

Total

Colombians

Others

Total

6.2
7.7
9.9
5.5
3.7
3.6
3.5
4.8

5.5
4.8
5.1
5.9
7.3
8.1
9.6
5.7

11.7
12.5
15.0
11.4
11.0
11.7
13.1
10.5

4.2
4.4
3.7
1.7
1.6
1.4
1.6
1.6

5.5
4.5
4.8
5.2
6.1
7.0
7.8
9.0

9.7
8.9
8.5
6.9
7.7
8.4
9.4
10.6

44.9

52.0

96.9

20.3

49.7

70.0

Africa
In Africa, by contrast, there have been very extensive movements of
indigenous workers from one territory to another, at least in the part
lying south of the Sahara. These were helped by the basically unstable
character of African labour. Unfortunately the statistics concerning such
movements are most unsatisfactory, owing to the inadequacy of the
checks on which they are based. As a rule, reliance has to be placed on
figures relating to the crossing of frontiers, or more commonly on counts
of foreign workers.
Such movements have drawn a complicated pattern of cross-currents,
since although some territories were exclusivelye migration or immigration centres, many were both at the same time. For purposes of analysis,
three major geographical areas can be distinguished : west Africa, east
Africa and southern Africa.
In west Africa the main centre of attraction for African labour was
Ghana (formerly the British territory of the Gold Coast). At the time
of the 1948 census the resident population of that territory included
175,000 people born abroad, and the annual number of arrivals rose
from 108,000 persons in 1938 to 392,000 in 1953. The immigrants, who
generally stayed in the country for only a short time, came from the
neighbouring French territories of the Upper Volta, the Ivory Coast and
Togoland, and from Nigeria. In 1954 between 300,000 and 400,000 immigrants from the Upper Volta, the Ivory Coast and Togoland were
employed in Ghana and accounted for 40 per cent, of the total employed

158

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

labour force. Nigeria also attracted workers from French West Africa
and Gambia attracted workers from Senegal and Portuguese Guinea.
In east Africa the migration pattern covered the northern part of
Mozambique, Tanganyika, the eastern part of the Belgian Congo and
Ruanda-Urundi, Uganda, the southern Sudan and southern Kenya,
Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Most of the migratory flow was
from the outlying parts of the region towards the centre, that is to say
towards the two territories of Tanganyika and Uganda. In Tanganyika
in 1957 there were almost 55,000 workers from neighbouring territories,
mostly Ruanda-Urundi and Mozambique. Uganda attracted workers
from Ruanda-Urundi and Tanganyika. In addition to these two major
currents there were secondary movements towards the eastern part of the
Belgian Congo and Kenya; the former received workers mainly from
Ruanda-Urundi and the latter from Tanganyika.
The greatest movements of labour over the last 12 years, however,
occurred mainly in the southern part of the Continent, and specifically
towards Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia and the Union of
South Africa. Of these countries South Africa exerted its attraction over
the widest area—extending as far north as Tanganyika—and Northern
Rhodesia over the smallest.
The Union of South Africa received a flow of migrants from all parts
of southern Africa. Immigrants from Mozambique seem to have been
by far the most numerous since, according to a Portuguese source, there
were 165,000 workers from that territory working in the Union by the
end of 1953. Other important contingents came from the British Protectorates of Basutoland, Bechuanaland and Swaziland, from Southern
Rhodesia and from Nyasaland.
Southern Rhodesia recruited its foreign labour in a more limited area,
once again including Mozambique (from which over 155,000 workers
were employed at the end of 1953 according to a Portuguese source), as
well as Nyasaland (100,000 workers in 1954), Angola and Northern
Rhodesia.
Immigration to the latter territory was on a much smaller scale and
came mainly from Nyasaland, Tanganyika and Angola. At the end of
1957 about 20,000 immigrants were employed in the main industries of
Northern Rhodesia (8,500 from Nyasaland and 5,500 from Tanganyika).
Finally, apart from the three major areas surveyed above, some
mention must be made of the two-way movement between Angola and
the Belgian Congo. On balance, immigration to the Congo seems to
have been definitely greater.
It should be noted that the few figures cited give only a pale reflection
of the numbers actually involved in inter-territorial movements of

159

CONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS

African labour in tropical Africa, first because there was an uninterrupted
flow of comings and goings over territorial frontiers, and secondly
because the workers were in some cases, though probably not very often,
accompanied or joined by their families.
Besides migration of indigenous peoples there was also some migration of Europeans from one territory to another, generally within the
British Commonwealth. The most important of these movements by far
was the emigration that occurred from the Union of South Africa to the
territories that have since 1954 formed the Central African Federation,
especially Southern Rhodesia. Table 59 gives an idea of the extent of this
movement, based on South African statistics.
The Union of South Africa was thus the source of a migratory flow
to other parts of the Continent which, over the whole period, involved
more than 100,000 people, of whom 96,000 went to the two Rhodesias;
of these, about two-thirds went to Southern Rhodesia and one-third to
Northern Rhodesia.
The actual numbers involved may even have been somewhat higher
than appears from table 59; this, at any rate, is what a comparison
between the South African figures and Rhodesian data suggests.1
TABLE 59. UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA: MIGRATION OF EUROPEANS
TO AND FROM THE REST OF THE AFRICAN CONTINENT, 1946-57
(In thousands)
Rhodesias

Other territories

Total

Year

1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957

. . . .

Tota 1
1

Emigration

Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

5.1
5.5
6.1
7.2
11.2
12.2
7.3
6.9
8.1
9.1
9.5
8.0

0.4
1.4
1.4
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
1.1
2.0
1.8
1.5
2.0

0.7
0.4
0.3
0.4
0.7
1.2
0.7
0.5
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.4

1.8
2.2
1.7
0.9
0.5
0.5
0.8
0.8
1.1
1.4
1.5
1.2

5.8
6.0
6.4
7.5
11.9
13.4
8.1
7.3
8.5
9.6
10.1
8.4

2.2
3.5
3.1
1.4
1.0
1.0
1.3
1.8
3.2
3.2
3.0
3.2

96.2 »

13.6

6.8

14.4

103.0

28.0

including 53.0 to Southern Rhodesia between 1946 and 1955.

For 1946-53, migration from South Africa to Southern Rhodesia involved 44,000
people according to South African statistics, as compared with 53,000 according to
the Southern Rhodesian figures. For 1955-57, the South African statistics show an
emigration of some 27,000 persons to the Central African Federation whereas the
statistics of the Federation give a figure of 32,000.

160

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

Regarding migration in Africa north of the Sahara, no precise
information is available. The only movements worthy of mention
would appear to be those from Algeria to Morocco, which involved
members of both the European and the Moslem population.

Asia and Oceania
While the lack of migration statistics in most Asian countries precludes any accurate assessment of continental migration in Asia over
the last 12 years, such movements in most cases do appear to have been
on a small, not to say insignificant, scale.
India is the only one of the four former major emigration countries
(the others being China, Japan and Korea) from which emigrants left
for other Asian countries in any conspicuous numbers. Moreover,
such statistics as exist cover only official movements by sea, i.e. those
made in conformity with emigration regulations, so that it is impossible
to ascertain the extent of others, if any. Details of the official movements
by country are given in table 60.
These movements—which were on a very small scale compared with
what they had been in the past—were directed chiefly towards Ceylon
until 1949, and thereafter towards Malaya, while migration to Burma
TABLE 60. INDIA1: OFFICIAL MOVEMENTS TO AND RETURNS FROM
OTHER ASIAN COUNTRIES, 1946-56
(In thousands)
imigration

Net

Year

1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

. . . .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

Total .

Returns
Burma

Ceylon

Malaya

laneous *

—
—

0.4
0.3
0.2
0.4
0.5
0.3
0.3

7.9
0.5
0.4
0.4
0.2
0.2
0.1

1.3
2.8
4.3
7.6
5.5

—

—
—
—

—

Total

—

21.7
20.9
19.3
12.9
6.4
8.0
11.4
10.9
3.7
4.5
3.8

2.1
3.3
5.1
6.1
5.6
1.5
1.3
1.0
1.5
1.4
1.4

19.6
17.6
14.2
6.8
0.8
6.5
10.1
9.9
2.2
3.1
2.4

—

123.5

30.3

93.2

3.3
2.9
3.1
3.0
4.7
3.2
4.2

Source: Statistical Abstract, India (Central Statistical Organisation, Government of India), 1950,
1951-52, 1952-53, 1954-55 and 1956-57.
1
The figures include Pakistan until August 1947. * Mainly countries bordering on the Persian Gulf,
and, to a lesser extent, Africa.

161

CONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS

was negligible. However, statistics of arriving and departing travellers
published by Ceylon and the Federation of Malaya suggest that migration between India and those two countries was actually much greater
than the Indian figures indicate.
The statistics of passengers arriving in and departing from Ceylon,
which relate mostly to Indians 1 , indicate that the number of Indian
immigrants was higher, at any rate until 1949, than is disclosed by the
Indian statistics, and also that from 1950 onwards there was a reversal
in the traditional flow of migrants which is not revealed by the Indian
figures. Both series show a decline in migration in both directions;
moreover, there was a slight immigration surplus for Ceylon for the
period as a whole. The Malayan statistics, unlike those of Ceylon,
include a breakdown of the passenger totals by racial origin and reveal
a net immigration of over 60,000 2 Indians and Pakistanis between
1947 and 1957.
Emigration from Pakistan appears to have been confined chiefly to
a few small-scale movements towards countries bordering on the Persian
Gulf.
There is very little information on movements from China. In the
very first years of the period there seems to have been considerable
migration of Chinese to Thailand3, although most of them probably
1
The balance of arrivals and departures (in thousands of persons) from 1946 to
1956 was as follows:

1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951

1952
1953
1954
1955
1956

56.8
22.5
20.2
30.7
-20.4
-14.0

-16.3
-12.6
- 8.0
-23.0
-18.0
18.0

Total

Net passenger movements to Malaya (broken down by nationality and excluding
movements between Malaya and Singapore) from 1947 to 1957 were as follows
(thousands of persons) :
Year

1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
Total . . .

Miscellaneous (mainly
Siamese)

European

Indians and
Pakistanis

-3.7
-2.4
-9.2
-1.4
-100
-5.5
-1.6
1.2
2.8
5.3
2.5

0.7
0.5
1.3
0.7
1.8
1.7
1.3
0.8
1.0
1.6
1.7

-8.4
-0.9
-0.6
7.4
6.3
13.0
19.3
-0.3
3.1
6.0
5.7

-0.3
0.1
2.2
5.8
1.2
1.8
1.9
1.9
3.4
3.5

-11.7
-2.7
-6.3
12.5
-1.9
10.4
20.8
3.6
8.8
16.3
13.4

-22.0

13.1

50.6

21.5

63.2

Chinese

Total

Source: Monthly Bulletin of the Federation of Malaya (Kuala Lumpur, Department of Statistics).
3
The figures for 1946 to 1949 (in thousands) are as follows according to the
official statistics of Thailand:

1946
1947

79.1
67.9

1948
1949

14.7
5.5

162

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

were not new immigrants but former Chinese residents returning to the
country after a temporary absence. In other countries, particularly
Malaya and Viet-Nam, statistics of Chinese arrivals and departures also
seem to include Chinese having previously established residence in those
countries.
Nor does it seem that there was any emigration from Korea or any
large-scale Japanese emigration to other Asian countries during the
period considered. The emigration figures published by Japan since
1950 are not broken down by country of destination, and since they
cover emigration to other continents as well as to Asia they are of no
use for the purposes of this analysis. Moreover, they seem to include
among emigrants a large majority of travellers who are not in fact
migrants.
There are no statistics concerning migration within the Middle
East. There seems to have been a considerable flow of migrants from
Iran towards Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrein and Qatar and from Syria and
Lebanon towards the same territories, mainly Kuwait.
The only sizeable movements within Oceania were those between
Australia and New Zealand. Figures concerning these movements have
been published by both countries; they are reproduced in table 61.
The table shows a net immigration surplus of a few thousand for New
Zealand. The balance has been clearly in favour of New Zealand
since 1952.
TABLE 61. MIGRATION BETWEEN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND,
1946-57
(In thousands)
Australian figures
Year

1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
Total . . .
1

New Zealand figures

Emigration

Immigration

Emigration

3.0
2.8
1.7
2.0
2.0
2.3
3.9
4.5
3.9
4.5
3.8
5.0

2.1
2.4
2.7
3.2
3.8
3.1
2.2
1.8
2.6
2.9
2.9
2.5

1.7
1.5
1.3
2.5
2.8
3.3
5.1
4.8
3.5
3.5
4.0
5.2

1.7
1.8
2.7
3.0
3.5
2.8
1.9
2.2
2.7
3.0
2.6
2.1

39.4

32.3

39.1

30.0

For New Zealand, year beginning on 1 April and ending on 31 March in the following calendar year.

CONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS

163

Bibliographical References
The source material for this chapter is included in the list of references
given at the end of Chapter VI.

CHAPTER VI
INTERCONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS
Intercontinental migration currents are, as a rule, easier to analyse
than continental ones owing to the overwhelming predominance of
long-term—i.e., in the official sense, permanent—movements which,
to a large extent, eliminates the problem of confusion between shortterm and long-term movements so often associated with continental
migration statistics. To be sure, even here the distinction between
permanent migrants, temporary migrants and non-migrants is not always
clearly drawn, and the statistics do not always provide a fully satisfactory
basis for quantitative analysis; but this is true chiefly of non-European
emigration and for countries where European immigration has been only
on a small scale, and since the vast majority of intercontinental migrants
between 1946 and 1957 were Europeans who went to settle in a few major
immigration countries overseas or who returned to Europe after a more
or less extended stay in other continents, the inadequacy of statistics
for the remaining movements is not a serious drawback.
European Emigration
GENERAL

Based on the figures published by the various emigration countries 1 ,
together with those compiled for the years 1947-52 by the International
Refugee Organisation (excluding movements to Israel)2, the gross European emigration figure for the period from 1946 3 to 1957 would seem
to have been about 6.6 million. The details are given in table 62.
This over-all figure, which may be accepted as an initial estimate,
calls for a fundamental observation. It is the sum of data arrived at
on a different basis in each country and represents total movements
recorded as emigration movements by the responsible departments.
1
For Austria, there are no statistics that can be used. I.C.E.M. data, which
cover most of the emigrants after 1952, have been used to fill the gap. Similarly,
I.R.O. statistics have been used to cover the 1947-51 period.
2
The I.R.O. figures also cover movements from certain non-European countries,
especially in the Middle East, East Africa and the Far East, and include a total of
about 20,000 people, mostly Europeans, who were involved in those movements.
3
Practically no information is available for 1945; in any case, there was very
little migration during that year.

165

INTERCONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS

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166

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

Even on the assumption that there were no major gaps in these records,
it may be asked how far these national figures relate to " permanent "
European emigration in the internationally accepted sense of the term,
since depending on the way in which each country's statistics are compiled
they may either include travellers who are not permanent migrants in
the United Nations sense or not include all permanent migrants.
Without attempting to assess the value from this point of view of
each of the national sources used, it may be noted that the I.R.O. statistics, while they undoubtedly relate to permanent migration, do not
cover all movements of refugees from Europe, whereas they do include
persons from other continents whom it was not possible to deduct
from the annual totals ; that the West German statistics are the only ones
that are in full conformity with the United Nations standard * ; and that
the other countries all diverge more or less from that standard either
in their rules or in their practice. The Portuguese statistics do not
include emigration to the overseas provinces; the Spanish, Italian and
Dutch statistics may include among emigrants travellers returning
overseas after a stay of less than one year (i.e. persons who are not
actually migrants) 2 ; the United Kingdom statistics do not take account
of movements by air or of movements to Mediterranean countries and,
in addition, although they are based on the criterion of residence for a
year or more, they probably include among immigrants and subsequently
among emigrants travellers who come to the United Kingdom for
a long stay. The statistics of the secondary emigration countries are
generally even less reliable.3 Most of them tend to underestimate
actual movements rather than to overestimate them.
Thus, on the one hand, table 62 contains several total 4 or partial 5
1
This applies to the statistics proper but not to the estimates for the 1946-52
period, which cover German nationals only.
2
In addition, the Italian statistics do not include aliens and the Spanish and
Portuguese statistics do not include people emigrating by air. These gaps are in fact
minor ones, since most of the alien emigrants from Italy were refugees included in
the I.R.O. totals and since emigration from Spain and Portugal by air is of negligible
proportions. The omission from the Spanish emigration statistics of movements to
Africa, on the other hand, is more serious.
3
In Belgium, Denmark and Sweden the records seem to make no distinction
between permanent migrants, temporary migrants and non-migrants; moreover, the
system of registration probably does not work in a fully satisfactory manner. In
Ireland the statistics cover only emigration by sea through Irish ports. In Finland
and Greece the data are based on passport application figures and appear to be
largely incomplete.
4
Lack of figures for France; and lack of figures for Belgium in 1946-47.
6
Absence of information on Portuguese emigration to the overseas provinces;
on emigration from Austria, apart from movements recorded by the I.R.O. and the
I.C.E.M.; on British emigration to Mediterranean countries; and on Greek emigration to Mediterranean countries in 1946 and 1947 as well as in 1954-55 (apart from
the movements recorded by the I.C.E.M.).

167

INTERCONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS

omissions, while several series in the table include a number of temporary
migrants and non-migrants. 1 On the whole, it seems that the figure
for permanent emigration from Europe to other parts of the world, excluding Israel, should be a good deal higher than the total based on the
available figures, and that it probably comes to about 7 million.
Table 62 shows the relative size of the migratory flow from various
countries. The United Kingdom leads by a considerable margin, followed by Italy : these two countries account for half the recorded emigration. Western Germany (including both refugees and German
nationals), Spain, the Netherlands and Portugal come next in that order.
The figures given in table 62 may be grouped by larger geographical
regions; the results are shown in table 63.
These proportions changed considerably over the period, as shown
by table 64.
Central Europe made a massive contribution to the emigration
movement only for a few years when the I.R.O. camps emptied, whereas
TABLE 63. EUROPEAN EMIGRATION BY REGION, 1946-57
Region

Thousands
of persons

Percentages

2,744.7

41.5

North-western Europe (British Isles, Belgium, Netherlands, Scandinavian countries)
Central Europe (Western Germany, Austria,
Switzerland) 1
Southern Europe (Portugal, Spain, Italy,
Malta, Greece)

1,373.8

20.8

2,493.7

37.7

Total . . .

6,612.2

100.0

Including refugees resettled by the I.R.O.

TABLE 64. DISTRIBUTION OF EUROPEAN EMIGRATION BY
MAJOR EUROPEAN REGION, BY TWO-YEAR PERIODS, 1946-57
(Percentages)
Period

1946-47
1948-49
1950-51
1952-53
1954-55
1956-57
1

Particularly among aliens.

Northwestern
Europe

Central
Europe

Southern
Europe

Total

70
37
34
46
39
42

21
33
30
13
11
17

9
30
36
41
50
41

100
100
100
100
100
100

168

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

the proportion of emigrants from southern Europe rose steadily (at least
until 1955). Table 62 highlights the link between the record figures
for the years 1949-51 and the operations of the I.R.O. It also shows
that the resumption of emigration after the war was slow in most
countries other than the United Kingdom, and that it generally
reached its peak around 1951-52. Since 1953 the level of European
emigration has become stabilised at more than 500,000 persons
a year.
Calculations based on the statistics used for table 62 also give an
approximate idea of the distribution of gross emigration by continent
of destination (table 65) : they show that America received about 70
per cent, of the total and Oceania less than 20 per cent. The African
share is, however, considerably underestimated because the statistics
do not allow for French emigration or for emigration from Portugal
to its overseas provinces.
On the basis of the immigration statistics kept by a certain number
of countries, it is possible to estimate roughly the numbers returning
to Europe over the 12 years under review, and therefore the net emigration totals.
The figures show that about 2 million immigrants from other
continents were counted between 1946 and 1957 in nine of the main
European emigration countries. An overwhelming majority of them
were former emigrants returning to their countries of origin. The
proportion of returns was probably very small in the case of the
other major movements, particularly German emigrants and I.R.O.
refugees, so that it seems reasonable to estimate total net emigration
for 1946-57 at upwards of 5 million people.
Further details of these various over-all figures will emerge from a
more careful analysis of the statistics of emigration and major immigration countries.
TABLE 65. DISTRIBUTION OF EUROPEAN EMIGRANTS
BY CONTINENT OF DESTINATION, 1946-57
Continent

Figures
in millions

4.7
2.9
1.8
0.4
.0.3
1.2

America
North
South
Africa
Asia
Oceania
Total . . .

6.6

Percentages

71
44
27
6
5
18
100

INTERCONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS

169

Table 66 contains gross and net migration data based on the
statistics of the nine emigration countries referred to above. The interpretation to be placed on these figures will be discussed at a later
stage, when each country is dealt with separately.
TABLE 66. GROSS A N D N E T E M I G R A T I O N F R O M N I N E E U R O P E A N
EMIGRATION COUNTRIES, 1946-57
(In thousands)
Gross
emigration

Country

Belgium 1
Denmark
Ireland
Italy
Netherlands
Portugal
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom

Immigration

Net
emigration

. . .

107.4
65.2
61.6
1,412.2
564.9
318.8
569.0
54.2
1,841.9

51.2
32.8
12.0
312.3
440.2
43.3
161.9
24.1
890.8

56.2
32.4
49.6
1,099.9
124.7
275.5
407.1
30.2
951.1

Total

4,995.2

1,968.6

3,026.6

COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN

Emigration from and returns to Europe are described hereunder by
major continental divisions—north-western Europe, central Europe and
southern Europe.
North-western Europe
The two major emigration countries in north-western Europe were
the United Kingdom and the Netherlands; the other countries accounted
for only minor movements.
United Kingdom.
According to Board of Trade statistics, emigration from the United
Kingdom to continents other than Europe accounted for a total of
1,840,000 people between 1946 and 1957. Over the same period there
were 890,000 immigrants to the United Kingdom from those continents,
which leaves an emigration surplus of about 950,000. The composition
of these totals by country of destination and origin and by year is given
in table 67. It should be remembered that these figures do not cover
movements affecting countries of the Mediterranean basin or movements by air.

TABLE 67. UNITED KINGDOM : INTERCONTINENTAL EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION, BY COUNTRIES
OF DESTINATION AND ORIGIN, 1946-57 1
(In thousands)
Canada
Year

1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
Total . . .

British
West Indies
Emigration

Immigration

British
West Africa
Emigration

Immigration

British
East Africa
Emigration

Emigration

Immigration

52.5
23.3
36.0
22.8
15.1
33.9
44.4
44.0
40.6
27.8
43.4
61.1

9.1
7.9
6.9
7.6
7.0
5.1
7.6
6.9
9.5
10.6
7.9
8.8

2.4
1.5
1.7
1.9
1.6
1.8
1.4
2.4
3.3

2.4
3.1
3.8
3.8
4.7
9.9
11.9
10.5
6.1

5.8
3.5
2.7
3.1
4.3
3.8
2.7
2.9
2.8

1.9
1.8
1.6
2.1
1.8
1.6
2.1
2.3
2.6

4.1
3.9
4.2
3.2
2.5
2.1
2.1
1.7
1.7

2.5
4.2
2.5
2.6
2.7
1.9
1.3
1.1
1.1

444.9

95.0

18.1

56.2

31.6

17.8

25.6

19.9

Northern and
Southern
Rhodesia
Emigration

Union of
South Africa

India and
Pakistan "

Malaya

Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

3.9
2.8
5.2
6.8
4.5
3.3
3.4
5.0
5.3

1.1
1.5
1.7
1.9
3.4
2.0
1.3
1.2
1.3

11.9
26.4
32.6
11.5
6.6
7.1
8.7
6.6
6.0
5.0
4.9
5.6

8.9
4.5
4.7
5.5
6.0
4.7
4.2
4.3
4.9
3.9
3.7
3.4

10.9
10.4
4.0
4.8
4.8
5.3
5.2
5.2
4.4
3.4
3.1
2.3

22.2
24.7
20.4
11.3
11.9
11.7
10.8
9.9
10.7
8.5
7.3
4.6

5.3
5.6
7.4
8.0
8.1
7.3
5.1
5.1
6.3

4.5
5.2
6.6
7.0
7.0
7.6
4.8
4.5
6.3

40.1

15.4

132.9

58.7

63.8

154.0

58.1

53.4

'British nationals and aliens, solely by sea. "The figures for 1946 .1947 and 1948 also cover migration to and from Rhodesia. 8 And Ceylon for 1946-48.

TABLE 67 (cont.). UNITED KINGDOM: INTERCONTINENTAL EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION, BY COUNTRIES
OF DESTINATION AND ORIGIN, 1946-57 1
(In thousands)
Australia

New Zealand

Year

1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
Total . . .

Emigration

Immigration

Emigration

9.6
13.1
34.5
53.1
54.7
57.2
52.5
30.6
34.8
36.2
32.4
35.3

5.1
4.7
4.3
5.6
7.2
10.0
10.8
11.5
13.5
10.3
10.1
8.0

5.4
6.0
7.1
9.3
10.6
9.8
15.3
14.6
10.4
10.2
11.5
10.2

1.4
2.7
2.4
2.9
3.1
2.9
3.4
3.4
4.4
3.5
3.2
2.5

443.9
»n-~!

101.2

120.5

35.8

British nationals and aliens, solely by sea.

Immigration

Other
Commonwealth
countries a
Emigration

Commonwealth
total

United
States

Other foreign
countries

All foreign
countries

Over-all
total

Emigration

Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

6.7
3.8
5.1
7.1
6.3
9.6
14.6
10.1
12.3
14.5
12.0
9.8

7.9
6.4
9.4
6.4
6.9
6.0
3.2
4.3
3.7
3.3
2.3
3.5

5.8
5.4
7.2
7.9
8.2
9.9
6.8
5.5
5.6
5.3
3.6
4.0

60.3
27.6
32.3
25.2
21.1
29.3
26.4
27.5
27.3
25.2
24.2
25.2

12.5
9.2
12.3
15.0
14.5
19.5
21.4
15.6
17.9
19.8
15.6
13.9

171.6
126.5
168.1
152.6
136.4
169.5
181.8
155.2
148.4
128.0
140.9
162.9

67.1
62.8
73.7
64.8
71.9
76.3
82.1
77.8
92.3
84.8
73.8
63.4

112.0

63.3

72.5

351.5

Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

20.7
19.8
21.6
4.2
6.2
5.8
6.3
5.8
6.6
5.6
4.3
3.7

7.4
9.1
22.7
4.6
6.5
6.4
6.5
6.6
8.3
6.7
6.4
4.7

111.0
98.9
135.8
127.3
115.3
140.2
155.4
127.7
121.1
102.9
116.7
137.6

54.5
53.6
61.4
49.9
57.4
56.8
60.7
62.2
74.4
65.0
58.2
49.5

52.4
21.2
22.9
18.8
14.2
23.2
23.2
23.2
23.6
21.9
21.9
21.7

110.7

95.9

1,490.2 706.2

288.2

186.6 1,841-9 890.8

' For 1946-48 these figures cover the British West Indies ,British West and East Africa and Malaya.

a
o
o

S
o

3
z

172

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

Table 67 brings out the essential characteristics of British emigration
in the post-war period, namely the large numbers involved; the regularity
of the flow; the great preponderance of movements towards the Commonwealth, which accounted for four-fifths of the total; and the high
proportion—about 50 per cent.—of movements in the reverse direction.
A slightly more detailed analysis shows that in fact several different
kinds of movements were involved, namely—
(a) a large and steady flow of British nationals towards Englishspeaking countries in North America and the southern hemisphere;
(b) a smaller and much less steady flow of British nationals towards
other Commonwealth countries 1 and, to a lesser degree, towards the
Middle East 2 and Latin America 3 ;
(c) a movement of aliens 4 returning to their own countries after
staying in the United Kingdom for more than one year, and of Europeans
who had previously immigrated to the United Kingdom and who left
to settle overseas; and
(d) a comparatively small number of citizens of other Commonwealth
countries who had come to the United Kingdom for more than one
year and returned to their countries of origin.
The immigrants may be divided into two groups. Most of them
were persons having previously emigrated from the United Kingdom who
returned to that country: in the case of certain Asian countries, especially
India and Pakistan, arrivals were sufficiently numerous to produce an
immigration surplus. The remainder were nationals of other Commonwealth B or foreign countries who came to the United Kingdom for
more than one year.
The United Kingdom figures for emigration to the main countries
of destination—Canada, the United States, the Union of South Africa,
Central Africa, Australia and New Zealand—may be compared with the
figures for immigration from the United Kingdom recorded in those
countries (table 68).
Without attempting to explain all of the discrepancies between
these two series of figures, a word of comment is called for at least as
regards the more conspicuous ones. It would seem, for instance, that
the failure of United Kingdom statistics to include movements by air
1
Mainly the British West Indies, British West, Central and East Africa, India
and Pakistan, Ceylon, Malaya and Hong Kong.
2
Mainly Egypt.
3
About 15,000 over the period as a whole.
4
British statistics list 125,000 alien emigrants; over 70,000 are recorded as having
gone to the United States.
6
In the second part of the period, they included a large number of immigrants
from the British West Indies, India and Pakistan.

173

INTERCONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS

TABLE 68. UNITED KINGDOM: EMIGRATION BY MAJOR COUNTRY
OF DESTINATION, 1946-57 (COMPARISON BETWEEN THE UNITED
KINGDOM FIGURES AND THOSE COMPILED BY IMMIGRATION
COUNTRIES)
(In thousands)
Country

Canada
United States
Union of South Africa
Central African Federation
Australia
New Zealand

Emigration figures

]

444.9
288.2
173.0
443.9
120.5

[

Immigration figures

518.1
273.2
105.0 x
90.6
430.8 2
126.6

1
Includes immigration to Southern Rhodesia in 1946-54 and to the Central African
Federation
8
in 1955-57, but not immigration to Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland in 1946-54.
Period running
from 1 April 1946 to 31 March 1958.

is of little consequence as regards emigration to Australia and New
Zealand, but that it leads to considerable underestimation of the number
of emigrants to Canada, the United States 1 and Africa and that such
underestimation increases as time goes on. Similarly, the figures given
for immigration from the British West Indies, at any rate for the last
few years, have been much lower than the facts would warrant. All in
all, the number of emigrants for 1946-57 may have been underestimated
in the Board of Trade statistics by as much as 150,000. If so, this would
mean that total emigration for the whole period actually involved about
2 million people.
Netherlands.
According to the statistics of the Netherlands Central Statistical
Bureau, overseas emigrants over the years 1946-57 numbered about
565,000 and overseas immigrants about 440,000. This left a net emigration surplus of about 125,000. Details by year and by countries of
destination and origin are given in table 69.
Like the British figures, those in this table cover several types of
movements. Omitting aliens, some of whom no doubt were not permanent migrants, it seems that two major erriigration currents can be
distinguished, namely a steady flow of emigrants to the United States,
and above all to British Commonwealth countries peopled by Europeans—
mainly Canada and Australia—which developed chiefly during the
second half of the period; and a less steady flow of emigrants towards
1
Allowing for the fact that a large number of emigrants who left the United
Kingdom for the United States were American citizens and as such were not listed
as immigrants in the United States.

TABLE 69. NETHERLANDS : INTERCONTINENTAL EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION, BY CONTINENTS
AND COUNTRIES OF DESTINATION AND ORIGIN, 1946-57 1
(In thousands)
Africa

Year

Union of
South Africa

Total . . .
1

Miscellaneous

Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

—

—
—

2.3
1.6
2.9
4.7
3.8
3.7
3.4
2.4
1.9

0.5
0.4
0.3
0.5
0.7
0.9
1.0
1.1
1.2

—

1.5

0.4
0.4
0.4
0.5
0.7
0.8
0.9
1.1
1.2

26.7

6.6

5.3

6.3

Emigration

1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957

America

Netherlands nationals and aliens

0.7
0.8
1.1
1.2

—
—
—

Total

Emigration

0.8
2.9
4.2
3.0
2.3
3.7
5.8
5.0
4.9
4.9
4.2 .
3.4
45.2

Canada

Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

United States

Emigration

Surinam and
Netherlands
Antilles

Total

Miscellaneous

Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

3.3
2.7
2.3
2.6
1.7
1.7
2.5
3.3
3.9
3.6
3.9
3.9

4.7
9.9
1.5
1.7
1.5
1.5
1.3
1.7
1.7
1.7
2.4
1.5

2.0
2.0
0.6
0.7
0.5
0.5
0.6
0.9
1.1
1.2
1.1
1.5

7.5
14.0
16.5
15.7
15.3
27.3
30.0
29.3
24.6
17.2
24.1
28.7

5.3
4.7
4.4
4.8
3.3
3.4
4.7
6.4
7.9
8.5
8.5
9.1

35.4

31.0

12.4

251.2

71.0

i.i
1.2
1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
1.0
1.3
1.7
1.9
2.2
2.3

7.0
7.0
7.3
19.3
21.5
20.5
16.2
7.3
8.6
12.6

0.3
0.4
0.3
0.3
0.7
0.8
1.4
2.1
2.0
1.8

4.8
4.0
4.1
3.7
4.2
4.2
4.0
5.2
10.6
11.1

1.2
1.1
0.8
0.9
0.9
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.5
1.9

2.8
4.1
3.2
3.0
2.4
2.8
3.0
2.9
2.7
3.0
3.5
3.4

16.0

127.5

10.3

55.8

12.9

36.8

—

Emigration

Immigration

TABLE 69 (coni.).

NETHERLANDS: INTERCONTINENTAL EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION, BY CONTINENTS
AND COUNTRIES OF DESTINATION AND ORIGIN, 1946-57'
(In thousands)
Asia

Oceania
total

Indonesia

Year

Total

Miscellaneous

Australia

New Zealand

Total

Miscellaneous

z
Emigration

Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

Emigration

5.3
23.4
29.0
23.2
9.6
8.8
8.9
6.3
5.6
4.5
5.2
4.5

69.2
22.0
17.6
16.5
56.1
30.4
16.2
14.2
17.4
24.1
18.4
17.0

0.6
1.2
1.2
1.8
1.0
1.9
2.3
2.5
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.6

2.1
0.5
0.6
0.5
0.4
1.1
1.6
2.3
1.1
1.3
1.4
1.7

5.9
24.6
30.2
24.9
10.7
10.6
11.2
8.8
7.0
6.0
6.8
6.1

71.4
22.5
18.2
17.0
56.6
31.4
17.8
16.5
18.6
25.3
19.8
18.6

0.1
0.3

1.4

—

—
—

1.6
9.7
11.1
16.3
8.5
10.8
13.9
11.6
7.4

0.1
0.2
0.2
0.5
0.9
1.1
1.4
2.1
2.1

0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.7
2.9
5.1
2.6
1.0
1.2
1.5
1.3

0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.1
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.4

0.0
0.0
1.3
0.2
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
1.2
1.8
1.7
2.0

0.0
0.7
0.2
0.0
0.0
0.1
0.0
0.0
1.9
2.0
1.4
1.7

0.1
0.3
1.3
1.8
10.4
14.0
21.4
11.1
13.0
16.9
14.8
10.8

1.4
0.7
0.2
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.6
1.0
3.2
3.7
3.9
4.3

14.3
41.9
52.12
45.4
38.6
55.6
68.4
54.2
49.6
45.0
50.9
48.9

79.2
29.0
22.83
22.8
60.9
35.7
24.2
25.2
31.3
39.5
34.4
34.3

134.3

319.1

18.4

14.6

152.7

333.7

91.5

10.1

16.3

1.4

8.0

7.9

115.9

19.5

564.9

440.2

Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

7>
O
O

z
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957

Total
1

. . .

Netherlands nationals and aliens.

* Not including 2,076 emigrants bound for an unknown destination.

Not including 2,063 immigrants of unknown origin.

z
H
>
r
S

o
<

I
Z
H
m

176

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

Netherlands overseas territories l and Indonesia. Over the 12 years,
returns from the latter country, swollen by a number of Indonesians
or Eurasians who came to settle in the Netherlands, even exceeded
departures—so much so, in fact, that they accounted for about threequarters of the total immigration figure.
A comparison of the Netherlands statistics with those of the main
countries of destination (other than Indonesia and the Netherlands
overseas territories) seems to confirm their accuracy (table 70).
TABLE 70. NETHERLANDS: EMIGRATION BY MAJOR COUNTRY OF
DESTINATION,
1948-57 (COMPARISON BETWEEN NETHERLANDS
STATISTICS AND THOSE COMPILED BY IMMIGRATION COUNTRIES)
(In thousands)
Country

Canada
United States
Australia

Emigration figures

Immigration figures

127.5
55.8
26.7
91.5

127.7
51.1
27.3
91.6

The only notable discrepancy concerns emigration to the United
States, and is due to the exclusion of movements of American citizens,
whether of Dutch origin or not, from the United States statistics.
Secondary Emigration Countries.
There was no great flow of emigrants from the rest of north-western
Europe, at any rate in absolute terms.
According to their statistics, the four Scandinavian countries—
Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden—together accounted for only
about 210,000 emigrants, of whom about half went to the United States
and most of the remainder to Canada. These statistics, however, especially those of Denmark and Sweden, are not altogether reliable, and, if
compared with United States and Canadian figures, yield rather disconcerting results.2 In these circumstances, the figure of 210,000 can be
regarded only as a very rough estimate. In any case, there were considerable movements in the reverse direction, at least towards Denmark
and Sweden.
There were also some 60,000 emigrants from Ireland, of whom nearly
two-thirds went to the United States, and most of the remainder to
1

Surinam, Netherlands Antilles and Netherlands New Guinea.
This is due at least partly to the inclusion of American citizens in the Danish
and Swedish figures.
2

INTERCONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS

177

Canada or Australia. However, the Irish statistics, which include neither
movements by air nor movements through British ports, seem to have
underestimated the number of Irish overseas emigrants by at least
25 per cent.
Between 1948 and 1957 nearly 110,000 emigrants left Belgium for
overseas destinations ; only a little more than three-fifths of them were
Belgians. Movements in the reverse direction involved over 50,000
people, which leaves an emigration surplus of about 55,000. Nearly
40 per cent, of the emigrants went to the Belgian Congo, from which
about 50 per cent, of the immigrants came, mostly Belgian citizens
returning to Belgium. The other emigrants went mainly to Canada
(22 per cent.) and the United States (19 per cent.). If the figures for the
years 1946 and 1947 are included, total gross emigration must have
considerably exceeded 120,000.
As regards emigration from France, no French figures are available.
An estimate can, however, be made for the years 1946-57 on the basis
of the statistics kept by the main overseas immigration countries. According to this estimate, there were probably about 155,000 emigrants from
France, including a little over 100,000 French nationals, most of whom
went to the United States (40 per cent.) and Canada (25 per cent.). This
estimate, however, covers only emigration to American countries and
to Commonwealth countries in the southern hemisphere. It does not
include emigration to French overseas territories, to the former protectorates of Morocco and Tunisia and to the former associated states of
Indo-China, with regard to which no direct data are available. On the
basis of information bearing indirectly on the subject, however, such
movements seem to have been considerable, since between the 1946
census and that of 1951 the French population of European origin in
all overseas territories rose from 93,000 to 157,000 people—an increase
of 64.0001—while between 1947 and 1951 the number of French-born
persons in Morocco rose from 98,000 to 114,000.2 It is, of course,
not possible to derive from these figures any indication concerning
the volume of gross emigration from France towards all the overseas
countries that used to be, or still are, under French sovereignty, but
it is probable that this considerably exceeded the emigration of French
1
See Bulletin mensuel de la statistique d'outre-mer (Paris, Ministère des Affaires
économiques etfinancières,Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques),
Supplément série études No. 33 : Le recensement de la population non originaire des
territoires d'outre-mer en 1951 (mimeographed).
2
See Gouvernement chérifien, Secrétariat général du Protectorat, Service des
statistiques : Dénombrement
général de la population de la zone française de l'Empire
chérifien, effectué le 1er mars 1947 (mimeographed); and Gouvernement chérifien,
Service central des statistiques: Recensement général de la population en 1951-1952
(Rabat, 1954).

178

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

nationals to other parts of the world, and that the bounds of probability
would not be exceeded if total gross emigration from France over the
whole period were estimated at about 400,000. There were, however,
numerous returns from Indo-China and from Egypt, Tunisia and
Morocco. Between 1955 and 1957, 90,000 French people seem to
have left Tunisia and 75,000 Morocco.
Central Europe
The movement with regard to which there is the greatest uncertainty
and confusion is that from central Europe. This can be reduced to two
major currents, namely a movement of German, Austrian and Swiss
nationals from their own countries ; and a movement of eastern European
refugees who started out from central European countries where they
had been provisionally residing.
There are four sources of emigration statistics for these movements
as a whole; the German statistics, which cover the emigration of German
nationals and aliens from the Federal Republic since 1953; the I.R.O.
statistics, which cover all movements of eastern European refugees
from Germany and Austria under the auspices ofthat organisation; the
I.C.E.M. statistics concerning the emigration of German and Austrian
nationals and of aliens from Germany and Austria since 1952; and
statistics of the emigration of Swiss nationals and aliens from Switzerland.
These statistics, even if supplemented by the official estimates of the
Federal Statistical Office for the emigration of German nationals over
the years 1946-52, do not by any means cover all the emigration from
Western Germany, Austria and Switzerland : for example, only those
of the countries of destination give the last place of permanent residence
and the nationality of the immigrants. Thus only these data can fill the
sizeable gaps in those published by the countries of origin.
Federal Republic of Germany.
Not only did many German nationals emigrate from Western
Germany: there was also a tremendous flow of refugees who originally
came from central and eastern Europe.
According to federal German statistics, the German emigrants—
either German nationals by birth or refugees of German ethnic origin 1—
numbered about 485,000 over the period as a whole. Table 71 gives
details by year and country of destination.
1

Together with aliens, most of whom were refugees, over the years 1953-57.

179

INTERCONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS

TABLE 71. FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY: GERMAN OVERSEAS
EMIGRATION, BY COUNTRY OF DESTINATION, 1946-571
(In thousands)

Year

1945 \
1946 2
1947 7
1948 2l
1949 2 r
1950 4
1951 2 ]
1952 2 /
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
Total2

Canada

United
States

Miscellaneous
American
countries

Union
of South
Africa

Australia

Miscellaneous

Total

59.3

105.0

15.0

6.6

13.8

2.3

.
.
.
.
.

32.2
25.4
15.6
22.3
22.2

15.4
17.9
23.1
35.6
22.1

2.7
1.9
0.9
0.7
0.5

1.5
1.1
0.7
0.6
0.5

7.9
14.1
6.6
6.3
4.6

0.1
0.2
0.1
0.2
0.3

3.0
8.0
\
9.0
) 12.0
\ 15.0
J 35.0
61.0
\ 59.0
59.8
60.6
47.0
66.7
50.2

. . .

177.0

219.1

21.7

11.0

53.3

3.2

485.3

• • •

.
.
.
.
.

1
The figures in this table comprise the estimates of the Federal Statistical Office for the emigration
of German nationals between 1945 and 1952 and the official emigration
figures for the years 1953-57,
including aliens, who numbered about 25,000 over those five years. a Estimated figures. See Wirtschaft
und Statistik, op. cit., Sixth Year, No. 6, June 1954, p. 276.

Forty-five per cent, of these emigrants went to the United States,
36 per cent, to Canada and 11 per cent, to Australia. A comparison of
the German figures with those of the main countries of destination
reveals that the number of emigrating German nationals was considerably underestimated, to the extent of at least 70,000 persons.1
As for the refugees from eastern Europe and others of non-German
stock who left Germany, most of them emigrated under the auspices
of the I.R.O. That organisation's statistics for the years 1947-51 list
a total of some 530,000 persons 2 as having emigrated overseas from
Germany. Their distribution by country of destination is given in
table 72.
Another 35,000-odd foreign refugees left Germany after the beginning of 1952, but most of them are included in the emigration statistics of the Federal Republic. Here again, the statistics of the countries
of destination seem to show that higher numbers were involved, probably
because the I.R.O. did not control all refugee movements from central
1

This underestimation, however, relates almost exclusively to the early post-war

years.
2

Excluding movements to Israel.

180

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

TABLE 72. FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY: NON-GERMAN
REFUGEES EMIGRATING OVERSEAS, BY COUNTRY OF DESTINATION,
1947-51

Country

Canada
United States
Brazil
Venezuela
Other Latin American countries
Australia
Other

. .

Total . . .

Figures
in thousands

Percentages

83.4
273.5
16.7
8.1
10.0
134.2
4.6

15.7
51.5
3.1
1.6
1.9
25.3
0.9

530.7

100.0

and eastern Europe. The correct figure seems to be about 600,000, of
whom 530,000 were recorded by the I.R.O. and 25,000 by the Federal
Statistical Office.
Thus the total number of overseas emigrants from Germany over the
period as a whole seems to have considerably exceeded 1 million, of
whom less than 45 per cent, were Germans and over 55 per cent, foreign
refugees. Most of these emigrants went to North America, which took
in four-fifths altogether. Very few emigrants returned to Germany.
Austria and Switzerland.
Very few Austrians emigrated overseas from their own country: for
the period as a whole they can be estimated at about 105,00o.1 However,
Austria was the starting point for a much larger movement of foreign
refugees, of whom some, totalling about 95,000, were moved by
the I.R.O. between 1947 and 1951 and others, totalling about
110,000, left under the auspices of I.C.E.M. between 1952 and 1957.2
Over the period as a whole, overseas emigration from Austria seems to
have involved a total of some 310,000 people, of whom three-fifths
apparently went to North America.
1

Including a proportion, quite high towards the end of the period, of refugees
of German ethnic origin who acquired Austrian nationality in the meantime, so that
the figure for the emigration of Austrians in a stricter sense was even lower than that
given above.
2
It is true that the I.C.E.M. figures for 1956-57 include a large majority of
Hungarian refugees who stayed in Austria for less than one year and who were not
really, for statistical purposes, emigrants from Austria.

181

INTERCONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS

TABLE 73. REFUGEES RESETTLED BY THE I.R.O. IN COUNTRIES OUTSIDE
EUROPE (EXCLUDING ISRAEL), BY NATIONALITY AND COUNTRY OF
DESTINATION, 1947-51
(In thousands)
Nationality

Canada

United
States

Baits
Hungarians . . .
Poles
Russians and
Ukrainians
. .
Czechoslovaks . .
Yugoslavs
. . . .
Miscellaneous and
not stated . . .

21.3
7.5
47.0

77.5
16.7
110.6

1.7
2.0
2.8

1.4
3.1
7.8

1.4
3.1
6.6

35.7
13.3
60.3

2.0
2.2
5.7

141.1
47.9
240.8

23.2
5.9
9.8

60.7
8.1
17.2

2.7
0.8
2.0

6.4
1.5
2.6

4.4
0.6
10.1

25.2
9.9
23.4

5.6
1.4
3.8

128.2
28.2
68.9

8.8

38.1

5.2

6.1

6.5

14.4

12.0

91.1

Total . . .

123.5

328.9

17.3

28.8

32.7

182.1

33.0

746.2

Venezuela

Brazil

Argentina Australia

Miscellaneous

Total

On the other hand, most of the few emigrants from Switzerland—
about 30,000 persons1—were Swiss nationals. As in the cases of Germany
and Austria, North America was by far the main area of destination.
The estimates used in the cases of Germany and Austria, however,
are not altogether reliable. The statistics of the overseas immigration
countries themselves are not always broken down by country of origin
and by nationality, and where such breakdowns are made, as in Canada
and Australia, refugees from Germany or Austria are often listed as
coming from their country of origin and not from that of last permanent
residence. As a result there is some uncertainty as to the breakdown of
such refugee movements by country of actual departure. It does seem,
at any rate, that few of them 2 emigrated overseas without first staying
for over a year in central or western Europe. Nor is a breakdown by
nationality available for refugees leaving Germany and Austria. The
only breakdown that can be given is that for movements under I.R.O.
supervision to overseas countries other than Israel from 1947 tò 1951.
This is given in table 73.
Southern Europe
Most of the emigrants from southern Europe came from Italy, but
Spain and Portugal also accounted for large numbers.
1
According to Swiss statistics at any rate; but they too seem to underestimate
the number of emigrants considerably.
2
Other than the Hungarian refugees in 1956-57.

182

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

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183

INTERCONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS

Italy.
According to the statistics of the Central Statistical Institute, overseas
emigration from Italy (both across the oceans and across the Mediterranean) over the years 1946-57 totalled 1,410,000 persons. During the
same period immigrants from other continents totalled 310,000, leaving
an emigration surplus of some 1.1 million persons. The distribution of
these movements by year and by countries of destination and origin is
given in table 74.
The table shows how strong and steady was the flow of Italian emigrants from 1948 onwards—the years 1953 and 1957 being the only ones
in which the numbers fell off appreciably—and the relatively small
proportion of returns. It also shows that most of the emigrants—about
57 per cent.—went to Latin America, 27 per cent, to North America and
12 per cent, to Australia. Emigration to Canada, Venezuela and Australia reached appreciable proportions chiefly in the second half of the
period, when the increase made up for the decline in emigration to
Argentina. Emigration to countries in the Mediterranean Basin was
on a small scale and did not balance the number of returns from
those countries.
A comparison of the Italian emigration statistics and of those for
immigrants from Italy compiled by the main countries of destination
will generally bear out the Italian figures (table 75).
TABLE 75. ITALY: EMIGRATION BY MAJOR COUNTRY OF
DESTINATION, 1946-57 (COMPARISON BETWEEN ITALIAN STATISTICS
AND THOSE PUBLISHED BY IMMIGRATION COUNTRIES)
(In thousands)
Country

Canada
United States
Brazil
Argentina
Australia

Emigration figures

Immigration figures

173.6
208.2
99.6
462.6
171.0

186.2
195.4
97.1
494.9
185.1

The discrepancies amount to less than 10 per cent. As regards
Canada, the United States and Australia they can be partly explained
by the non-inclusion in Italian statistics of the movements of I.R.O.
refugees from Italy, who totalled 55,000. The refugees went to the
following countries (figures in thousands) :
Canada
7.8
Argentina
13.4
United States
10.6
Australia
14.1
Brazil
1.8
Miscellaneous
12.3

184

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

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INTERCONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS

185

As regards Argentina the explanation lies in the fact that there were
Italian immigrants to that country from countries other than Italy.
On the other hand, the figures for returns probably fall somewhat
short of the actual totals.
Spain.
According to the statistics of the General Directorate of Labour there
were about 570,000 overseas emigrants from Spain and about 160,000
overseas immigrants between 1946 and 1957. The net emigration figure
was therefore about 410,000. Details of these movements by countries
of destination and origin and by year are given in table 76.
The table shows that emigration from Spain grew slowly after the
war, remaining from 1950 onward at a fairly stable level of about 60,000
a year. The emigrants went almost exclusively to Latin American
countries, especially Argentina until 1953 and Venezuela thereafter. The
former country attracted 42 per cent, of their total number and the
second 27 per cent., so that together they accounted for about 70 per cent.
The accuracy of the Spanish statistics is largely borne out by a
comparison with those of Argentina and Brazil. The Argentine figure,
at 230,000, is slightly lower than the Spanish one, owing no doubt in
part to the exclusion of Argentine nationals covered by the Spanish
emigration data. Brazilian statistics on the other hand, set Spanish
immigration at 83,700—a figure slightly higher than the 81,300 recorded
in Spain. The difference is probably due to movements of Spaniards
from countries other than Spain, particularly other countries in Latin
America.
Portugal.
According to the statistics of the National Statistics Institute, overseas
emigrants from Portugal between 1946 and 1957 numbered nearly
320,000, and overseas immigrants 43,000, leaving an emigration surplus
of some 275,000. Details of these movements are given in table 77.
As in the case of Spain, emigration from Portugal was particularly
extensive in the second half of the period. Portuguese emigrants also
went almost exclusively to Latin America, Brazil alone receiving threequarters of the total. There was, however, an appreciable movement
to the United States and, in the last few years, to Canada. Returns
were apparently few but they have probably been underestimated in
the Portuguese statistics, especially in recent years.
For the years 1946 to 1957, Brazilian statistics show an immigration
of 232,000 Portuguese nationals, which confirms the Portuguese figure
of 239,700 for the same period. Most of the discrepancy relates to

TABLE 77. PORTUGAL : OVERSEAS EMIGRATION A N D I M M I G R A T I O N
1946-57*

BY COUNTRIES O F DESTINATION A N D

ORIGIN,

(In thousands)
United States

Argentina

Venezuela

Brazil

Miscellaneous 3

Total

Year
Emigration

1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
Total

. . . .

Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

0.2
0.4
0.6
1.5
0.9
0.7
0.6
1.5
1.9
1.3
1.5
1.6

0.3
0.3
0.4
0.2
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1

—
—

7.0
10.9
8.8
12.0
14.1
28.1
41.5
32.2
29.9
18.5
16.8
19.9

3.9
6.3
8.0
6.0
2.5
0.7
0.6
0.8
0.8
0.8
0.9
1.0

0.1

0.1
0.4
0.5
0.4
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1

0.4
0.9
0.8
1.1
1.9
2.0
1.5
0.8
0.8
0.6
0.5
0.5

0.7
0.8
3.1
1.4
1.7
3.5
5.5
5.7
3.8
4.3

0.1
0.2
0.3
0.2
0.2
0.1
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.3
0.3

0.7
0.7
1.4
1.5
1.5
1.4
1.5
1.4
2.3
2.6
3.5
5.7

0.8
0.5
0.6
0.9
0.4
0.2
0.2
0.1
0.3
0.3
0.2
0.1

8.3
12.8
12.3
16.8
21.6
33.6
46.8
39.3
40.4
28.7
26.1
32.1

5.1
7.3
9.6
7.9
3.6
1.4
1.0
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.5
1.6

12.7

2.0

11.6

1.9

239.7

32.5

30.6

2.4

24.2

4.5

318.8

43.3

—

1
Returning emigrants.
* Migration of Portuguese nationals and aliens by sea.
• Mainly the Netherlands Antilles and Surinam, the Union of South Africa and Canada
(especially in 1956-57). Thefiguresinclude emigration to France in 1946-48 and to the rest of Europe until 1954.

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187

INTERCONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS

two years—1948 and 1949—and is probably due to the fact that at that
time quite a large number of emigrants went back to Brazil after a
temporary return to Portugal and were not once again recorded as
immigrants on arrival.
However, the Portuguese emigration statistics are incomplete in
that they do not cover the very large movement to the Portuguese overseas
provinces, mainly Angola and Mozambique, which took place during
the period under review. Statistics of passenger traffic between Portugal
and the overseas provinces from 1946 to 1957 show a net movement
of nearly 120,000 persons, including some 80,000 to Angola and 35,000
to Mozambique. 1 Taking these figures into account, net overseas
emigration from Portugal seems to have totalled about 400,000 persons.
Malta.
Emigration from Malta, though numerically slight, was very large
in relation to the total population figure—the proportion being, in fact,
considerably higher than in any other country. There were about 50,000
emigrants from Malta to destinations outside Europe. Most of these
—over 70 per cent.—went to Australia, the rest being about equally
distributed between Canada and the United States. The number of
returns was negligible. The detailed figures are given in table 78. As may
be seen from the table, there were considerable year-to-year variations,
with two peaks in 1950-51 and 1954-55.
Greece.
As regards Greece, a comparison of that country's statistics with
those of the main immigration countries suggests that they fall somewhat short of the actual figures. However that may be, Greek emigration
from 1946 to 1957 can be estimated at about 150,000, and the figure
1

The detailedfigures(in thousands) were as follows :
Year

1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
Total . . .

Angola

Mozambique

1.5
4.5
2.9
4.4
7.0
7.6
10.1
8.4
8.8
9.2
8.6
6.7

1.4
3.1
2.0
3.2
2.8
3.1
3.3
2.7
2.6
3.1
5.0
3.9

79.9

36.2

Miscellaneous

1.2
0.2

—.

0.2
0.2
0.3
0.3

—
—
0.3
0.5

2.5

Total
2.9
8.8
5.1
7.6
10.0
10.9
13.8
11.4
11.5
12.8
13.5
10.4
118.6

188

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

TABLE 78. MALTA : ANNUAL OVERSEAS EMIGRATION, 1946-57
(In thousands)
Year

1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
Total

. . .

To Australia

To other countries

Total

0.1
0.4
0.9
3.6
5.6
4.0
2.1
1.4
8.5
6.4
2.7
1.3

0.3
0.5
1.4
0.7
1.9
2.4
2.0
1.4
1.3
0.7
0.6
1.0

0.4
0.9
2.3
4.3
7.5
6.4
4.1
2.8
9.8
7.1
3.3
2.3

37.0

14.2

51.2

for the last four years at about 60 per cent, of this total. The number
of emigrants was 20,000 in 1954 and 27,000 in 1956. In 1957 there
was a considerable decline. According to the Greek statistics, as well
as those of the major immigration countries, most Greek emigrants
went to Australia (33 per cent.), the United States (30 per cent.) and
Canada (17 per cent.). Apart from these three main currents, the only
sizeable flow was to Brazil (about 7 per cent.).
COUNTRIES OF DESTINATION

Most of the European emigrants went to North America, Latin
America and Commonwealth countries in the southern hemisphere.
The rest of Africa and Asia attracted a much smaller proportion.
United States and Canada
Between 1946 and 1957 the United States and Canada together
received over 3 million immigrants from Europe, or 45 per cent, of the
European emigration recorded during this period.
United States.
According to the statistics of the Immigration and Naturalization
Service, between 1946 and 1957 immigrants from Europe numbered
1,570,000, and some 135,000 alien residents emigrated to Europe. Net
immigration from Europe therefore amounted to about 1,435,000 persons.
A breakdown of these figures by year and by countries of origin and
destination is given in table 79. These statistics, however, call for two

189

INTERCONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS

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190

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

observations. One is that they include a relatively large number of
persons whose countries of origin are not specified 1, some of them
immigrants from Europe. The other relates to departures and returns
of persons previously admitted as immigrants: of these, only foreign
residents other than naturalised aliens are counted as emigrants, and this
necessarily leads to an underestimation of the number of returns to
Europe. On the other hand, foreign residents who are registered as
emigrants because they are leaving the United States for more than one
year do not have to obtain a new immigration visa if they come back
within two years. As a result, the figure for net immigration from
Europe is not wholly reliable.
According to the figures in table 79, immigration from Europe first
reached a peak in 1949-51, during which period the United States
admitted considerable numbers of refugees from central and eastern
Europe. The proportion of Europeans in the total number of immigrants, which amounted to a little less than 60 per cent, for the 1946-57
period as a whole, was accordingly much higher during those three years.
Towards the end of the period, there was another peak year in 1956
owing to the admission of further sizeable numbers of refugees under
the Refugee Relief Act. This massive refugee influx was reflected in
the tremendous proportion—nearly 50 per cent.—of immigrants recorded
as coming from Germany, Austria and eastern Europe during the
period under review (table 80).
Thus, the largest group of immigrants—over 30 per cent.—consisted
of refugees from eastern Europe. Next in numerical order came immigrants born in Germany (over 20 per cent.) who included a conTABLE 80. UNITED STATES: EUROPEAN IMMIGRATION
FROM 1 JULY 1945 TO 30 JUNE 1957, BY COUNTRY OF BIRTH
Countries

Figures in thousands

Eastern Europe 1
Germany
United Kingdom and Ireland . . . .
Italy
Rest of Europe
Total . . .

506.5 2
344.9 3
345.2
187.5
322.7
1,682.1

Percentages

30.1
20.5
19.0
11.2
19.2
100.0

1
Baltic States, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Rumania and the
U.S.S.R.
• Including 183,000 born in Poland, 50,700 born in the U.S.S.R., and 44,300 born in
Yugoslavia.
* 254.6 for the United Kingdom and 65.6 for Ireland.

1
Over 90,000 for the period as a whole, consisting mostly of aliens who entered
the United States as non-immigrants and subsequently obtained immigration visas.

191

INTERCONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS

siderable proportion of refugees, and immigrants born in the British
Isles (19 per cent.). Immigrants from the rest of Europe only accounted
for a little over 30 per cent, of the total; more than one-third of them
were Italians.
Canada.
According to statistics compiled by the Canadian Department of
Citizenship and Immigration, European immigration to Canada between
1946 and 1957 exceeded 1,465,000, accounting for about 90 per cent, of
the total—a much higher proportion than in the United States. The
details are given in table 81.
Over one-third of the immigrants—35 per cent., to be exact—came
from the United Kingdom, 14 per cent, from eastern Europe, about
14 per cent, from Germany, 13 per cent, from Italy and 9 per cent, from
the Netherlands. Most of the remainder came from various countries
in north-western Europe, mainly France, the Scandinavian countries,
Belgium and Ireland. The number of immigrants from eastern Europe
has probably been slightly underestimated in the Canadian statistics,
which recorded some of them as having come from Germany, Austria
or unknown places.
Table 81 also shows that since 1946 European immigration to Canada
has undergone marked fluctuations. Its volume was relatively slight
TABLE 81. CANADA : EUROPEAN IMMIGRATION, BY C O U N T R Y O F ORIGIN, 1946-57
(In thousands)

Austria

France

Western
Germany

Italy

Netherlands

United
Kingdom

Eastern
Europe

Other
European
coun-1
tries

Total
European
countries

(Over-all
total)

1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957

0.1
0.0
0.6
0.8
0.6
4.3
3.9
6.8
6.0
2.9
4.3
5.7

0.4
0.5
1.3
1.2
1.4
8.3
5.4
4.0
3.7
2.9
3.8
5.9

0.5
0.3
2.5
2.9
3.8
29.2
25.7
34.2
28.5
17.6
26.1
28.4

0.0
0.1
3.2
7.7
9.0
23.4
20.7
23.7
23.8
19.1
27.9
27.7

0.2
3.2
7.0
6.8
7.2
19.3
21.1
20.3
16.2
6.8
7.8
11.9

50.5
35.6
42.7
20.8
12.7
31.7
45.3
46.8
43.4
29.4
50.4
109.0

0.6
7.8
49.3
38.0
21.3
37.1
7.1
0.7
0.6
0.7
4.8
33.5

3.8
2.3
5.6
5.3
15.9
25.9
15.6
13.1
13.5
11.3
20.4
35.3

56.1
49.7
112.2
83.6
61.9
179.1
144.6
149.9
135.6
90.7
145.5
257.4

(71.7)
(64.1)
(125.4)
(95.2)
(73.9)
(194.4)
(164.5)
(168.9)
(154.2)
(109.9)
(164.9)
(282.2)

Total

36.1

38.7

199.7

186.2

127.7

518.1

Year

201.6 2 158.0 3 1,466.4 (1,669.3)

2
including persons whose place of origin was not stated.
Including Poland (81,400) ; Hungary (46,100) ; the
U.S.S.R., including the Baltic States (42,700) ; and Yugoslavia (16,500).
»Including Belgium (26,700) : Greece
(25,200) ; Denmark (24,900) ; and Ireland (17,700).

192

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

until 1950 (except in 1948) and has been much more considerable since
1951, except for a marked decline in 1955. In 1957 it reached the record
figure of a quarter of a million.
Since the Canadian authorities do not keep emigration records, it is
impossible to calculate net immigration from Europe directly. Returns
to Italy and the Netherlands were probably few, and to central and
eastern Europe negligible. The total number of emigrants to Europe
is unlikely to have exceeded 150,000, with two-thirds going to the United
Kingdom. All told, movements to and from Europe over the whole
period resulted in an immigration surplus which may be estimated at
1.3 million.
Latin America
European immigration to Latin America, though substantially less
numerous than to North America, came close to 2 million; the main
countries involved were Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela.
Argentina.
According to the National Directorate of Statistics and of the
Census, some 840,000 nationals of European countries were admitted to
the country as immigrants between 1946 and 1957. They accounted
for about 95 per cent, of the total immigration figure. During the same
period, over 225,000 Europeans went back to Europe, leaving a net
European immigration figure of about 610,000. Details of these
movements by nationality and by year are given in table 82.
These figures call for several remarks. First, they cover only emigrants
by sea; moreover, they assume a correlation between immigration and
the class in which a passenger is travelling. Thirdly, they cover aliens
only. On balance, it seems that both immigration and emigration are
somewhat overestimated. A new statistical series, which has been
published for only a few years and covers all persons coming into the
country with the intention of settling there, seems to bear out these
reservations: for 1946-57, it discloses an immigration of very little
more than 750,000 nationals of European countries. Data derived from
both series are reproduced side by side in table 83.
Both sources show that the huge majority—three-fifths—of all European immigrants over the period considered were Italians. Spaniards
followed, accounting for more than a quarter. Altogether, an overwhelming proportion—about 90 per cent.—of the European immigrants
to Argentina came from southern Europe.
Moreover, the ordinary immigration statistics, even though they
overestimate both emigration and immigration, seem to give a fairly
accurate idea of the net European immigration figure.

193

INTERCONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS

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194

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

TABLE 83. ARGENTINA: COMPARISON BETWEEN STATISTICS OF
PASSENGER ARRIVALS BY SEA (SECOND AND THIRD CLASS) AND
NUMBER OF IMMIGRANTS INTENDING TO SETTLE, 1946-57
Second and third class
passengers

Immigrants intending
to settle

Nationality

Italians
Miscellaneous
Total

. . .

Figures
in thousands

Percentages

Figures
in thousands

Percentages

494.9
231.5
112.3

59.0
27.6
13.4

453.0
207.5
94.3

60.0
27.5
12.5

838.7

100.0

754.7

100.0

Table 82 shows that immigration fluctuated appreciably over the
period under review, reaching a peak between 1948 and 1951 and falling
off rather sharply thereafter.
Brazil.
According to the statistics of the Brazilian Institute of Geography
and Statistics, nationals of European countries who immigrated to
Brazil over the 1946-57 period numbered about 500,000 and accounted
for about 90 per cent, of the total immigration figure. A breakdown
by nationality and by year is given in table 84.
TABLE 84. BRAZIL: IMMIGRATION FROM EUROPE 1 , BY NATIONALITY,
1946-57
(In thousands)
Year

1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957

. . . .

Tota 1
1

Portuguese

Spaniards

Total
Miscel- European
laneous * immigration

(Over-all
total)

0.2
0.6
2.3
2.1
2.7
2.9
2.4
2.3
2.0
1.1
0.8
1.0

1.1
3.3
4.4
6.4
7.3
8.3
15.2
15.5
13.4
8.9
6.1
7.2

6.3
8.9
2.8
6.8
14.7
28.7
42.8
33.7
30.1
21.3
16.8
19.5

0.2
0.7
1.0
2.2
3.8
9.6
14.9
13.7
11.3
10.7
7.9
7.7

3.9
3.8
8.9
4.3
4.6
9.2
7.7
9.3
7.2
4.3
3.0
6.5

11.7
17.2
19.4
21.7
33.1
58.7
82.9
74.5
64.0
46.3
34.6
41.8

(13.0)
(18.8)
(21.6)
(23.8)
(35.5)
(62.6)
(88.1)
(80.2)
(72.2)
(55.2)
(44.8)
(53.6)

20.0

97.1

232.4

83.7

72.6 3

506.0

(569.5)

Nationals of European countries.
10 500 Greeks.

* Including Russians and stateless persons.

* Including

INTERCONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS

195

Permanent immigration in the official sense of the term may have
been somewhat underestimated owing to the fact that the Brazilian
statistics cover only immigrants entering the country for the first time.
It does not seem, however, from a comparison with the statistics of the
countries from which the vast majority of the immigrants came, that the
underestimation is a substantial one.
Table 84 shows that about 85 per cent, of the European immigrants
were nationals of southern European countries and that the Portuguese
alone accounted for 46 per cent, of the total number of European
immigrants. The Italians accounted for 19 per cent, and the Spaniards
for about 17 per cent. Unlike in Argentina, immigration was comparatively slight prior to 1950. The subsequent movement reached its peak
between 1952 and 1953 and has since fallen considerably.
As there are no emigration statistics, no exact figures can be given
for net European immigration. Based on the figures of the main countries
of origin, it may be estimated at somewhere between 400,000 and 420,000
for the period as a whole.
Venezuela.
In Venezuela immigration and emigration statistics have been
published by the Director-General of Statistics and of the Census only
since 1950. According to these statistics, about 490,000 nationals of
European countries emigrated to Venezuela between 1950 and 1957;
meanwhile, about 235,000 emigrated, leaving a balance of about 255,000,
or nearly 85 per cent, of the total net immigration figure. Details are
given in table 85.
The two salient features of this movement are, first, its particularly
large scale over the last few years, and, secondly, the great preponderance
of nationals of southern European countries, who account for about
80 per cent, of the gross immigration and almost the whole of the net
immigration figure.
For the years 1946-49, the number of immigrants can be ascertained
only from the statistics of the main countries of departure, which give a
total of about 45,000 immigrants, including 24,000 from Italy, most of
the others (over 13,000) being displaced persons resettled by the I.R.O.
This would bring total European immigration between 1946 and 1957
to more than 500,000.
However, the data in table 85 were obtained by adding the figures
for three of the categories of travellers distinguished by Venezuelan
statistics according to the type of residence permit held—immigrants,
residents and " transients ", i.e. travellers admitted to the country for
one year's residence. Of the latter, quite a large number actually stay

TABLE 85.

VENEZUELA : MIGRATION FROM AND TO EUROPE, BY NATIONALITY, 1950-57 *
(In thousands)

Ital ans

1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957

Total . . .
1

Portuguese

Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

Emigration

16.6
14.1
19.9
28.1
25.0
33.4
26.7
24.5

4.7
7.2
7.9
10.3
12.4
15.7
17.7
18.4

5.1
2.2
1.7
5.3
7.5
7.8
5.3
6.0

0.9
1.1
1.1
1.0
1.2
1.9
2.5
2.6

188.4

94.5

40.8

12.3

Spaniards

Miscellaneous

Total movements
by Europeans

Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

Emigration

12.1
12.4
11.5
16.2
24.0
32.5
32.2
34.3

2.5
3.4
4.8
5.4
6.1
8.3
10.1
12.4

10.0
9.0
8.3
8.9
9.9
10.5
12.7
14.0

7.5
7.1
7.9
8.4
9.0
10.1
11.4
12.2

43.8
37.7
41.4
58.5
66.4
84.2
76.9
78.8

175.1

53.1

83.5

73.2

487.8

The figures apply to nationals of European countries classified either as immigrants, residents or transients.

(Over-al total)

Immigration

Emigration

15.6
18.8
21.7
25.1
28.7
36.0
41.7
45.7

(69.5)
(64.2)
(73.3)
(87.9)
(96.6)
(118.1)
(116.5)
(127.3)

(41.6)
(41.1)
(45.7)
(48.5)
(53.8)
(63.2)
(74.5)
(83.7)

233.2

(753.4)

(452.1)

197

INTERCONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS

for less than a year and should really be excluded from permanent
immigration statistics. This probably accounts for the large discrepancies
which a comparison of Venezuelan immigration figures with the
statistics of European emigration countries discloses. A possible
further explanation lies in the arrival of European immigrants, especially
Italians, Spaniards and Portuguese, from other Latin American countries.
By and large, gross permanent immigration from Europe from 1946
to 1957 probably fell somewhat short of 450,000; over three-quarters
of the total figure should be credited to the years 1951-57. The net
figure may be put at a little over 300,000, the great majority of the
immigrants being Italians and Spaniards.
Thus, immigration from Europe, which was on a relatively small
scale in the first few years of the period, increased considerably from
1950 onward, reaching its peak in 1955-57. The great majority of the
immigrants—about 85 per cent, according to the Venezuelan statistics—
came from southern Europe.
Other Countries.
On the whole the information available for other Latin American
countries is much less satisfactory. It does, nevertheless, give a general
idea of the size of European immigration to these countries. In Central
America such immigration was slight and generally offset by roughly
equivalent movements in the reverse direction.1 Mexico does not seem

TABLE 86. URUGUAY : EUROPEAN IMMIGRATION,
BY NATIONALITY, 1948-56
(In thousands)
Year

1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
Total
1

. . .

Spaniards

Italians

Miscellaneous

Total

1.1
1.8
2.9
4.0
3.8
3.8
3.9
5.6
4.4

1.6
2.9
2.5
2.2
1.9
2.1
2.1
3.3
1.8

1.2
0.7
0.5
0.7
0.8
0.5
0.5
0.4
0.3

3.9
5.4
5.9
7.1
6.5
6.4
6.5
9.4
6.6

31.3

20.5

5.9

57.7

Including 1,300 non-Europeans.
1

In Cuba, for example, migration to and from Spain over a period of ten years
left an immigration surplus of only a few thousand people.

198

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

to have received more than about 15,000 European immigrants over
the whole period. European immigration was also very slight in the
Pacific seaboard States of South America—about 20,000 in Chile and
less than 10,000 in Colombia. Apart from the three major immigration
countries already referred to, only Uruguay received a sizeable number
of European immigrants—some 60,000 between 1948 and 1956—over
half of them Spaniards and over one-third Italians (table 86).
Africa
The main African immigration country was the Union of South
Africa, which between 1946 and 1957 received over 175,000 immigrants
from Europe. This figure represents over 80 per cent, of all immigrants
of European stock. Movements in the reverse direction totalled some
21,000 and left a net European immigration balance of about 155,000.
Details of these movements by country of origin and destination and by
year are given in table 87.
Three-fifths of the immigrants (i.e. 105,000) came from the United
Kingdom, 27,000 from the Netherlands, 16,000 from Western Germany
and 13,000 from Italy. The only notable emigration movement was to
the United Kingdom, which accounted for about 18,000 people out of
a total of 21,000.
Over the years 1946-57 the countries that now form the Central
African Federation—Nyasaland, Northern Rhodesia and, principally,
Southern Rhodesia—also received European immigrants in large
numbers. By the end of October 1954 Southern Rhodesia alone had
received some 40,000 immigrants from the United Kingdom and between
2,000 and 3,000 from other European countries.1 In 1955-57 the three
territories of the Federation received over 30,000 immigrants from
Europe, almost nine-tenths of them from the United Kingdom2, the
figure for the entire period being 90,000, if not more. An overwhelming
majority of the immigrants were British. The proportion of returns
does not seem to have exceeded one-quarter.
1
Economic and Statistical Bulletin of Southern Rhodesia (Central African Statistical Office), Vol. XXI, No. 24, 21 Mar. 1954.
2
The detailed figures (in thousands) were as follows :

Year
1955
1956
1957

United
Kingdom

Rest of
Europe

Total
for Europe

(Over-all
total)

6.4
9.6
10.3

1.2
2.0
2.0

7.6
11.6
12.3

(19.6)
(25.6)
(23.7)

TABLE 87. UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA: MIGRATION FROM AND TO EUROPE, BY COUNTRIES OF
ORIGIN AND DESTINATION, 1946-57
(In thousands)
Western
Germany

Italy

Year
Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

Netherlands

Emigration

Immigration

Emigration

United Kingdom
Immigration

Emigration

Miscellaneous
Immigration

Emigration

Total for Europe
Immigration

Emigration

(Over-all total)
Immigration

Emigration

z
O
o
Z

1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957

Total

. . .

0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
1.9
2.3
2.4
2.8
2.1
1.9
1.6
1.1

0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.1
0.1
0.1

0.0
0.9
1.7
0.7
0.7
1.2
0.9
0.9
1.3
1.5
1.7
1.2

0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.1
0.1
0.1

0.2
1.0
2.8
1.3
2.2
2.6
4.5
3.5
3.3
2.9
1.8
1.2

0.1
0.1
0.0
0.0
0.1
0.0
0.0
0.1
0.1
0.2
0.2
0.2

7.5
20.6
25.5
9.7
5.1
6.0
6.9
5.4
4.6
4.4
4.5
4.7

2.4
1.4
0.7
1.1
1.9
1.3
1.0
1.6
1.7
1.8
1.5
1.2

0.3
1.1
0.9
0.9
1.2
1.5
1.6
1.3
1.2
1.4
1.6
2.4

0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.2
0.2

8.1
23.6
30.8
12.5
11.1
13.4
16.4
13.8
12.5
12.2
11.2
10.7

2.6
1.6
0.8
1.2
2.1
1.4
1.2
1.9
2.0
2.3
2.1
1.8

(11.3)
(28.8)
(35.6)
(14.8)
(12.8)
(15.2)
(18.5)
(16.3)
(16.2)
(16.4)
(14.9)
(14.6)

(9.0)
(7.9)
(7.5)
(9.2)
(14.6)
(15.4)
(9.8)
(10.2)
(¡1.3)
(12.5)
(¡2.9)
(10.9)

16.1

0.4

12.7

0.3

27.3

1.2

104.9

17.6

15.4

1.3

176.4

20.9

(215.4)

(131.2)

Z
m
Z

>
r
S
o
S
m
Z
H

200

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

There was also considerable European immigration to British East
Africa, particularly Kenya, where some 50,000 European immigrants,
mostly from Europe (or more precisely from the United Kingdom),
were recorded between 1946 and 1956.1 Over the years 1954-56 alone,
the number of immigrants from Europe exceeded 16,000. In Tanganyika
the number of new immigrants of European stock considerably exceeded
35,000 between 1946 and 1957. Here again a large proportion came from
the United Kingdom.2 The figures for Uganda are almost as high.
Immigration from Europe was also heavy in other African territories
under European administration. According to Portuguese figures
already cited3, net immigration from Portugal to Angola came to about
80,000 and from Portugal to Mozambique to more than 35,000 between
1946 and 1957. There is less information on French immigration to the
French territories in Africa, which seems to have left a surplus of some
60,000 people 4, half of them in the territories of French West Africa
alone, between the 1946 and 1951 censuses. Both in the Portuguese
and in the French territories immigration other than from the mother
country appears to have been comparatively unimportant. The same
may be said of the Belgian Congo, which between 1948 and 1956 received
some 40,000 emigrants from Belgium, mostly Belgians, while returns to
Belgium were almost half as numerous. In British West Africa, between
1949 and 1957, over 25,000 immigrants arrived from the United Kingdom;
this figure, however, was very nearly offset by a movement of about
20,000 persons in the reverse direction. On the other hand, owing to
the non-inclusion of movements by air, movements in both directions
have probably been underestimated to quite a considerable extent.
In Morocco and Tunisia the predominance of French immigrants
does not seem to have been as marked as in the French Overseas Territories: since 1946 a number of Spanish and Portuguese nationals have
settled in the first of these countries and Italians in the second. Although
French immigration to Morocco remained considerable until 1955, the
large number of people who returned to France after that date makes
it doubtful that arrivals actually exceeded departures over the period
as a whole. In Tunisia, there was quite definitely a positive French
emigration balance.
1
See Colony and Protectorate of Kenya : Statistical Abstract (Nairobi, Government Printer), 1955 and 1956.
2
Statistical Abstract of Tanganyika (Nairobi, East African Statistical Department),
1938-51 and 1956.
3
See above, p. 187.
4
See Bulletin mensuel de statistique d'outre-mer, op. cit. ; and Population (Paris,
Institut national d'études démographiques), No. 3, July-Sep. 1954, pp. 532-533.

INTERCONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS

201

In Egypt European immigration was of a highly international
character and included French, British, Italian and Greek nationals.
Here also, there was a turning of the tide in 1956 and 1957, when many
people returned not only to the United Kingdom and France but also
to Italy.
Asia
The only Asian countries to receive immigrants from Europe in any
appreciable numbers were the former colonies of the United Kingdom,
France and the Netherlands. While there is no statistical information
from either French or local sources concerning French movements to
and from the countries of the former Indo-Chinese Union, there can be
no doubt that emigration from that area substantially exceeded immigration towards it. A similar trend for India, Pakistan, Ceylon and Indonesia is revealed by the British statistics and, even more so, by those of
the Netherlands. Actually, European immigration to these countries
had always been of a more or less temporary nature, and the political
events of the past decade merely amplified the traditional flow of Europebound returns. In addition to European repatriations, a sizeable number
of persons of Asian origin emigrated from these areas to the former
administering countries.1

Australia and New Zealand
Between 1946 and 1957 Oceania was a major pole of attraction
for European emigrants—the most important, in fact, after the American
Continent. Altogether, it received about 1.25 million immigrants, the
great majority of whom settled in Australia.
Australia.
From 1946 to 1957, according to the Commonwealth Bureau of
Census and Statistics, Australia received 1,090,000 immigrants from
Europe, representing over 85 per cent, of the total immigration figure.
Emigration to Europe for the same period involved about 180,000
persons, leaving a surplus of over 900,000. Details of these movements
by year and by country of origin and destination are given in table 88.
Immigration from the United Kingdom was by far the largest (about
40 per cent.) but so was emigration to that country. Immigrants from
Western Germany (17 per cent.) and from Austria were chiefly refugees
1

See above, pp. 172 and 176.

202

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

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203

INTERCONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS

of non-German stock moved under I.R.O. auspices. A breakdown of
the movement by nationality gives an idea of the number of immigrants
who came indirectly from eastern Europe through Western Germany,
Austria and Italy: there were nearly 200,000 between 1 October 1945 and
30 September 1957 (as compared with not more than 70,000 German
and Austrian immigrants during the same period).1 Immigration from
southern Europe (Italy, Greece and Malta) was on an even greater scale,
especially in the second half of the period; the total figure considerably
exceeded 250,000. Italy alone accounted for 17 per cent, of the immigration from Europe. Finally the diversity of recent immigration was
brought to its present pitch by the growth of immigration from the
Netherlands from 1950 onwards.
Immigration had been slow to increase in the initial post-war years,
but rose suddenly in 1949-50, when the vast majority of I.R.O. displaced
persons were admitted; it never reached the same level again thereafter,
remaining more or less stable from 1951 to 1957, except for a
marked drop in 1953.
TABLE 89. NEW ZEALAND: MIGRATION FROM AND TO EUROPE,
1946-57 1
(In thousands)
Netherlands

United Kingdom

Miscellaneous

Total for Europe

(Over-all total)

Year
Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

Emigration

Immigration

Emigration

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

0.0
0.0
0.1
0.1
0.7
3.5
5.2
1.7
1.2
1.1
1.2
1.6

0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.2
0.1

4.9
6.3
7.1
10.1
9.6
11.4
14.9
14.6
10.3
12.0
12.1
13.2

1.8
1.9
1.9
2.3
2.7
2.9
2.7
3.0
4.1
4.0
3.6
3.1

0.2
0.2
0.6
1.6
1.6
3.4
0.9
0.7
0.7
0.6
1.7
1.6

0.1
0.2
0.2
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.2
0.2
0.2

5.1
6.6
7.8
11.9
11.9
18.4
21.0
17.0
12.2
13.7
15.0
16.4

1.9
2.2
2.0
2.4
2.8
2.9
2.8
3.2
4.3
4.3
4.0
3.4

(8.1)
(9.6)
(U.4)
(17.7)
(18.2)
(24.9)
(29.0)
(24.9)
(19.5)
(20.9)
(23.0)
(26.3)

(6.1)
(5.8)
(6.7)
(6.9)
(7.8)
(7.3)
(6.3)
(7.0)
(9.0)
(9.4)
(9.2)
(8.1)

Total

16.6

0.6

126.6

34.1

13.8

1.6

157.0

36.2

(233.4)

(89.6)

1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957

. . . .

Years running from 1 April to 31 March.
1
See Statistical Bulletin (Canberra, Department of Immigration), No. 25, Jan.
1958, p. 9. Poles were the most numerous (over 70,000), followed by Baits (over
35,000), Yugoslavs (nearly 30,000) and Hungarians (25,000). German immigrants
numbered about 55,000.

204

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

New Zealand.
The picture of European immigration to New Zealand is very different. According to the Department of Statistics over 155,000 immigrants from Europe, representing a little over two-thirds of the total
number of immigrants, were counted between 1 April 1946 and 31 March
1958. This immigration was offset by the emigration to Europe of over
35,000 people, which left a surplus of some 120,000. There was a
heavy preponderance of immigrants from the United Kingdom—over
125,000 people, representing about 80 per cent, of the total. Details of
these figures by countries of origin and destination and by year are given
in table 89. Of the other movements, the only one that involved considerable numbers was immigration from the Netherlands—about
17,000 people, representing over 10 per cent, of the total. The only
considerable emigration movement was towards the United Kingdom,
involving about 35,000 people.

CONCLUSION

On the basis of the foregoing statistical survey the number of
permanent emigrants from Europe to other continents over the years
1946-57 would appear to have reached, if not exceeded, 7.5 million,
including about 5 million to the Americas, 1.2 million to Oceania,
0.8 million to Africa and 0.5 million to Asia. It would also seem
that movements in the reverse direction left an emigration surplus of
about 5.5 million. The statistics of immigration countries tend to
confirm the view that the figures compiled by the emigration countries
are probably too low.
The statistics also show that permanent European overseas migration
figures cover movements of two different types : migration for long-term
residence or permanent settlement in countries with a European population and culture, and migration to countries where European settlement
so far has been essentially on a non-permanent basis. In the former case
net emigration figures are high, whereas in the latter they are low and
sometimes even negative, under the influence of certain temporary
political factors. The great majority of movements to America and
Oceania were of the former type, whereas those to Asia were of the
latter. Migration to Africa included movements of both types, although
long-term ones tended to predominate, not only in the extreme north
and south, but in a very large part of the entire southern half of the
Continent.

INTERCONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS

205

Long-term movements may be divided into two major currents,
flowing respectively from north-western and central Europe to Englishspeaking countries in other parts of the world and from southern Europe
to Latin America. There was, however, cutting across these two main
currents, quite a considerable flow of Italian, Maltese and Greek migrants
to North America and Australia. Other movements were of lesser
importance.
Short-term movements took place chiefly between colonial powers
and their present or former possessions overseas. Between Europe and
Africa such movements expanded, whereas between Europe and Asia
they became fewer owing to post-war political changes. Another difference between long and short-term movements was that the former,
by and large, involved workers in all grades of employment, whereas
the latter consisted almost wholly of highly skilled workers. In other
words, long-term movements were generally mass movements; shortterm migration, on the other hand, involved mainly supervisory personnel
and skilled labour. 1
Other Intercontinental Movements
Other intercontinental movements were of very minor importance.
Most of the migrants went to Europe, an overwhelming majority of
them former emigrants returning to their countries of origin. These
movements have been described in the previous sections. However, a few
small movements to Europe and to other continents involved nonEuropeans.
There were no movements of any importance from Africa except
a few from British and French non-metropolitan territories to the
respective mother countries, and a flow of Tunisians and Moroccans,
together with much larger numbers of Algerians, to France. The American Continent, on the other hand, was the starting point for two substantially larger, and vastly differing, movements: a flow of migrants
from the British West Indies to the United Kingdom, and a series of
comparatively short-term movements of United States nationals to
various parts of the world. The former seems to have been only partially
recorded in British migration statistics, which set gross immigration to
the United Kingdom from the British West Indies between 1949 and
1957 at some 55,000 and net immigration at about 40,000.2 According
1

See below, Chapter X.
The Board of Trade statistics do not include movements by air; they count
as immigrants only persons who state their intention of residing in the United Kingdom
for a year or more; in addition, these statistics do not distinguish between the movement of British subjects of European and non-European stock.
2

206

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

to some estimates, the movement (which has grown considerably since
1953) has widely exceeded these figures and the numbers involved
are perhaps twice as high. 1 Emigration of United States citizens is a
subject on which no American figures and few foreign ones are available :
it seems that the emigrants were widely dispersed throughout the world,
mainly in western Europe and the Far East,, and there especially in
Japan and the Philippines.
Emigration from Asia was on a limited scale. From the Middle East,
especially Syria and—above all—Lebanon2, there was a fairly large
flow of emigrants (although it is very difficult to give an exact figure),
mainly to Latin America and also to Africa and even Australia. Brazil
received some 20,000 immigrants from the Middle East, Venezuela over
7,000 and Argentina about 4,000 between 1946 and 1957. Very little is
known about movements to the various parts of Africa.
From India and Pakistan there was a considerable flow of emigrants
to the United Kingdom, which British migration statistics do not differentiate from returns of United Kingdom citizens to Europe. Europeanpopulated Commonwealth countries, on the other hand, received very
few immigrants from either country. The other pole of attraction for
Indian and Pakistani emigrants was British East Africa: some 50,000
non-European immigrants from India, Pakistan and Goa are recorded
as having entered Kenya and some 20,000 Tanganyika since 1946; the
vast majority came from India.
From the Far East emigration to continents other than Asia was
very slight (table 90). Apart from European refugees leaving the
Philippines, Shanghai and Hong Kong, the biggest movement was from
Japan, which some 50,000 persons left for America, the overwhelming
majority of them during the last few years of the period. Between 1946
and 1957, over 30,000 Japanese were admitted to the United States
(mostly as non-quota immigrants) 3 , over 20,000 to Brazil and about
4,000 to Argentina. Filipinos and Chinese also benefited, though to a
lesser degree, from non-quota immigration opportunities offered by
United States legislation, and the Chinese similarly benefited from
Canadian provisions concerning the reuniting of family groups. Australia,
for its part, received some 10,000 immigrants from China and 7,000 from
Indonesia, the vast majority being of European stock.
1
See " Post-War Migration of West Indians to Great Britain ", in International
Labour Review (Geneva, I.L.O.), Vol. LXXIV, No. 2, Aug. 1956, pp. 193-209.
2
For 1952-56, Lebanon reports the following emigration figures without specifying the countries of destination:
1952
2,700
1954
4,000
1953
3,300
1955
4,600
1956
3,300
3
Practically all of them were spouses or children of United States citizens.

INTERCONTINENTAL

207

MOVEMENTS

TABLE 90. MIGRATION FROM FAR EASTERN COUNTRIES TO
THE FOUR MAJOR IMMIGRATION COUNTRIES IN THE AMERICAS
AND TO AUSTRALIA, 1946-57
(In thousands)
Country of destination

Canada
United States
Brazil 3
Argentina
Australia ".

China »

Japan

16.9
21.4
1.5
0.9
10.4

0.6
31.9
20.5
4.0
2.4

Indonesia

Philippines 2

0.5

17.4

6.7

1.2

1
The figures for immigration from China to Canada, the United States and Australia do not include
immigrants from Hong Kong. On the other hand, they do include a number of European refugees,
particularly in the case of the United States. The I.R.O. gives a figure of 6,500 people (of whom 4,800
went to the United States) for migration from Shanghai to the three countries in question. * The
figure for immigration from the3 Philippines to the United States includes 1,700 refugees who were
resettled in the United States.
Immigrants of Chinese and Japanese nationality.

Bibliographical References
Apart from data published by the various international organisations, the
following list of references (covering both Chapters V and VI) includes only
official publications containing the migration statistics of the main emigration
and immigration countries. For other countries, the sources are mentioned
in the text itself. Use has also been made of data communicated directly
to the I.L.O.
International Sources
JOINT

STATISTICAL

PROJECT

ON EUROPEAN

MIGRATION

(I.C.E.M.-I.L.O.-

O.E.E.C.-U.N.) : A Decade of Post- World War II European
1946-1955.
UNITED NATIONS: Demographic

Migration,

Yearbook.

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE: Year Book of Labour Statistics ; ana Industry
and Labour (fortnightly).
INTERNATIONAL REFUGEE ORGANISATION: Statistical Report, with summaries

covering the 54 months of its operations (Geneva, undated
graphed)).

(mimeo-

INTERGOVERNMENTAL COMMITTEE FOR EUROPEAN MIGRATION: Annual Statistical

Report.
National Sources
Argentina.
DIRECCIÓN NACIONAL DE ESTADÍSTICA Y CENSOS: Informe demográfico de la

República Argentina (1956); and Síntesis estadística mensual de la República
Argentina (since 1956 Boletín mensual de estadística).
Australia.
COMMONWEALTH BUREAU OF CENSUS AND STATISTICS: The Official

Yearbook

of the Commonwealth of Australia ; and Australian Demographic Review.
DEPARTMENT OF IMMIGRATION: Statistical

Bulletin.

208

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION,

1945-1957

Belgium.
INSTITUT NATIONAL DE STATISTIQUE: Annuaire statistique de la Belgique et

du Congo belge ; and Bulletin mensuel de statistique.
Brazil.
INSTITUTO BRASILEIRO DE GEOGRAFIA E ESTATÍSTICA: Anuario

estatistico

Brasil ; and Boletim estatistico (quarterly).
Canada.
DOMINION BUREAU OF STATISTICS: Canada Yearbook.
MINISTRY OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION: Annual Reports; and Quarterly

Immigration

Bulletin.

Central African Federation.
CENTRAL STATISTICAL OFFICE : Economic and Statistical Bulletin of the Federa-

tion of Rhodesia and Nyasaland ; and Monthly Digest of Statistics.
Denmark.
STATISTICAL DEPARTMENT: Statistical

Yearbook.

Federal Republic of Germany.
STATISTISCHES BUNDESAMT: Wirtschaft und Statistik, monthly (from 1954 on);
and Statistische Berichte, Arb. Nr. VIII/26.
Finland.
CENTRAL STATISTICAL OFFICE: Statistical Yearbook of Finland.

France.
MINISTÈRE DU TRAVAIL ET DE LA SÉCURITÉ SOCIALE: Travailleurs étrangers

en France.
INSTITUT NATIONAL D'ÉTUDES DÉMOGRAPHIQUES: Population (quarterly).

Greece.
NATIONAL STATISTICAL SERVICE OF GREECE: Monthly Statistical Bulletin; and

Statistical Yearbook of Greece.
Ireland.
CENTRAL STATISTICS OFFICE: Irish Trade Journal and Statistical
(quarterly).

Bulletin

Italy.
ISTITUTO CENTRALE DI STATISTICA: Annuario statistico italiano ; and Annuario

statistico dell'emigrazione (1955).
MINISTERO DEGLI AFFARI ESTERI, DIREZIONE GENERALE DELL'EMIGRAZIONE:

Notiziario dell'emigrazione (June 1955); and Relazione
italiana nel 1955, 1956 e 1957.

sull'emigrazione

Malta.
DEPARTMENT OF EMIGRATION: Report on Emigration from Malta (since 1956
Report of the Department of Emigration, Labour and Social Welfare).
MALTA CENTRAL OFFICE OF STATISTICS: Statistical

Islands.

Abstract of the Maltese

209

INTERCONTINENTAL MOVEMENTS

Netherlands.
CENTRAAL BUREAU VOOR DE STATISTIEK: Statistiek van de btiitenlandse Migrâtie.

New Zealand.
CENSUS AND STATISTICS DEPARTMENT (since changed to DEPARTMENT OF

STATISTICS): New Zealand Official Yearbook ; and Monthly Abstract of
Statistics.
Norway.
CENTRAL BUREAU OF STATISTICS OF NORWAY: Statistical

Yearbook of Norway.

Portugal.
INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE ESTATÍSTICA: Anuario demográfico.

Spain.
DIRECCIÓN GENERAL DE TRABAJO : Estadísticas de migraciones (published since

1954 in the Revista de Trabajo) (monthly).
Sweden.
CENTRAL BUREAU OF STATISTICS: Statistical Abstract of Sweden.

Switzerland.
BUREAU FÉDÉRAL DE STATISTIQUE: Annuaire statistique de la Suisse.
DÉPARTEMENT FÉDÉRAL DE L'ÉCONOMIE PUBLIQUE: La vie économique (monthly).

Union of South Africa.
BUREAU OF CENSUS AND STATISTICS: Monthly Bulletin of Statistics.

United Kingdom.
CENTRAL STATISTICAL OFFICE: Annual Abstract of

Statistics.

BOARD OF TRADE : Board of Trade Journal (weekly), including annual supplement
containing migration statistics.
HOME OFFICE: Statistics of Foreigners Entering and Leaving the United Kingdom.
MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND NATIONAL SERVICE: Annual reports.

United States.
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, BUREAU OF THE CENSUS: Statistical

Abstract

of the United States.
IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE: Annual reports.

Uruguay.
DIRECCIÓN GENERAL DE MIGRACIÓN: La inmigración en los últimos

veinte

anos (1955).
Venezuela.
DIRECCIÓN GENERAL DE ESTADÍSTICA Y CENSOS NACIONALES : Anuario Estadístico

de Venezuela ; and Boletín mensual de Estadística.

SECTION B
ECONOMIC MIGRATION FACTORS
The migratory currents described in the previous section, however
diverse in appearance, have one essential feature in common: all are
voluntary—albeit more or less spontaneous—movements of workers
in search of better rewards for their labour and better living conditions
for themselves and their families. They are thus linked directly with
international disparities in level and tempo of economic development,
and any attempt at explaining them will inevitably lead to the heart of
this fundamental problem.
However, no straightforward economic explanation-r-even if duly
qualified by certain psychological considerations—can by itself account
for the economic migration phenomena of today. International movements of labour are no longer, as they once were, the mere reflection of
supply and demand on a competitive market, but are conditioned to a
large extent by state intervention in a number of forms. Thus, while the
same economic and psychological forces are still at work, they no longer
operate unchecked but are shaped by political factors which include both
restrictive laws and regulations and public policies deliberately aimed at
promoting and planning such movements. The former are reviewed
briefly in Chapter VII; the latter are discussed in Chapter IX. In either
case, developments having occurred since 1957 have naturally been left
out of account.

*
*

CHAPTER VII
LAWS AND REGULATIONS
In those parts of the world which are still governed—theoretically
at least—by a market economy, men are far less free than formerly to
travel from one country to another in search of a better-paid job or,
for that matter (if unemployed), any job at all. Political and economic
reasons have led all countries, including those which remain most
attached to principles of economic freedom, to place strict controls on
migratory movements with a view to preventing those which they consider undesirable: in this field as in many others, laissez-faire has been
abandoned in favour of more or less stringent regulatory practices.
Such restrictions—which over the past 12 years have given few, if
any, signs of relaxation—are concerned far less with emigration, which
is generally unopposed, except in a very few cases, than with immigration, which nearly everywhere has given rise to defensive measures.1
The main preoccupation, due largely to the influence of trade unions, is
generally to protect local living standards and employment levels against
large-scale immigration, or immigration badly suited to local needs.
Often, too, there is a fear that admission of groups with racial or cultural
characteristics too different from those of the local population will raise
difficult problems of integration.
Emigration laws and regulations, the restrictive effect of which is
usually slight, will be considered briefly ; on the other hand, those dealing
with immigration, which are far more important for the purposes of this
study, merit detailed discussion and will be dealt with more comprehensively.
Emigration Laws

Freedom to emigrate is recognised by most national laws and regulations and in some countries is even laid down in the national Constitution.2 In most countries, even the provision requiring male emigrants
1
This situation is reflected in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948, Article
13 (2) of which mentions the right to emigrate but not that to immigrate.
2
Article 35, paragraph 3, of the Italian Constitution of 1947 specifies that the
Republic recognises the right to emigrate, subject to obligations laid down by law
in the general interest, and protects Italian workers abroad.

LAWS AND REGULATIONS

213

to have first fulfilled their military obligations has been dropped. However, there are some exceptions. A Syrian law, for example, prohibits
the emigration of Syrian nationals other than those covered by special
provisions. However, such a blanket prohibition is exceptional. Usually
the provisions apply only to limited categories of persons, whom it is
particularly desired to protect against possible exploitation abroad or
whose departure might be economically undesirable. An Indian Act of
1922, amended in 1938, which authorised the Government to prohibit
emigration of certain categories of workers either in general or to
specified countries, was inspired by preoccupations of the former type.
It virtually precludes all unskilled workers from emigrating and provides
for the effective enforcement of this prohibition. Similar legislation is
in force in Pakistan; however, it has been used to control emigration
rather than prevent it altogether. On the other hand, the emigration
laws which have been applied in Ceylon since 1948 are dictated primarily
by the latter type of preoccupation : they prohibit emigration for employment of any person whose recruitment has not been approved by the
Government. Similar regulations govern the emigration of indigenous
workers in African territories south of the Sahara. They place severe
controls on recruitment so as to prevent large-scale departures from
disrupting the tribal economy, and they specify that the workers recruited must return to their places of origin on expiry of their
contract.
However, while emigration in most countries is not seriously limited
by statute, administrations have more or less effective means of opposing
the departure of a given category of persons or emigration to a given
country if they so desire. One possibility is to refuse to issue the necessary
travel documents; this is particularly easy in countries such as Greece,
Italy, Portugal and Spain where emigrants must have special passports
or passports bearing special visas. In Italy the prospective emigrant,
in order to obtain a passport, must produce either the letter summoning him to the immigration country or the employment contract from
that country; the bona fide character of such documents must be certified
by the local Italian consular authorities. In the case of organised
migratory movements, in which the Government is a responsible party,
the authorities must further ascertain that the living and working conditions offered to the emigrant are satisfactory. Thus, the Government
will not permit workers to emigrate to Latin America for wages below
a certain level, and in 1955 it placed a temporary embargo on emigration
of workers for employment in Belgian coal mines. In the same way—
albeit for different reasons—the Spanish authorities refused for several
years following the war to issue the papers which would have permitted

214

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

resumption of traditional emigration currents to France. Used on a
very large scale, this purely administrative device could, even in the
absence of a statutory prohibition, bring emigration to a standstill;
this is virtually what has happened in the eastern European countries
and the Soviet Union.
Of course, there are other ways in which governments can exert a
substantial influence on migration currents, e.g. by refraining from
promoting emigration x or by encouraging emigration to certain countries. Under present conditions failure to intervene actively almost
inevitably has the same effect as a deliberately restrictive policy.
On the other hand, it may be doubted whether provisions adopted
long ago by nearly all emigration countries to protect their nationals
against deceitful propaganda and to ensure decent travelling conditions
for them may be considered as restrictive measures. Such provisions
are purely protective in intent, and their restrictive effect, if any, is
probably negligible nowadays.
Immigration Laws
Far more important are the restrictive effects of laws and regulations
dealing with immigration, the dual aim of which, as stated above, is
essentially to prevent—(a) a deterioration in the employment situation
and a weakening of the workers' bargaining position vis-à-vis the
employers; and (b) altering national cultural characteristics. An
attempt is made below to describe by broad regions the various laws
and administrative practices designed to achieve this twofold protective
aim. Other provisions relating to age, state of health or morality are less
important for the purposes of this study and may be left out of account.
WESTERN EUROPE

Economic—or perhaps one should say occupational—regulation of
immigration is most systematic and at the same time most severe in
western Europe, where laws and regulations generally reflect the trade
union philosophy that immigration must be resorted to only to fill jobs
that cannot be filled by nationals of the country or foreign workers
already established there. This amounts practically to restricting immigration to those occupations in which the demand for labour exceeds
the domestic labour supply.
Such laws, moreover, prohibit foreigners from moving out of a
restricted group of occupations for a specified period of time. Once
1

See below, Chapter IX.

LAWS AND REGULATIONS

215

this period has elapsed, they are eligible for the various agricultural,
industrial and service occupations (either as employees or on their
own account), with the sole exception of those from which foreigners
are in any case barred by statute, i.e. the civil service and, in most cases,
the professions.
Practical application of the principles laid down by law is ensured
through the procedure governing the granting and renewal of employment permits by the competent authorities, which in most cases are the
labour departments. These permits, which foreigners must have in order
to engage in the occupations open to them, are generally issued only
after the employer has notified the authorities of the needs which he is
unable to fill by recruitment within the country, and the latter, having
satisfied themselves that such needs cannot in fact be met from the
domestic employment market, authorise the employer to recruit abroad.
Often, the authorities have the further duty of ascertaining that the
candidates have the physical and vocational qualifications for the job.
Permits are granted for a limited period, usually not exceeding one year,
owing to the possibility of a subsequent change in employment market
conditions; and they are renewed for an equal or longer period only if
such conditions remain favourable.
Thus, the function of immigration is confined to meeting certain
well-defined needs, while at the same time protecting the local employment market from undue pressure likely to cause unemployment, to
depress wages or to reduce job opportunities for nationals of the country
in their chosen fields. The extent of this protection, however, is usually
limited by provisions for the gradual extension of the rights of foreign
workers as regards access to employment, ultimately placing them,
theoretically at least, on a par with nationals of the country.1 Actually,
the fact that this process takes several years, coupled with various
sociological factors, tends more or less to perpetuate the inferior status
of foreign workers, with the result that the protective purpose of restrictive employment policies is fully achieved.
In some countries, however, the law makes an exception in favour
of the nationals of certain countries by placing them from the outset
on exactly the same footing as the local citizenry. This is done either by
waiving the employment permit requirement altogether or by granting
1
The regulations and practice vary considerably from one country to another.
In France the immigrant must, in principle, wait 14 years before he can receive an
employment permit valid for all types of paid employment. In the United Kingdom,
he normally qualifies after four years for removal of restrictions on his freedom as
regards choice of employment. In Belgium, permits valid for all occupations are
granted only to foreigners having resided continuously in the country for ten years ;
for British, French, Italian and Swiss nationals, and for foreigners married to Belgian
women, the period is only five years.

216

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

permits automatically. Such a privilege is enjoyed by Spanish workers in
Portugal and, reciprocally, by Portuguese nationals in Spain ; by citizens
of Commonwealth countries and Ireland in the United Kingdom, and
by citizens of the United Kingdom in Ireland; by Austrians in the
Federal Republic of Germany; by nationals of Belgium, Luxembourg
and the Netherlands in each of the other two c o u n t r i e s 1 ; and by nationals
of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden in each of the other three
countries. 2 Moreover, in several countries, e.g. Belgium and France,
political refugees are entitled to preferential treatment.
Other exceptions to the laws generally applicable are the result of
decisions taken by various European regional organisations. Article 69
of the treaty of 18 April 1951 establishing the European Coal and Steel
Community lays down the principle of free circulation between member
States 3 of workers with " recognised qualifications for positions in such
[i.e. the coal and steel] industries ". A set of admission regulations
—fairly restrictive, admittedly—issued under this Article came into force
on 1 September 1957. Moreover, a decision taken by the Council of
the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation on 30 October
1953 (since amended several times, most recently on 7 December 1956)
provides for a certain relaxation of the general rules governing the issue
and renewal of employment permits in the case of nationals of the
member States. 4 Finally, Article 48 of the treaty of 25 March 1957
establishing the European Economic Community, provides for " free
movement " of wage-earning and salaried employees between the six
countries 5 , to be achieved " on the expiry of the transitional period at
the latest ".
However, apart from these exceptions (of which the last-named is
not yet in operation), the conditions placed on the employment of
immigrants in western European countries have the effect not only of
1
The treaty of 7 June 1956 establishing a common employment market between
the Benelux countries, which has not yet come into force, merely sanctions a longstanding practice whereby movement between the three countries was in effect free,
permits being granted almost automatically; they have since been abolished by an
interim agreement dated 20 March 1957.
2
Prior to the conclusion of the four-power agreement of 2 July 1954 establishing
a common employment market, Sweden had already granted this privilege to nationals
of the other three countries in 1943, and Denmark to Swedish nationals in 1947.
3
Belgium, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and
the Netherlands.
4
Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Greece,
Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the
United Kingdom, but not Portugal and Turkey, which were not parties to the decision.
On 16 March 1957, the O.E.E.C. further adopted a series of recommendations which
represent a new step towards liberalisation but have no binding effect.
6
The members of the European Coal and Steel Community, except that the French
departments of Algeria and the French overseas departments are excluded—at least
for the time being—from the scope of the treaty.

LAWS AND REGULATIONS

217

reducing immigration to the economically indispensable minimum but
of preventing immigrants from competing on equal terms with nationals
of the country and relegating them to an inferior position for a more
or less extended period following their admission. No doubt western
Europe has several regional " open " employment markets, but the
European employment market as a whole still bristles with barriers
which leave very little scope for the free play of supply and demand.
In most cases, moreover, the law permits the immediate families of
workers having obtained an employment permit to accompany or join
them. However, these provisions sometimes include clauses concerning
housing which, temporarily at least, delay the reuniting of households.
Moreover, members of the worker's family who wish to work must
fulfil the usual requirements for admission of foreigners to employment,
and in so doing they are entitled to no advantages other than those
established by laws relaxing employment restrictions after a prescribed
period of residence (in the event that they have resided in the country
that long before applying for an employment permit).
On the other hand, nowhere in western Europe are there any employment restrictions based on nationality; but cases of unequal treatment
resulting from the granting of positive advantages to certain nationalities
under domestic law or international treaty provisions are frequent.
Laws exempting nationals of certain countries from the possession of an
employment permit have already been mentioned. In addition, various
international agreements, for example bilateral or multilateral social
security agreements, mutual co-operation arrangements between national
employment services and, above all, bilateral recruiting agreements,
have the effect of providing special advantages for nationals of the parties
thereto. For instance, since the war Italy has concluded recruiting
agreements with nearly all western European countries faced with a
labour shortage, thus enabling its nationals to benefit by this situation
more fully than they could otherwise have done. 1

UNITED STATES AND CANADA

In the English-speaking countries of North America, i.e. the United
States and Canada, immigration laws fulfil a dual protective purpose.
The power of attraction of both of these countries is such that they have
found it necessary to protect themselves against the economic threat
posed by excessive immigration, while at the same time guarding against
a massive influx of alien elements likely to alter national cultural
1

See below, Chapter IX.

218

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

characteristics. Their laws and administrative practices accordingly reflect a combination of both of these preoccupations and are, as a result,
fairly complex in character.
The problem, however, is not exactly the same in the two countries.
In the United States, which is no longer in need of large-scale immigration, but nevertheless remains a major pole of attraction, it is mainly to
keep admissions within bounds, so as to avoid disrupting the employment
market and, above all, altering existing cultural patterns. In Canada,
on the other hand, where there is still a great need for immigration,
the intake must be regulated in the light of changing economic needs
while at the same time attempting to strike a reasonable balance
between economic and cultural considerations. As a result, Canadian
laws and regulations are usually more flexible.
United States
The basic trait of United States immigration laws is the distinction
which they establish between nationals of other countries in the western
hemisphere 1 , who are admitted without restriction, and other persons,
for whom annual quotas are fixed. Another distinctive feature is the
method of fixing the quotas, which results in widely varying treatment
for the different nationalities. Based as it is on the ethnic composition
of the population of the continental United States in 1920 2, its effect
is to reduce immigration from continents other than Europe to an insignificant level 3 and to keep continental European immigration (particularly from eastern and southern Europe) within strict limits.4 Moreover,
visas both for quota and non-quota immigrants are granted only after
the responsible authorities have satisfied themselves that the immigrant
is not likely to become a public charge. Those who cannot show that
they have sufficient resources must name a sponsor. Byway of exception,
the law permits the entry of certain persons on a non-quota basis ; the
most important exception of this kind concerns spouses and underage children of United States citizens.
1

Meaning persons born in another independent American country.
Under the 1924 immigration and naturalisation laws (which only came into
force in 1928) and those of 1952, the provisions of which are nearly identical in this
respect, every country or territory under mandate or trusteeship is assigned a quota
which bears the same proportion to 150,000 as the number of inhabitants of the
continental United States born in the country or territory in question bore to the
total population in 1920, provided that in no case shall the quota for any country
or territory be less than 100.
3
The quota is actually 100 for most non-European countries. In addition, only
persons eligible for naturalisation may be admitted as immigrants, and prior to 1952
the law barred most Asiatic races from naturalisation.
4
For example, the quota for Italy is 5,645, whereas that for Germany is 25,814
and that for the United Kingdom 65,361—a figure so high that it is never filled.
2

LAWS AND REGULATIONS

219

Before 1952 only numerical restrictions were applied; their purpose
was to prevent immigration from rising once again to the enormous
figures which it had reached at the turn of the century. By 1952, however,
the view that the existing system of quota restrictions was no longer sufficient had gained considerable ground and the result was the passing of
a new immigration law, the McCarran-Walter Act, which provides that
persons wishing to immigrate to the United States, on either a quota or
non-quota basis and whether for employment in skilled or in unskilled
occupations, may be refused immigration visas if the Secretary of Labor
considers that there are already enough persons in the country who are
qualified for the work in question and that admission of foreign workers
might have unfavourable repercussions on wages and working conditions
in such occupations. In spite of its general character, this provision
appears to be aimed primarily at nationals of countries in the western
hemisphere and the unrestricted right of admission which they now
enjoy.1 The new Act further provides that up to 50 per cent, of the visas
granted to quota immigrants must be reserved on a preferential basis
for candidates with special occupational qualifications. This provision
reflects qualitative preoccupations of a type not found in earlier
laws2, which had been concerned merely (since 1882) with health and
morality.
Nevertheless, United States laws by and large still do not assign any
well-defined economic function to immigration. The only purpose behind
the present method of apportioning quota immigration visas among
workers and non-workers is to permit, so far as possible, the reuniting
of families.3 Moreover, apart from the new provisions introduced by
the 1952 Act, of which one has not yet been used and the other has had
very little practical effect, no restrictions of an occupational nature are
placed on the admission of workers. Finally, all immigrants, once they
have been admitted and whether or not they originally declared their
intention of taking up gainful employment, are eligible for all occupations
with the exception of the civil service and certain occupations, usually
of a professional nature, which are reserved by state laws for United
States citizens or persons having resided in the country for a certain
number of years; otherwise, there is no legal provision to prevent
1
The 1952 Act further empowers the President to oppose the entry of such
foreigners or categories of foreigners for as long as he sees fit, should such entry,
in his view, be contrary to the interests of the United States.
2
Although the 1924 Act established a priority in favour of agricultural workers,
within certain limits.
3
The 1924 and the 1952 Acts contain similar provisions, i.e. they establish
a certain priority in favour of the spouses and children of foreigners previously
admitted and also of more distant relatives (ascendants and collaterals) of United
States citizens.

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INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

foreigners from competing on equal terms with nationals of the country
either in wage-earning or salaried employment or in most independent
occupations.
Statutory restrictions on immigration from continental Europe have,
on two occasions, been modified by emergency legislation which temporarily expanded immigration opportunities for nationals of certain
countries, for whom emigration had become a pressing need. The Displaced Persons Act of 1948 authorised the entry of 400,000 refugees from
central and eastern Europe through anticipated utilisation of the quotas
allotted to their respective countries of birth 1 , and the Refugee Relief
Act of 1953 authorised issuance from 7 August 1953 to 31 December 1956,
on a non-quota basis, of 209,000 immigration visas, mostly for refugees
of German, Italian, Greek and Dutch extraction, and to some extent,
for refugees of different nationalities, as well as for close relatives of
Italian, Greek and Dutch nationals already established in the United
States. Furthermore, a 1954 amendment permitted persons in the lastnamed category to take advantage of an unfulfilled demand for visas
originally intended for refugees of the same national origins. These
exceptional provisions substantially mitigated the strictness of standing
immigration laws with respect to immigration from continental Europe.
However, having been adopted for humanitarian rather than economic
reasons, they merely confirm the more or less gratuitous character of
established United States immigration policy. The economic development of the country no longer requires a large influx of immigrants
—permanent immigrants, that is, since there is still a shortage of seasonal
labour which is met by special provisions not included in the general
immigration laws—and, on the whole, a tradition of hospitality, far more
than need, is the reason why the United States goes on admitting any
immigrants at all, the major purpose of statutory restrictions being
to ensure that this concession of the economic to the political is not
extended to the point where socially undesirable consequences may
result. This is true of the general laws, in which the extent of the concession varies from one case to another, depending on considerations
of political or cultural kinship, and to an even greater extent of the
emergency laws of 1948 and 1953, which were inspired by purely humanitarian considerations.
Canada
Canada faces an entirely different problem, and its immigration laws
are far more flexible than those of the United States. Not only are
there no numerical restrictions but the Government and, subject to the
1

The actual number of immigrants under this Act was slightly less than 394,000-

LAWS AND REGULATIONS

221

administrative regulations which it lays down, the responsible executive
agencies, enjoy broad discretionary powers.
The first duty of the Executive is to regulate the volume and composition of the migratory influx in keeping with the needs and possibilities
of the economy. Thus its powers far exceed those of European administrations. Under this system visas are issued not on the basis of notified
job vacancies but of needs estimated in the light of more or less approximate economic forecasts. Since any decision to admit a worker
automatically extends to members of his immediate family 1 , the administration, in issuing visas, must take account not only of probable
employment trends but also, in the case of workers with families, of
the availability of housing.
Subject to these economic considerations, the administration selects
immigrants on the basis of their occupational qualifications. At the
same time, however, it applies a policy of integration which necessarily,
to some extent, involves differences in treatment as between the various
nationalities. Based on the cardinal principle contained in the Immigration Act, that immigration to Canada is not a right but a privilege, the
Government has issued regulations establishing specific rules which are
more or less liberal from one case to another. These regulations have
been modified several times. The version issued on 24 May 1956 contains
more precise standards than any of its predecessors and substantially
reduces the discretionary powers hitherto enjoyed by the administration.
Under the most recent regulations the blanket prohibition formerly
placed on the admission of Asiatics—with the exception of close relatives
of Canadian citizens and a small annual quota of Indian, Pakistani and
Cingalese nationals—has been lifted. The regulations merely lay down
varying requirements, which are more or less easy to fulfil, for the
different nationalities. For instance, British subjects born or naturalised
in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand or the Union of South
Africa, citizens of the Republic of Ireland, French citizens born or
naturalised in France or in the Islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, and
United States citizens may be admitted on the sole condition that they
have the means of supporting themselves until they can find a job.
Immigration for such persons is virtually free, except that the visa can
always be refused in individual cases. The provisions concerning naturalborn or naturalised citizens of other western European countries 2 and
refugees from any part of Europe are somewhat more stringent. Such.
persons must either—(a) undertake to accept employment found for them
1

Except where objected to on grounds of health or morality.
Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Federal Republic of Germany, Greece,
Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and
Switzerland.
2

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INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

by the Canadian authorities or to take up employment only with the
approval of the latter; or (b) be relatives x of a Canadian citizen or a
person legally admitted into the country. Other categories of immigrants
may be admitted only if they have family ties with a Canadian citizen
or a person admitted for residence in Canada, the definition of such ties
being broader in the case of citizens of certain middle-eastern countries 2
and of all European and American countries.3 The present provisions
restricting the admission of certain classes of immigrants have superseded earlier ones which were far less specific. The law further provides
that a visa may always be refused where a special investigation reveals
that either the applicant personally or his country of origin have cultural
characteristics which make his admission undesirable. Thus, whilst
the regulations are more specific than formerly, the continued absence
of any numerical limitation, combined with the principle that no one
has an automatic right of admission to Canada and that the authorities
may reject visa applications at will, gives the latter the necessary freedom
to adjust their policy to circumstances obtaining at any given time,
striking a balance between economic needs and cultural preferences.
Finally, regarding the access of foreigners to employment, the laws
of Canada are as liberal as those of the United States. Subject to the
usual exceptions, i.e. the civil service and some of the professions,
immigrants from the time of their arrival are placed on the same legal
footing as Canadian citizens and may engage in any occupation, whether
as employees or for their own account. However, a person having
received government financial assistance for the purpose of migration
may be required to work at his stated occupation for a year, or at least
until such time as he has reimbursed his advance; but the Government
does not always exercise this prerogative, and freedom with respect to
choice of employment remains the keynote, not only for the workers,
but for members of their families as well.
LATIN AMERICA

Latin American laws also reflect a dual preoccupation : to ensure so
far as possible that immigration will serve the needs of the economy and,
either implicitly or explicitly, to preserve national cultural characteristics.
1
Broadly defined to include spouses, children, parents, grandparents, brothers
and sisters and the spouses and children of such persons. Regulations require, however, that any Canadian citizen or person previously admitted to Canada making
an application for admission on behalf of a member of his family should be able
to support him.
2
Egypt, Israel, Lebanon and Turkey.
3
The definition in the case of the favoured countries is the same as for citizens
of the 15 western European countries mentioned earlier. For the others, it covers
only spouses, under-age children and aged parents of Canadian citizens.

LAWS AND REGULATIONS

223

Generally speaking, the regulations (so far, at least, as their purely
occupational aspect is concerned) are broad and liberal. Their purpose
is not, as in western Europe, to ensure that immigration is restricted
to workers for whom there is a real, well-defined economic need, but
rather to provide an outlet for all persons drawn to the country by the
free play of market forces and able to perform a socially useful function.
In Brazil, Chile and Uruguay, for example, the only condition laid down
is that the immigrant's proposed occupation must be a lawful one and
that it will adequately support him. In other countries, such as Argentina
and Venezuela, a greater effort has been made to adjust immigration to
what the economy can absorb: the laws require an applicant for an
immigration permit either to have sufficient capital to set up his own
business or to be in possession of an employment contract signed by a
local employer. However, unlike in Europe, there is no basic provision
which curtails the right of employers to hire foreign workers by subordinating it to conditions on the domestic employment market.
Most of the laws also contain safeguards designed to prevent immigrants without means of support from entering the country and subsequently becoming public charges.
In Brazil the law lays down two additional restrictions. First, it
establishes quotas whereby the annual number of immigrants of any
given nationality may not exceed 2 per cent, of the total number of
nationals of the country concerned having immigrated to Brazil between
1 January 1884 and 31 December 1933 1 ; it further provides that 80 per
cent, of the immigrants admitted under the quota system must in principle be farm or rural industry workers. In Argentina a decree of 1952
placed severe restrictions on the issuance of immigration visas for the
Buenos Aires area and limited the automatic granting of visas for settlement in other regions to agricultural and other rural workers.2 Otherwise, occupational selection is not a major objective of Latin American
immigration laws, although it is being promoted indirectly by organised
immigration programmes aimed at meeting a particularly critical demand
for certain classes of workers. Such schemes, under which workers
receive special advantages, have been launched in Brazil and Venezuela,
and also in Argentina, where a bilateral organised immigration plan was
set up under various agreements concluded with Italy.
1
The Brazilian quota system, however, is much more flexible than that of the
United States. The administration may increase the quota of any given nationality to
3,000, authorise carrying over the unused proportion of a quota from one year to
another and even transfer an unused portion to another nationality. However,
the beneficiaries of any such transfer must be agricultural workers. Moreover, the
quota system applies only to spontaneous immigration and not to organised movements sponsored by the Government.
2
This decree was abrogated in 1956.

224

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

As for immigration restrictions based on national origin they are to
be found in the laws of many, though not all, Latin American countries.
No such restrictions, for instance, exist in Argentina, Chile and Paraguay.
Where they do exist they are aimed solely at excluding coloured
people and particularly Asiatics; in Venezuela, for instance, the law
provides that non-whites may not be admitted as immigrants, and a
Uruguayan statute achieves more or less the same purpose by excluding
Africans and Asiatics. As a rule, nationals of European and American
countries are not subject to immigration restrictions. In Brazil, where
no nationality is excluded in principle, the effect of the quota system is
to create wide disparities of treatment in practice. However, as already
mentioned, specific provisions are far from rigid and leave considerable
scope for discretionary action.
Generally speaking, whether or not the law contains specific provisions, administrations usually enjoy considerable freedom to oppose
the entry of persons whom they regard as culturally undesirable. The
statutory safeguards established for this purpose may refer explicitly
to race or nationality 1 or, e.g. in Argentina, to education.2 Moreover,
bilateral agreements and organised migration programmes negotiated
with certain emigration countries constitute an effective practical means
of promoting immigration from those countries.3 Finally, continental
and overseas migratory movements are often governed by different
provisions, the more favourable ones applying to the former.4
Legislative provisions relating to the access of foreigners to various
occupations vary substantially from one country to another and are on
the whole less liberal than in North America. Restrictive provisions are
by no means confined to the professions and the civil service. In Brazil,
for example, some wage-earning and salaried jobs are reserved for
Brazilian nationals, and in both Brazil and Venezuela the law requires
a minimum proportion of jobs in industrial and commercial undertakings
(two-thirds in Brazil and three-fourths in Venezuela) to be reserved for
nationals of the country. Moreover, in the case of organised migration,
particularly where special facilities such as free transport are provided,
1
For instance, Colombian legislation leaves the administration free to oppose
on various grounds, and in particular that of racial origin, the entry of persons to
whom the granting of Colombian citizenship is considered undesirable; in Brazil
the law gives the Government the power of veto, on economic or social grounds,
over the entry of persons of a given race or origin ; and in Mexico the law requires
the administration to take account, when admitting immigrants, of their capacity
of assimilation.
2
Argentine law requires that immigrants be able to read.
3
For instance, the 1948 Immigration Agreement between Argentina and Italy
provides for the free transport of Italian immigrants selected under the scheme.
* In Brazil and Argentina, for instance, the law makes it easier for nationals of
neighbouring countries to immigrate and accede to employment.

LAWS AND REGULATIONS

225

workers must undertake to remain for a specified period in the occupation for which they were recruited. In Brazil even spontaneous immigrants admitted under the quota system for work in agriculture and
other rural occupations remain subject to this obligation for four years.
Finally, the law usually entitles the immigrant to come with, or at
any time be joined by, his immediate family. In certain cases—particularly in the case of organised migration—financial facilities are granted
workers for the transport of their spouses and children. In no country,
moreover, are any restrictions placed on the eventual employment of
persons admitted as dependants.

AFRICA

The two aspects of African migration—movements of indigenous
workers from one African country or territory to another, on the one
hand, and inter-continental immigration on the other—are dealt with
by entirely distinct provisions.
As regards the former, the problem in Africa is the reverse of what
it is elsewhere : there is a shortage of indigenous labour, and the chief
danger against which the various territories have to protect themselves
is depletion of their manpower resources. As a result, such statutory
restrictions as exist concern emigration rather than immigration, and a
number of territories have concluded agreements aimed at harmonising
their emigration policies. Immigration laws, on the other hand, are
dictated by other preoccupations. Their aim is, first, to establish police
and health controls over the immigrants and, secondly, to guide the
immigration flow so as to prevent workers from leaving the areas where
they are needed and succumbing to the lure of the cities, where there is
often a labour surplus. The Union of South Africa, for instance, has
adopted a series of fairly strict provisions applicable for the most part
both to workers recruited in the Union territory and to immigrants
from the outside. The establishment of the so-called native labour
bureaux in 1952 represents a further step towards closer supervision over
migrant labour movements. The laws also contain various provisions
for the protection of migrant workers.
Immigration from other continents is governed by entirely different
rules, the primary purpose of which is to prevent the entry of persons
whose activities might prejudice the interests of the local populations
or simply not make a positive contribution to local economic development. The means of achieving this purpose are much the same everywhere, immigration permits being granted only to persons intending to

226

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

set up their own business and having the necessary funds to do so
and to workers in possession of an employment contract signed by an
individual employer or company; as a rule, the proposed occupation
must in addition be a useful one, and one that cannot be carried on
by a local inhabitant.
Most laws do not contain any discriminatory provisions based on
nationality. However, in non-metropolitan territories the unrestricted
right of entry enjoyed by nationals of the mother country in effect places
considerable limitations on immigration opportunities for foreigners,
particularly where coupled (as, for example, in the Portuguese overseas
provinces) with administrative policies deliberately aimed at restricting
foreign immigration. It may be added that, for reasons both political
and economic, Asian immigration is usually not encouraged.
Furthermore, statutory restrictions are usually placed on the free
access of foreigners to employment. This may be done either by barring
them outright from certain occupations or by placing numerical limits
on their employment. In addition, immigrants are often required to
deposit the amount required for their repatriation in the event that they
become unable to work.
In this over-all review, special mention must be made of the laws of
the Union of South Africa 1 , which are based on preoccupations of a
particular kind. The existence of two communities, one of European
and the other of African—and, to some extent, Asian—origin, separated
by a very real social barrier, has led to the adoption of regulations
aimed not only at preserving the cultural characteristics and protecting
the economic interests of the white population but also at preventing
social debasement of European immigrants. The practical effect of all
this has been to prohibit altogether the immigration of persons considered as incapable of being integrated into the white population
—i.e. Asiatics—and to make European immigration conditional on the
possession of an employment contract for a socially dignified and
economically useful occupation. As a result, residence permits are
granted only to persons who are engaged in certain occupations and
who undertake to remain in those occupations for three years. By way
of exception British subjects of European extraction who are citizens
of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia or New Zealand and citizens
of the Republic of Ireland are exonerated from this requirement and are
1
The situation is somewhat similar in Southern Rhodesia, now part of the
Central African Federation, where the law pursues a threefold objective: to encourage
the immigration of European workers, to preserve the living standards of the white
population, and to avoid hindering the occupational advancement of Africans. As
in the Union of South Africa, admission of British subjects is unrestricted.

LAWS AND REGULATIONS

227

admitted without restriction provided that they have sufficient means
to support themselves and their families until they can find a job.
Thus, elaborate legal standards regulate immigration of Europeans
of non-British extraction and administrative practice in the matter is
extremely cautious.

WEST AND SOUTH-EAST ASIA

In west and south-east Asia a trend towards immigration restrictions
which began before the last war received a powerful impetus from
post-war political changes. In these regions laws or regulations dealing
either with immigration as such or with the employment of foreigners
reflect a strong desire to reserve for nationals of the country all occupations which they are competent to perform, and sometimes (particularly
in certain far-eastern countries) a political objective as well: that of
preventing an increase in the size of certain foreign, e.g. Indian or
Chinese, minorities.
All of these laws, some of them quite recent \ are protectionist in
intent.2 As a rule, foreigners wishing to settle in one of the countries
concerned to engage in a gainful pursuit must first obtain a special
permit, which is usually granted only if the proposed occupation is
considered essential and cannot be carried on by a national of the
country. The discretionary powers of the administration to grant or
withhold such permits are virtually unlimited. In Syria, however,
nationals of countries which are members of the Arab League are not
treated as foreigners for immigration purposes.
Although the effect of these various regulations is the same, i.e. to
exclude foreigners from occupations for which nationals of the country
are qualified, the specific provisions vary considerably from one country
to another. In Lebanon permits are delivered only to skilled workers,
and then only temporarily. In Syria they are granted to nationals of
non-Arab countries only in the case of skilled workers or technicians
and their validity is limited to one year, with the possibility of subsequent
extension. In Iraq foreigners are excluded by law from many occupations ;
however, these restrictions do not apply to occupations covered by
agreements establishing concessions in favour of foreign companies.
Apart from this, special authorisations may be granted by way of
1

The laws of Ceylon, for example, date from 1948 and 1955 and those of Burma
from 1953.
2
Except in Israel.

228

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

exception for certain occupations in which special skills not available
locally are required. In Ceylon, Burma and Malaya employers wishing
to recruit workers outside the country must obtain permits which are
granted if they can prove that suitable candidates cannot be found
locally. Finally, in Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, the national
employment market is protected by the simpler device of a quota system.
In Thailand the annual quota has been fixed since 1950 at 200 persons
per nationality; in Indonesia the total quota is 8,000 persons, similarly
divided among eight nationality groups.1 In the Philippines each nationality is assigned an annual quota of 50 persons. These quotas are filled
by the responsible executive agencies on the basis of economic needs.
In one form or another, the practical effect of these various regulations is to restrict admission to persons whose work is considered useful
for the economic or cultural development of the country. These include
experienced entrepreneurs with capital of their own, professional persons,
managers, technicians and skilled or semi-skilled workers able to produce
evidence of their qualifications and, in the case of employees, proof of
the fact that they have been engaged either by the government, a company
or a private individual. Unskilled workers—and, in some instances,
craftsmen—are no longer admitted anywhere, in fact if not in law.
Thus, while the new regulations in the countries of western Asia have
not fundamentally altered the existing situation, the position is quite
different in south-east Asia, and particularly in Ceylon, Burma, Thailand
and Malaya, where a stop has been put to the massive immigration of
Indians and Chinese on which these countries formerly relied for
unskilled labour.
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

The immigration laws of Australia and New Zealand are similar
in many respects to those of Canada. The problem itself is similar, if not
identical. Essentially, it is one of reconciling a long-term need for largescale immigration with certain selective preoccupations, having regard
to what is economically desirable at a given time as well as to preferences
based on cultural affinity. The statutes, therefore, are extremely flexible
in both countries, and responsibility for the admission of immigrants
is largely in the hands of the Executive, i.e. the Minister of Immigration.
Both in law and in fact British subjects of European stock are admitted
freely to Australia and New Zealand provided (as in the case of all
1
Burma, Ceylon, India and Pakistan; China; Middle East; Commonwealth
countries; Netherlands; the remainder of Europe; the United States; and the rest
of the world.

LAWS AND REGULATIONS

229

immigrants) that they have sufficient resources to support themselves
until they can find a job. 1 The admission of other categories is usually
a matter for decision by the executive agencies concerned. Such decisions,
both as regards the number and the occupational distribution of the
immigrants admitted, are based so far as possible on estimated manpower
requirements. In other words, they are determined primarily by considerations of economic and manpower policy, and subsidiarily only
by cultural preferences. Family considerations also enter into the picture,
particularly in Australia, where the Government prefers to admit family
units rather than isolated workers. In practice, since neither country
can rely on spontaneous immigration to cover its needs, the process of
selection largely takes the form of organised and assisted immigration
programmes.2 This facilitates the solution of occupational and ethnic
distribution problems.
The laws of both Australia and New Zealand are very liberal as
regards access of immigrants to employment : the only restrictions, by
and large, concern the civil service 3 and some of the professions; these
moreover, do not apply to British subjects. However, bilateral migration agreements between Australia, on the one hand, and Italy and
Western Germany on the other provide that an immigrant whose passage
has been financed by the two governments concerned shall be required
to work at a government-approved job for at least two years. In New
Zealand this statutory obligation applies to all assisted immigrants,
including British subjects. Moreover, local provisions requiring the
possession of a diploma for admission to certain skilled or professional
occupations have a further restrictive effect.
Immigrants enjoy full freedom to bring their families with them or to
send for them later, on the sole condition that such persons do not fall
within certain categories excluded by law on grounds of health, morality
or security. Dependants have access to employment on the same terms
as heads of families. Finally, the financial assistance granted to the
head of the family to cover his travel expenses may be extended to the
entire family group.
*

1
This obligation does not as a rule apply to immigrants arriving under government-sponsored programmes. These are usually recruited in the light of known
market requirements and can usually be placed in employment immediately upon
arrival.
2
See below, Chapter IX.
3
Unnaturalised immigrants may nevertheless be employed on temporary government jobs.

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INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

These, in broad outline, are the various statutory provisions which
now limit the freedom of labour to move from one country to another.
With such freedom virtually confined to the few cases in which it is
established by regional or other arrangements (e.g. those between the
European-populated nations of the British Commonwealth), it may well
be asked whether there is still such a thing as an international employment market, even among countries with a market economy. But
restrictive regulations are, after all, no more than a reflection of natural
pressures caused by distance, differences in living standards and, to some
extent, cultural preferences. Moreover, while man-made restrictions may
hinder or curtail certain movements, such movements nonetheless continue and are still determined largely by the traditional forces of supply
and demand.

Bibliographical References
Analysis of the Immigration Laws and Regulations of Selected Countries, in two volumes (Vol. 1 : General Introduction,
Selected Countries of Europe, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Union
of South Africa; Vol. 2: United States and Latin American Countries)
(Geneva, 1954).

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE:

ORGANISATION FOR EUROPEAN ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION: Documents of

the

Manpower Committee (Restricted).
X. LANNES: Immigration in France since 1945, Publication VIII, Research
Group for European Migration Problems (The Hague, Martinus Nijhorf,
1953), Chapter II.
A. OBLATH: "Italian Regulation of Emigration", in International Labour
Review (Geneva, I.L.O.), Vol. LVI, No. 4, Oct. 1947, pp. 408-425.
" Inter-Territorial Migrations of Africans South of the Sahara ", ibid.,
Vol. LXXVI, No. 3, Sep. 1957, pp. 292-310.
D. CORBETT: Canada's Immigration Policy (Toronto, University of Toronto
Press, 1957), Chapter II.
Law and Contemporary Problems (Durham, N.C., Duke University School
of Law), Vol. XXI, No. 2, Spring 1956 (issue devoted to immigration
problems).

CHAPTER Vili
THE LABOUR DEMAND AND SUPPLY
THROUGHOUT THE WORLD
While today's economic migration movements, influenced as they
are by public policies aimed both at controlling and promoting them,
can hardly be viewed as a purely spontaneous phenomenon, they nevertheless depend largely on traditional market forces which in turn are
conditioned by international disparities in level and tempo of economic
development. In analysing migratory movements, it is therefore necessary
to examine such economic disparities in so far as they exert a decisive
influence on the employment market.
This chapter reviews the 1946-57 period from this angle, describing
first the origins and manifestations of the demand for labour which set
recent migration trends in motion and, next, the manner in which the
demand was met. Both mechanisms are, of course, interdependent: an
abundant supply is of no use unless there is an actual demand, just as
demand is ineffectual unless there is a supply to draw from. Although
the two aspects have been dealt with separately for purposes of clarity,
this interdependence should be constantly borne in mind.

The Demand for Labour
GENERAL

The power of attraction of immigration countries depends to an
even greater extent than formerly on the existence of a labour shortage
on the domestic market. Such a shortage may be either general or
restricted to a few occupations. It may also be either a permanent,
structural phenomenon or a cyclical one. Finally, a labour shortage in
some occupations may co-exist with a surplus in others and thus give
rise to opposite migratory movements.
The situation in immigration countries, therefore, is characterised
by the failure of domestic manpower resources to keep pace with economic
development and an expanding labour demand, usually because the
number of young workers who join the labour force each year is too
small, often because the existing labour force is not quick enough to

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INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

adjust to economic change, and sometimes for both of these reasons
combined. Thus immigration phenomena can be explained only in terms
of national employment market forces.
Analysis of these forces is far from simple. Even where precise data
concerning economic development, the labour force, immigration and
employment trends are available—and they seldom are—the relationship
between these closely interdependent factors is difficult to express in
simple terms. Not even a long-term approach, concentrating on the deepseated phenomena underlying short-term economic fluctuations, can
eliminate this difficulty entirely. Normally, heavy immigration might
be expected to be a natural concomitant of rapid economic development
accompanied by a slow increase in the labour force. However, this is
often not the case in practice; moreover, the relationship, where it exists,
is by no means a strict one. Rapid economic development may or may
not create many new jobs : the extent to which it does so will depend on
whether development emphasis is on the creation of new production
facilities or the improvement of existing ones. Even where employment
opportunities vastly outstrip the normal increase in the labour force or
changes in the employment pattern result in a sudden rise in labour
demand in the expanding sectors, immigration is not necessarily the
only answer : there may be large labour reserves—e.g. women or farm
workers—in the country itself, or high mobility within the existing
labour force may help to remedy shortages.1 Conversely, insufficient
labour mobility can result in shortages in countries with a rapidly
increasing population. It may be added that the relationship between
these two basic factors—economic development and the labour supply—
is a reciprocal one, in that the abundance or scarcity of labour can be
a guiding consideration in the determination of investment policy. Thus
immigration, viewed solely as a source of additional manpower, and in
so far as it is not related directly to a specific demand, is not only a result
but also a factor of employment market forces. Moreover, considering
the new needs created by the resulting population increase, it is clear
that immigration on a sufficiently large scale constitutes in itself a basic
factor of economic development.
Thus, there are obvious limitations to any purely theoretical explanation of immigration. The problem, no doubt, would be simpler if the
economic forces at work were not strongly influenced by public policy
in an infinite variety of forms. The rate of capital formation and the
investment pattern—particularly as regards the distribution of investment among labour-intensive and capital-intensive industries—are no
1
Resort to overtime can also increase the total amount of activity without any
increase in the labour force.

THE LABOUR DEMAND AND SUPPLY

233

longer determined by private initiative alone. Furthermore, governments have the power to influence the size and structure of the labour
force, particularly by promoting labour mobility; it is they who, by
adopting certain policies regarding the employment of foreigners, determine both the function and the limits of immigration. Therefore, the
economic, demographic and social factors conditioning immigration
cannot be divorced from political considerations by which they are
themselves partly determined.
These various factors have led to a wide variety of situations, ranging
from highly developed countries with a slowly increasing adult population, where the demand has been essentially for manual and comparatively unskilled workers, to the less developed countries subject to
strong population pressures, where employment opportunities for
foreigners have been almost exclusively at the more skilled levels of the
occupational scale. The following is a description of the position in
the various parts of the world, with an attempt at outlining the factors
at work in each case.

EUROPE

Immigration in western Europe has been prompted largely by a
labour shortage in heavy jobs which workers do not take up readily or
which they leave as soon as other opportunities arise. Shortages of this
nature, and sometimes very considerable ones, have occurred in Belgium,
France, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Switzerland.1 These five
countries are all characterised by an advanced state of industrialisation
coupled with an extremely slow increase in the domestic labour force
over the years under review.2 In these countries such shortages constitute
a traditional, deep-rooted social phenomenon.
The economic sectors in which most of these shortages occurred
during the past few years were about the same everywhere. They included
agriculture, mining, construction, metallurgy, domestic service and—
though more sporadically—textiles. Most of the demand, moreover,
was for unskilled workers. The relative size of the shortages, by industry,
differed appreciably from one country to another, and in some the pattern
underwent considerable change during the period considered.
1
The same applies to Luxembourg and, since 1955, to the Federal Republic of
Germany.
2
The average annual percentage rates of increase from 1946 to 1955 were 0.12 for
Belgium, 0.17 for France, 0.21 for the United Kingdom, 0.36 for Sweden and 0.41 for
Switzerland (figures supplied by the United Nations).

234

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

In Belgium the demand for foreign labour was mainly, if not exclusively, for heavy work in mines and, to a lesser extent, metallurgy; at the
same time there was a labour surplus in agriculture and textiles. In
France the range of industries affected by the shortage was much more
extensive, covering not only mines and metallurgy but agriculture,
construction, domestic service and textiles as well ; in the latter industry
the shortage resulted in heavy frontier movements of Belgian workers.
The shortages were heaviest in agriculture (throughout the entire period),
mining (during the early years) and construction (during the later ones).
In Sweden the range of industries affected was also fairly wide and
covered agriculture, domestic service, mining, metallurgy and textiles.
This was also true in Switzerland where the heaviest demand was for
farm workers, domestic servants, construction and metallurgical workers.
In the United Kingdom shortages occurred in the same sectors, with a
concentration in domestic service and metallurgy following the immediate
post-war period. However, in the absence of precise data on the employment of Irish citizens and nationals of the non-European Commonwealth
countries, to whom employment permit requirements do not apply,
it is impossible to obtain a complete picture of the situation, particularly
for recent years.
This widespread shortage of labour in the less skilled manual jobs
was due to a combination of factors which include the slow rate of
increase of the labour force, owing to deep-seated population trends
as well as to the low birth rate of the thirties; comparatively rapid
economic development and expanding employment opportunities in the
more attractive manufacturing and service occupations, both for young
persons joining the labour force and for older workers willing to transfer
to new jobs ; a comparatively high standard of general and vocational
education, enabling all those wishing to take advantage of these opportunities to do so, and thereby accelerating the trend away from heavy
labour; and immigration policies designed to relegate newly arrived
foreigners to the least popular occupations and to reserve the benefit of
expanding employment and resulting opportunities of occupational
advancement for nationals of the country and resident foreigners. These
various factors account both for the chronic character of the shortages
and for the fact that they affect mainly, if not exclusively, the less skilled
occupations. True, there have been a few cases in the very recent past
where economic expansion outstripped the development of vocational
training facilities, resulting in a shortage of skilled workers in the metallurgical, engineering and construction industries; but it has not
been possible, by and large, to remedy these shortages through immigration.

THE LABOUR DEMAND AND SUPPLY

235

Thus, in five industrialised European countries vigorous economic
expansion coupled with a virtually static labour force has created a
chronic labour shortage.1 The extent of this shortage, however, has
varied considerably during the period under review as a result of economic changes, both cyclical and structural.
The cyclical influence is reflected in annual immigration statistics.2
In each of the five countries considered there have been successive waves
of immigration, each coinciding with a period of particularly rapid
expansion. The first of these—covering the period of return to a peacetime economy, from 1946 to 1948—came at a time when labour shortages
were both frequent and severe, particularly in countries where the
labour force had been decimated by the war; the second immigration
wave (1951-52) and a third one (1955-57) were caused by two further
upswings in the pace of economic expansion, the latter more marked
than the former. Between these periods, the process of expansion was
slower and the demand for foreign labour fell, sometimes very considerably.
However, such cyclical fluctuations conceal deep-seated long-term
trends. First of all, even though the labour force in immigration countries has increased very little since the war, and even though economic
expansion during the same period has been both rapid and continuous,
employment has expanded comparatively little, except during the immediate post-war boom and in very recent years. In so far as migration
statistics and those published by national departments responsible for
the control of foreign residents can be relied upon (unfortunately,
accurate statistics concerning returns are seldom available) they suggest
that, since 1949, and with the exception of Switzerland, the number of
new jobs created in major immigration countries was appreciable only
in periods of rapid economic expansion; during slowdowns it was
practically nil, and the average for the entire period was quite low.
There are several reasons for this. The first and most important is the
considerable part played by technological progress, i.e. improved equipment and methods, in the economic expansion of these countries. The
post-war productivity drive which governments promoted as a means of
raising the workers' living standards, and which at the same time commended itself as a means of counteracting the rise in production costs
1

The need for immigration is not necessarily confined to countries enjoying full
employment. There have actually been cases where it was necessary to bring in foreign
workers in spite of unemployment at home, owing to the reluctance of the unemployed
to take jobs in unpopular occupations suffering from a labour shortage or to move to
other areas offering better job opportunities. Belgium is a case in point: labour
shortages in the mining areas have long existed side by side with unemployment in
other parts of the country.
2
See above, Chapter V.

236

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

brought on by labour's social gains, had a depressing effect on the
employment level, particularly in those industries which had formerly
suffered from a chronic labour shortage, such as agriculture, mining and
construction. In these sectors rising production was not accompanied
by anything like a corresponding increase in the labour force. Where
technological progress did create new jobs, the demand was often for
highly skilled workers who were just as scarce on the foreign as on the
domestic employment market.
Needless to say, these circumstances were hardly conducive to largescale immigration. A further factor, however, was the adoption of
manpower policies deliberately aimed at maximising employment
opportunities for nationals of the country through such devices as
overtime work, mobilisation of all domestic labour reserves, including
women, vocational guidance policies aimed at drawing young workers
into expanding fields, accelerated retraining courses for adult workers,
and the establishment of clearing machinery for the adjustment of labour
supply and demand at the regional or national levels. In this way, the
industrially advanced countries were able to meet a larger part of their
manpower needs from the domestic market. France, in this respect,
enjoyed a special advantage thanks to a steady influx of Algerian workers,
from which most of the unskilled labour demand has been filled
since 1949.
Afinalfactor which helped to curtail international labour movements
was the impact of immigration policies proper—policies aimed deliberately at keeping immigration at a bare minimum. While these policies
were largely inspired by trade union fears that immigration might
threaten productivity and rising real wages, housing shortages were a
further reason for their adoption.
These various factors explain why the immediate post-war period,
when production had to be increased at all costs, was followed by a
decline in immigration. Not only had the actual needs become less
pressing 1, but governments tended to appraise them more critically.
Among the eastern countries, only Czechoslovakia has attracted
foreigners in any appreciable numbers, although it was by no means the
only country to experience a labour shortage. Throughout eastern
1
The recent upturn in immigration in several countries during the past few years
does not appear to have affected the validity of these conclusions : it can be explained
as a normal phase in a long-term cyclical trend. Moreover, in France, where it was
most marked, it was helped by various non-economic factors, e.g. the small number
of young persons joining the labour force, the raising of the school-leaving age, the
lengthening of the period of military service and the decline in Algerian immigration.
If, however, the trend were to continue, it would tend to show that full employment
policies have now borne fruit and that manpower reserves in immigration countries
have declined substantially.

THE LABOUR DEMAND AND SUPPLY

237

Europe, manpower losses caused by the war and mass population
movements, coupled with policies of industrial expansion, have put an
end to underemployment and created instead a situation of overemployment characterised mainly by a shortage of skilled workers and,
in some countries, e.g. Poland and Czechoslovakia, farm workers.
Owing to its generalised character, the problem could not have been
solved through migratory movements within the area. Such movements
as did take place were purely temporary and confined to highly skilled
workers ; they went mostly from Eastern Germany, Czechoslovakia and
the Soviet Union to other countries, under mutual technical assistance
projects.1 For political reasons the governments concerned were unfavourably inclined towards migration as a means of solving their manpower problems ; even if they had decided in favour of such a solution,
it could not in any event have extended beyond the limits of eastern
Europe. Only Czechoslovakia, prior to 1948 and again after 1956,
brought in foreigners, usually farm workers recruited under short-term
contracts; there was also a certain amount of frontier movement by
Polish workers.
UNITED STATES AND CANADA

As already stated, the two main immigration countries during the
post-war period, at least numerically speaking, were the United States
and Canada. However, the part played by immigration in the national
development process was quite different in these two countries : while it
was secondary in the United States, it was essential in Canada where the
proportion of immigrants to the entire population was much greater.
United States
In the United States immigration was a secondary factor in the expansion of the labour force, owing both to the legal restrictions placed
on it and to the over-all trend of employment and economic development
within the country.
It seems quite clear that the restrictive laws governing overseas immigration have reduced the total figure to a far lower level than it might
otherwise have reached. The recent development of immigration from
Mexico and Central America does not appear to have offset the restrictive
effects of the quota system applied to overseas immigration, even as
modified by emergency legislation.
1
For the past few years some countries, particularly Poland, have received assistance from western European technicians.

238

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

However, the purpose of maintaining rigid limits on overseas immigration is not confined to the cultural preoccupations reflected in the
quota system. The view is widely held in the United States that at the
present stage of economic development further immigration might
hinder the rise in productivity and personal income. In this respect,
American opinion shares the views which have gained widespread
favour in western Europe. These views may or may not be borne out by
the fact that, without significant resort to immigration, the United States
since the war was able to achieve a 40 per cent, increase in national
income over a period of 12 years; but what this tremendous increase,
compared with the relatively small (though in itself substantial) increase
in the labour force, does show is this: that even in the world's most
productive economy there was still room for considerable further
progress. This progress has consisted in a steady improvement of
equipment and methods and has had a restrictive effect on employment,
obviating the need for immigration on a larger scale.
Thus, owing to a marked change in the pattern of demand and a
continuous effort to rationahse production methods, the process of
development involved only a moderate rise in total employment: from
55.3 million to 65 million (i.e. 17 per cent.) between 1946 and 1957.
A further result was a substantial alteration of the employment pattern :
thanks to technological progress, the number of persons engaged in
primary production underwent a marked decrease while new employment
opportunities arose chiefly in the service industries which were naturally
less influenced by the productivity drive. Finally, considerable changes
occurred in the occupational distribution of the labour force, mainly
through a fall in the number of unskilled workers. This fall was significant not only in absolute terms but even more so by comparison with
other occupations, excepting farm work, in which there was also a decline.
Thus the demand for foreign workers is far less than it used to be,
both because employment increased at a comparatively slow rate, with
the rise in labour productivity outstripping the increase in the labour
force, and because the productivity rise, naturally enough, had its most
telling effect on the less skilled occupations, resulting in a complete
reversal of the traditional pattern whereby the United States economy
absorbed a steady and massive flow of foreign labourers in response to a
constant demand created by industrial expansion and the rise of earlier
immigrants in the occupational scale. Only in agriculture is there still
an acute labour shortage, owing to the exodus of workers—e.g. farm
workers in the south and west—to more stable and better-paid
jobs in the cities. Thus one result of the economic progress achieved
over a 12-year period was to open vast new occupational vistas for

THE LABOUR DEMAND AND SUPPLY

239

United States citizens, far more than to create additional jobs in occupations which formerly relied largely on immigrant labour. In the unskilled occupations the number of jobs actually decreased. In the case
of more skilled jobs, both manual and non-manual, the national employment market had no difficulty in meeting the demand, owing to various
factors, e.g. the fact that the natural rate of growth of the adult population was higher than in most western European countries.1 Another
reason has been the remarkable mobility, both geographic and occupational, of American labour. Finally, recent development trends have
created particularly favourable conditions for the expansion of female
employment.
Two further factors have helped to reduce the need for immigration.
One is the influx of Puerto Rican workers in the eastern states. These
have filled many of the jobs at the lower levels of the occupational
scale, i.e. farm work and lower-grade urban occupations, which 30 years
ago were still held mostly by European immigrants. The other factor is
the immigration from Mexico in the southern and western states, which
fully covers seasonal farm labour requirements in these areas.
Thus, it appears, the United States no longer feels the need for massive immigration. This does not necessarily mean that the admission of
more immigrants would have involved serious difficulties. Indeed, it
is sometimes claimed that the present immigration figure, as fixed by
law, is less than the economically optimum level and that the present
rigid system makes no allowance for the adjustment of immigration to
economic fluctuations. This is certainly true of European immigration,
which is kept within artificial limits by quotas and emergency legislation.
Even movement from other American countries increased steadily until
1956 and declined only in 1957; the sole exception was Puerto Rican
immigration which closely reflected the economic recessions of 1949,
1954 and 1957.
Canada
The case of Canada is quite different : here the immigration flow has
been much greater and has been dictated by economic necessity. Employment market trends over the past 12 years nevertheless have much in
common with those in the United States. From 1946 to 1957 total
employment rose by a little more than 20 per cent., as compared with
a better than 50 per cent, increase in the national product. Therefore,
rising productivity played an even greater part in economic development
than it did in the United States. Moreover, the employment pattern,
^ h e average annual rate from 1946 to 1955 was 0.79 per cent.

240

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

much as in the United States, changed considerably, i.e. there was a
marked decline in primary industry and a much higher rise in tertiary
than in secondary industry. Only a few branches, e.g. mining and
construction, failed to conform to this pattern. Thus the effect of
vigorous industrial expansion was not so much to raise employment in
manufacturing industries as to speed up the rate of agricultural modernisation and to support the expansion of service industries. It may be
asked why, in these circumstances, Canada resorted to immigration on
a much larger scale than the United States.
The reasons are several. First, the employment level rose faster in
Canada than in the United States. True, the domestic labour force also
increased at a higher rate 1 , but this was to some extent onset by heavy
and continuing emigration to the United States. For geographical
reasons, moreover, employment in Canada is subject to marked seasonal
fluctuations, and demand during the peak periods cannot be met, as
elsewhere, by temporary immigration. Finally, account must be taken
of a series of factors stemming from marked differences in the structure
and main trends of development of the two economies. These require
further analysis.
A careful comparison of employment patterns and trends in the
United States and Canada will vividly illustrate the gap separating an
economy in which basic industries are still in the process of development
and one which is almost overequipped. In Canada employment has
expanded faster than in the United States in such basic non-agricultural
sectors as mining, construction, durable goods, public utilities and
transport. The result has been a substantially higher demand for male
manual workers and a lesser expansion of female employment which,
in spite of its recent development, is still at a lower level than in the
United States. Public policy has reinforced these natural tendencies.
Convinced of the need for a growing population to support an expanding
economy, the Government has pinned its hopes on a process of mutual
stimulation between industrialisation and immigration. Two further
factors, apart from immigration, account for the exceptional pace of
industrial expansion : a favourable financial position resulting from the
liquidation during the war of much of the foreign debt, increased exports,
improved terms of trade and the flow of capital from the United States ;
and the existence of vast power and raw material resources which have
attracted considerable investments.2 The authorities therefore decided
1

The average annual rate of increase from 1946 to 1955 was 1.28 per cent.
The ratio of gross investment to gross national product has increased steadily
since 1946: from about 16 per cent, it rose to 21 per cent, in 1949-51, between 23 and
24 per cent, in 1952-55 and 26 per cent, in 1956. During the same period the corresponding ratio in the United States remained in the vicinity of 15 per cent.
2

THE LABOUR DEMAND AND SUPPLY

241

to adopt—within prudent limits—a fairly generous immigration policy
and to accept immigrants not on the basis of ascertained needs, as in
Europe, but rather in the light of estimates assuming continued economic
growth and a rising labour demand, bearing in mind also the continuous
changes taking place in the structure of the labour force and the need
for encouraging such mobility through the introduction of foreign labour.
The wide range of needs found in a changing economy and the
virtually unlimited right of entry enjoyed by certain nationalities 1
explain the comprehensive occupational distribution of immigrants
over the past 12 years. Of course, the bulk of the immigrants (other
than the British) are still employed in such sectors as agriculture (owing
to the exodus of farm workers, which has actually tended to outstrip
the progress of farm mechanisation), basic metallurgy, the metal trades,
construction and domestic service ; but the traditional pattern, common
to most of the more developed countries, whereby immigrants are
relegated to the lower rungs of the occupational ladder is increasingly
blurred and the number of immigrant workers who are assigned directly
to skilled jobs appears to be rising.
Throughout the period there was a close correlation between immigration and the rate of economic expansion. Both rose moderately
from 1946 to 1950, and sharply thereafter. Even secondary variations
in the tempo of economic development were, with a slight time lag,
duplicated by fluctuations in the number of workers entering the country.
Thus the first post-war surge of economic activity which followed the
demobilisation of the armed forces and their integration into the civilian
labour force, lasting through 1947 and the early part of 1948, brought
on a significant rise in immigration, which in 1948 reached its first postwar peak. A subsequent cyclical economic slump lasting until the middle
of 1950 and the sudden upturn which followed it were similarly reflected
in the immigration figures, and the slight recession of 1954 as well as
the ensuing phase of rapid economic expansion are mirrored by the
1955 drop in immigration, its sharp recovery in 1956 and the record
number of admissions which capped it in 1957.

LATIN AMERICA

With the exception of Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela and, to a
lesser extent, Brazil, Latin America has received few immigrants since
the war. In these countries, strong population pressures, combined
with a generally low degree of industrial development, have created
1

See above, Chapter VII.

242

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

economic conditions diametrically opposite to those which normally
attract immigrants in large numbers. The productivity of the domestic
labour force is low and must be offset by the immigration of highly
skilled workers, i.e. technicians, skilled operatives and farmers, able
to make a positive contribution to economic development. However,
in most cases inadequate capital formation and the lack of foreign
investment*• have meant that only a small fraction of the employment
potential in these occupations could be fulfilled. Thus, the kind of
immigration most urgently needed for economic development has been
reduced to small, not to say insignificant, proportions by the inadequacy
of the development process itself. This vicious circle is common to
most Latin American countries.
Nevertheless, there has been immigration on a relatively large scale
to the four Atlantic seaboard countries—Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay
and Venezuela. The economies of these four countries, particularly
Brazil, are by no means free from the weaknesses characteristic of Latin
American economies. Over-all productivity has remained far lower
than in the young English-speaking nations, and economic development
is hampered by a dearth of capital equipment and vocational skills.
Moreover, as elsewhere in Latin America, the population has increased
rapidly 2, and this process has been accompanied by massive rural depopulation. Therefore, large-scale investments are required to raise
both living standards and the employment level, and this entails difficulties of capital formation and utilisation. With regard to the former,
the countries must still rely largely on imports and hence are at the mercy
of fluctuations in their export trade; as for capital utilisation, population
pressure compels a painful choice between investment for growth and
investment for productivity. By and large, economic development has
been accompanied by strong inflationary pressures, which (at least in
Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina) have resulted in sudden and erratic
price increases.
The four Atlantic seaboard countries of South America have therefore, like all other Latin American countries since the war, been caught
1
The increase in American investment has been partly offset by large withdrawals
of European capital. Altogether net foreign investments from 1946 to 1953 averaged
241 million dollars a year, clearly a very low figure. Moreover, such investments were
most unevenly distributed and were largely concentrated on speculative ventures
(mostly mines), working primarily for the export trade rather than on local industrial
development or public works. See Inter-American Economic and Social Council:
Foreign Investment in Latin America, Economic Research Series (Washington, D.C.,
1955).
2
Except in Argentina where the natural increase of the labour force amounted to
1.5 per cent, per year on an average, as compared with 2.33 per cent, in Brazil and
2.36 per cent, in Venezuela.

THE LABOUR DEMAND AND SUPPLY

243

between the various pressures engendered by a growing population,
urban development and social progress, which have occasionally threatened to cancel out the gains of agricultural and industrial progress by
increasing the demand for consumer goods, housing and welfare services.
This demand could only be met by an increase in production and it
was for this reason that these countries resorted to immigration, hoping
thereby to cover the essential needs of industry and also of agriculture,
the development of which is hindered by the flight from the rural areas
and bedevilled by chronically low productivity. Normally, immigration
should have been confined to this function; however, it appears, in effect,
to have often exceeded actual needs, owing to insufficiently selective
admission policies.
If the four countries were at all able to translate their manpower
needs (which are common to all Latin American countries) into actual
jobs, this was largely due to two factors: the existence of greater capital
resources, accumulated during earlier stages of development, and better
opportunities to increase them, thanks to a more favourable external
financial position. The first-named factor (on which, it must be admitted,
immigration policies have often banked too heavily) appears to have
played a particularly important part in Argentina, and the latter in
Venezuela.
In Argentina the immigration flow was associated with an official
policy of intensive industrialisation aimed at achieving economic independence as soon as possible. This policy was initiated at a time when the
balance of payments was exceptionally favourable. Since then, however,
and particularly after 1949, the situation deteriorated considerably.
Dependent as it was to a large extent on the possibility of importing
raw materials and capital goods—i.e., in the absence of sufficient foreign
investment, on the national export trade—industrial expansion was
hindered for many years by two major factors : the deterioration of the
terms of trade and insufficient farm production, the latter due largely to
a development policy which had the effect of discouraging agricultural
expansion, and also, in 1952, to the consequences of a disastrous drought.
As a result, conditions for immigration were favourable only during the
immediate post-war years, when employment expanded rapidly. After
that, immigration stagnated and then receded; the upward trend was
not resumed until 1953. If it continued at all after 1950—which it did,
though at a much slower pace than previously—this was because of
an urgent demand for farm labour resulting from the large-scale movement of workers to better-paid jobs in the cities, and also to the fact
that the Government persisted in its policy of industrial development,
for which skilled workers were needed; but the process of industrial

244

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

expansion could not be kept up for lack of capital 1 , progress achieved
in some areas was offset by slumps in others, and the result was a
decrease in over-all productivity. However, beginning in 1954, agricultural recovery coupled with an improvement in the terms of trade
improved the situation somewhat, though without resulting in resumption
of immigration on anything like its former scale.
In Venezuela, on the contrary, economic development was favoured
by an abundance of capital resources. These consisted of foreign investments in the country's sub-soil—mostly petroleum—and in the proceeds
of agricultural exports (at particularly favourable prices during the
second part of the period) and, more important yet, exports of mineral
wealth.2 Thus, unlike in Argentina, the investments required by expanding domestic demand were readily forthcoming and the result was a
manufacturing and construction boom. Considerable amounts were
also invested in agriculture, particularly through the grant of government
credits for land settlement purposes. These factors account for the
high rate of immigration and its continuous rise since 1951 : conditions
were much more favourable than in Argentina, as evidenced by sharply
rising productivity and relatively stable prices.
Immigration conditions were also comparatively good in Uruguay,
where a better balance has been maintained between industrial and
agricultural development than in Argentina.
In Brazil immigration reached sizeable proportions only during the
second half of the period, owing to a slight acceleration in the pace of
development. This was due to a turn for the better in the balance of,
trade and to an increase in foreign investments. However, the inflow
of fresh capital was not enough to influence productivity appreciably.
In particular, immigration for land settlement developed on no more
than a purely experimental scale. Thus, during the recent phase of
development, the employment potential for skilled workers and experienced farmers in Brazil was fulfilled only to a slight extent. Moreover,
many of the immigrants fell in neither category and could not make
a useful contribution towards raising productivity.
This, roughly, is the explanation which can be given for recent
immigration trends in Latin America and of the seeming paradox
constituted by large-scale immigration in countries already faced with
strong internal population pressures as well as low productivity and
underemployment.
1
Gross investment dropped from 21 per cent, of the gross national product in
1950 to 15 per cent, in 1953.
2
The percentage of gross investment to gross national product (29 per cent, in
1952) was higher in Venezuela than in any other Latin American country.

THE LABOUR DEMAND AND SUPPLY

245

AFRICA AND ASIA

In Africa migration on a large scale has been a corollary of vigorous
economic development fed, to a large extent, by a heavy flow of capital
from Europe, particularly from metropolitan powers to their African
territories. Fresh investments have helped to develop a cash economy,
to stimulate the spread of wage-earning employment and urban development, and to increase the demand both for European industrial supervisors and for African labour—a demand which only immigration could
fill. As a result, the entire Continent has been covered by a network of
migratory cross-currents, both international—or rather inter-territorial—
and intra-territorial, the former not always easily distinguishable from
the latter. The economic changes which gave rise to these movements
took place against a backdrop of uneven development, and their extent
was not everywhere the same. As a result, immigration tended to cluster
around a few privileged areas.
In Africa south of the Sahara, a rough distinction can be made
between two types of territories : those which have attracted only European immigration—usually the least developed—and those which have
in addition attracted unskilled African labour for employment in
agriculture, mines or industrial establishments. The French and Portuguese territories belong to the former group : here the emphasis has been
on the development of transport and communication facilities, public
utilities and administrative services rather than on manufacturing industries; as a result, the demand for indigenous labour has been comparatively slight and has usually been met locally. The second category includes the Union of South Africa, the Central African Federation, Ghana,
and to a lesser extent British East Africa and the Belgian Congo, where
agricultural and industrial development have been much more intensive
and have created a demand for African skilled labour, which it has
not been entirely possible to fill locally. These territories—and particularly the more developed ones—have therefore exerted a strong attraction
on African labour in other areas, extending in some cases to territories
faced themselves with a labour shortage.
The two most important centres of immigration over the past 12
years have been the Union of South Africa and the Central African
Federation. In the former, economic development has gone ahead
swiftly, atrracting a large flow of African labourers from neighbouring
territories, particularly in the mining areas, and sizeable European
immigration as well. However, in spite of vacancies in the local labour
force owing to emigration to Northern and Southern Rhodesia, European
immigration was not as large as might have been expected at the be-

246

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

ginning of the period: the massive influx of 1947 and 1948 was followed
by a regular, but much slighter movement. This was due to a tendency
of the dividing line between the occupations traditionally reserved for
Europeans and those normally performed by non-Europeans to recede
slowly but surely in favour of the latter, leading the authorities, in 1949,
to introduce a strictly selective immigration policy which accounts for
the much lower figures of later years. However, while immigration during
this period was satisfactory from the qualitative point of view, it appears
that, in terms of numbers, it was insufficient to meet the demand for
highly trained personnel and skilled workers created by a vigorously
expanding economy. The labour shortage in such occupations therefore
remained both persistent and acute, and was aggravated by competition
from other immigration countries.
In the territories which since 1954 have formed the Central African
Federation, the rate of expansion was even greater than in the Union of
South Africa, due to steadily rising exports, more favourable terms of
trade and a considerable flow of foreign capital attracted by the natural
wealth of the country, particularly its mining resources.1 The boom was
accompanied by a strong immigration current, at least in the Rhodesias,
where local African labour was thoroughly inadequate and where the
crying need was for European personnel in all industries, both old and
new. However, the difficulty of providing new housing and public
utilities on the required scale compelled the authorities to put a curb
on immigration—in spite of which the movement progressed almost
continuously, reaching an extremely high figure in recent years.
In Africa north of the Sahara, where there has been a severe and
generalised problem of overpopulation, the sole function of immigration
has been to provide supervisors for industry. The most important
immigration country appears to have been Morocco, though in the
absence of adequate information it is impossible to establish a clear-cut
relationship between immigration and economic development in that
country.
An almost identical situation obtains in the Near East. Immigration
here was slight and involved only European and North American supervisors. Often it was linked with the development of foreign undertakings,
e.g. petroleum companies and engineering firms. However, the com1
The proportion of gross investment to gross national product reached the impressive figures of 44 per cent, in 1950, 55 per cent, in 1951 and 47 per cent, in 1952.
Despite a subsequent decline (to 35 per cent, in 1953, 32 per cent, in 1954 and 34 per
cent, in 1955) it has been consistently higher than in the Union of South Africa,
where the corresponding figure over the past few years has remained close to 25 per
cent. Foreign investment accounted, on an average, for more than one-fourth of the
total from 1950 to 1954.

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247

panies located in the Persian Gulf area attracted workers from
other countries in the area, e.g. Syria, Lebanon and even India and
Pakistan.
Finally, in south-east Asia, economic development has had the same
difficulty in keeping up with population trends as in other areas. The
situation in the traditional immigration countries (Ceylon, Burma,
Thailand, Malaya, Viet-Nam, British Borneo and Indonesia) is no longer
favourable to the immigration of Indian and Chinese labourers for work
in mines and plantations. These currents, which were greatly reduced
during the depression of the thirties stopped altogether after the Second
World War. However, Burma and, above all, Malaya continued to
attract substantial numbers of skilled workers from India prior to the
entry into force of the new immigration laws.1 Korean and Japanese
migration, which had consisted largely of movements within the former
Japanese Empire, also ceased—or rather were reversed, assuming the
form of massive repatriations. 2 Some south-east Asian countries,
however, have in recent years imported a handful of Japanese technicians
and skilled workers. Settlement schemes for Indians in British Borneo
and Japanese in Cambodia have also been discussed recently but never
advanced beyond this stage. On the whole, it is quite clear that the
basic factors which at one time made for large-scale movements of labour
in this part of the world have simply disappeared without being replaced.
Nevertheless, some immigration of highly skilled European and North
American personnel has continued in south-east Asia, and demand for
foreign technicians remains strong in many countries—this in spite of
political changes which have resulted in widespread replacement of
foreign supervisory personnel by nationals of the countries concerned
as well as in the withdrawal of foreign capital.

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

Australia and New Zealand, together with Canada, Venezuela and
the two major south African immigration countries, complete the small
group of European-peopled nations overseas where economic development has been so rapid, and has been guided in such a way, as to create
a strong demand for immigrant labour. Both of these countries since the
war have concentrated not on maximising individual income but rather
on making investments calculated to ensure better use of existing resources and to remedy basic economic weaknesses brought to light by
1
2

See above, Chapter VII.
See above, Chapter IV.

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INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

the depression of the thirties. In carrying out this policy, they were
greatly helped by a favourable external financial position. As in Canada,
the emphasis has been both on the development of production facilities
and on immigration, not only because industrialisation in countries with
a comparatively slow population increase and without an industrial
tradition is bound to create a labour demand which cannot be met
satisfactorily in any other way, but on the theory that immigration per
se constitutes a means of stimulating investment. Thus, immigration in
these countries is part and parcel of a systematic policy of industrial
expansion. This policy has resulted in an increased labour demand—a
demand intensified by the failure of the employment level in primary
industry to fall appreciably and by a snowballing effect whereby immigration itself has become a factor of economic development.
It may be added that since the war trade unions and public opinion
in both countries, which formerly tended to look upon immigration
with some diffidence, have, in the light of successful experience, come
around to a more favourable view. This has left the governments freer
to regulate the migratory flow in keeping with the general interest as
they saw it, while pursuing their efforts to promote investment, particularly in basic industries characterised by heavy outlays and low yields
but essential to balanced industrial development.
One final factor accounts for the heavy emigration both to Australia
and to New Zealand. The general level of productivity in these countries
has, for various structural reasons, and in particular the greater relative
importance of agriculture, remained lower, and its progress over the past
12 years less marked, than in Canada. Thus, although the increase in
gross national product was less, a comparatively larger labour force was
needed to achieve it.
All of these reasons account for the considerable proportions reached
by immigration in both countries, particularly in Australia where a
greater effort was made to encourage the movement of families. In that
country the number of immigrants in some years was proportionately
as high as it had been in the United States before the First World War.
It actually exceeded original planning estimates, owing to new requirements created by cumulative processes of economic growth and, generally
speaking, by a variety of factors which resulted in a higher rate of
formation than had been foreseen at the beginning of the capital
period.1
1
After an initial sharp rise (from 20 to 29 per cent.) between 1948 and 1951, the
ratio of gross investment to gross national product, as in Canada, settled at about
25 per cent. In addition, Australia by the end of 1956 had received close to 318 million
dollars in long-term loans from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

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249

As in Canada, and for the same reasons, opportunities for immigrants
in Australia were many and varied. In agriculture, not only were the
usual effects of the rural exodus keenly felt but the drop in employment
resulting from the spread of modern farming methods was offset by an
expansion in stock-raising which created a fresh demand for farm
labour; as a result, total agricultural employment barely diminished at
all. In tertiary industry—and particularly in commerce, transport and
domestic service—there was also a sizeable demand for immigrant labour.
However, it was in manufacturing, and at all levels of occupational skill,
that the demand was heaviest. Moreover, statistics show that in Australia
as in Canada, and for the same sociological reasons, a higher proportion
of the British immigrants took up non-manual or skilled manual jobs
than was the case for other nationalities.
The trend of immigration figures, on the other hand, was quite
different from that observed in Canada. For one thing, immigration
was slow to pick up during the immediate post-war years owing to a
dollar shortage which hindered economic development. The highest
levels were reached in 1949 and 1950 when Australia made a special
effort to take in a considerable number of I.R.O. refugees, even in
excess of its immediate needs. There was a slight decline in 1951 and
1952 and a more serious one in 1953 owing to an economic slowdown
in the second half of 1952 and the first half of 1953. However, beginning
in 1954, the upward trend was resumed, and the same average level as in
1951 and 1952 was again reached in 1955, 1956 and 1957.
The position in New Zealand was much the same as in Australia,
though on a smaller scale. There was a similar increase in gross national
product, and general employment also remained stationary in the primary
sector while rising sharply in manufacturing. However, there were some
differences. Industrialisation in New Zealand faced greater obstacles
than in Australia and could not proceed as rapidly. The economy
remained to a greater extent a rural one, industrial as well as over-all
employment rose more slowly, and opportunities for immigrants were
fewer—even though they occurred in much the same fields as in Australia.
These essentially were agriculture which, as in Australia, suffered from
a labour shortage, industry, where the heaviest demand was for metallurgical and construction workers, and most of the service occupations.
The Labour Supply
GENERAL

An attempt has been made in the preceding section to explain the
reasons for immigration currents and in particular why there has been

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INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

a comparatively heavy demand for immigrant labour in some countries.
The phenomenon has been ascribed largely to a combination of objective
circumstances peculiar to immigration countries. The reasons why
workers emigrate in response to this demand are, on the other hand, far
less simple to explain, owing in particular to certain psychological
factors which largely elude objective analysis.
This does not mean that the labour supply, as well as the demand,
is not determined by economic factors: readiness to emigrate, after all,
depends largely on whether or not the individual decides that it is in his
interest to do so. In this respect population pressures, generally considered an essential emigration factor, are no doubt important in that
wherever they exist people are readier to emigrate than elsewhere; and
it is historically true that major migratory currents, past and present,
have originated in countries suffering either momentarily or chronically
from overpopulation, i.e. countries in which the labour supply exceeded
the demand. But this is merely a contributory, not a decisive factor, even
in the case of large-scale movements. Moreover, even where such a
causal relationship exists, it is not necessarily a direct one. Many of the
emigrants who leave an overpopulated country are neither unemployed
nor even badly paid: they may simply consider that chances are
better abroad, either immediately or in a more or less distant future.
Conversely, it is not unusual for the unemployed to scorn emigration
opportunities if they feel that the prospects are not good enough, particularly with the increasingly comprehensive and generous unemployment
relief schemes found in many countries today. Therefore, the factors that
lead people to emigrate are partly of a non-economic nature; as such,
they cannot be explained in purely mechanistic terms, but must be
viewed as the sum of all the complex motivations that condition individual behaviour. The meaning of this will be made clearer in the following pages.
THE FACTORS OF EMIGRATION

A person who goes abroad in search of a better job—whether he
be unemployed, underemployed or fully employed (and adequately paid)
in his own country—is guided essentially by self-interest: no worker
will emigrate unless he has the certainty, or at least a reasonable hope,
of improving his economic position.
However, in analysing this element of self-interest, care must be taken
to avoid oversimplification. Apart from the hope of immediate material
gain, other features, some of a purely non-economic nature, may be
involved. An emigrant faced with a choice of possible destinations

THE LABOUR DEMAND AND SUPPLY

251

will not necessarily be guided solely by the prospect of greater material
rewards. Therefore, while a constant correlation has been observed in
recent years between migration and international disparities in the
general level of earnings, this has not always been the decisive factor in
determining the choice of individual emigrants.
Besides, this correlation itself is not always easy to establish owing
to the difficulties involved in any international comparison of real wages ;
such difficulties arise at all levels of the occupational scale owing to
considerable differences between wage systems in the various countries.
If the law of supply and demand operated freely, it would be normal
to expect a general correlation to exist between wage levels on the one
hand and the spread—both geographical and occupational—of migration currents on the other. In many cases, this correlation is not clearly
evident. Certain trends, however, are discernible. The United States,
for instance, where earnings in all occupations are higher than anywhere
else, has always been a quasi-universal pole of attraction. It is obvious,
moreover, that problems of selection facing all immigration countries
are easier to solve in those countries which are in a position to offer the
highest wages. In this regard, Canada, where most of the demand for
labour can be met from the high-wage countries of western Europe, has
been in a far stronger position than the other European-populated
Commonwealth countries, particularly Australia. Similarly, in western
Europe the United Kingdom, Sweden and Switzerland are the only
major immigration countries which have persistently attracted workers
from countries with a comparatively high standard of living, e.g. Germany, while France's area of recruitment has long been confined to
southern Europe. Again, in Latin America, where average wages are
generally lower than in western Europe, southern Europe has filled the
bulk of the labour demand, whereas western European—and to an even
greater extent North American—immigration has been confined to the
higher levels of the occupational scale. This process of stratification is
even more pronounced in Africa where African, Asiatic and European
immigration currents respectively have met demand at three different
levels. These few examples show conclusively that there is a constant
correlation between migratory currents and disparities in standards of
living and that, moreover, there is an inverse relation between migration
of skilled and supervisory personnel and mass movements, the former
gravitating to the less developed areas and the latter (which may or may
not cover all levels of the occupational scale but in any case always
include the lower ones) towards the more advanced countries.
Of course, real wages, in the present context, must be understood as
covering all material benefits accruing from any gainful occupation, i.e.

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the net earnings of each family plus any social benefits, since such
subsidiary payments as family allowances, rather than the wage itself,
may in some cases provide the decisive inducement to emigrate. The
wage itself must be understood not in the sense of an hourly rate, but of
the amount earned over a longer period of time : therefore, in addition
to the hourly wage rate, the number of hours worked per week and the
degree of stability of the employment offered must also be considered.
However, important though they may be, differences in real wages,
even in this broad sense, cannot account wholly for the emigrant's
choice. Other considerations can and—experience shows—often do,
play a part. These include the availability of housing for the worker and
his family (whether accompanying him or joining him later) and possible
restrictions on the transfer of savings or family allowances to his family
pending their arrival in the country of immigration or his own return
to the country of origin (if he happens to be a temporary migrant).
However, apart from, and possibly more important than, immediate
economic interest, various psychological factors of a more complex
nature also enter into the picture.
From the point of view of the worker who is unemployed in his own
country with no remedy in sight, emigration is an attractive possibility,
far more because of the opportunity to escape from a demoralising
situation and to make a fresh start than because of the immediate
material advantage involved. Indeed, immigrants in general often seem
less interested in immediate economic advantage than in long-term
opportunity for themselves and their children and are not infrequently
prepared to accept momentary sacrifices for the sake of living in a country
offering better development prospects, greater job security, better opportunities for interoccupational transfer and easier access to propertied
status. These long-range considerations appear to have played a particularly important part in the case of emigration from countries with
a high level of employment and productivity (such as the United Kingdom
and the Netherlands) towards countries such as Australia, where the
element of immediate economic advantage would in many cases seem to
have been insufficient to constitute by itself a decisive inducement.
Generally speaking, it is rare for long-term migration, involving the
entire future of individuals, not to be determined essentially by longterm prospects : there is a vast difference between the motives of persons
who emigrate permanently and those of temporary emigrants whose
main concern is usually to save as much money as fast as possible. In
the latter case, immediate economic advantage is the overriding factor
and differences in real wages from one country to another play a far more
important role.

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253

Finally, emigration may be affected by non-economic factors.
Political developments in a given country can create a more or less
permanent feeling of insecurity or pessimism and thus set in motion or
speed up a migration current. For example, in 1951-52 the Korean War
appears to have stimulated European emigration, and the Suez crisis
in 1956-57 had a similar effect on British emigration. The decision to
emigrate overseas taken at one stage or another by the vast majority of
eastern European refugees, was dictated not only by economic considerations but also by a yearning for security and often a desire to make a clean
break with the past. Also, certain long-term migration currents have
continued to reflect affinities based on a community of culture and custom: Portuguese emigrants feel more at home in Brazil, Spaniards in
the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America, and British people
have a preference for Commonwealth countries with a European heritage,
in spite of the ease with which they can gain admission to the United
States. Italians consistently choose to emigrate to Latin America,
Switzerland or France, where they presumably expect to have less
difficulties of adjustment than elsewhere. Apart from the psychological
disadvantages of too great and too sudden a change of environment,
chances of a successful career for the immigrant are best in a country
where conditions are similar to those to which he is accustomed. Indeed,
cultural kinships appear to have played a greater part in this respect
than geographical proximity: emigrants are by no means systematically
inclined to prefer nearby countries to more distant ones. At this point,
however, travel expenses come into the picture and it becomes difficult
to distinguish exactly the purely psychological from the economic aspects.
It does seem, at any rate, that short-term, unlike long-term movements
tend to gravitate towards countries which are geographically closer.
A final important factor is tradition. Permanent migratory currents
create psychological and social bonds between nations, which immigrant
colonies established in the various countries help to maintain. Not only
can the prospect of finding compatriots abroad, possibly friends or
relatives, constitute a psychological inducement for the would-be
emigrant, but such colonies, wherever they exist, often provide very
substantial material advantages for the newcomers. They may, for
example, find them jobs, bring them into contact with prospective employers, advance all or part of their travel costs or even stand surety
for the immigrants, where this is a legal requirement. This type of
assistance has played a persistently important part over the past 12 years,
in spite of the development of government-organised and assisted migration programmes. 1
1

See below, Chapter IX.

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INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

To sum up, it is clear that recent emigration currents have been
conditioned largely by differences in levels of earnings, but that apart
from this fundamental factor a number of extraneous circumstances of
an economic and psychological nature have continued to play an important part; foremost among these are the self-perpetuating traditions just
described.
Further analysis will, however, disclose still other factors worthy
of attention. Disparities in real wages over the past 12 years have by no
means remained invariable. Each economy has its own tempo of development. The gap between wage levels in two countries may, at any
given time, become wider or narrower; in some cases the tables may be
turned entirely, and any such development will necessarily have an effect
on migration between the two countries. Actually, no such dramatic
reversal has taken place since the war; rather, the varying rates at which
real wages rose in the various countries resulted in an increase rather
than a decrease in existing disparities. There have, of course, been
exceptions. For instance, real wages rose faster in Italy than in the Latin
American countries, with the possible exception of Venezuela. This
lessened the attraction which these countries formerly held for Italian
emigrants, and in some occupations emigration ceased entirely. German
emigration to countries such as Belgium and France suffered a similar
fate.
So far, comparatively little has been said of the relationship between
emigration and overpopulation. This point merits closer attention,
since it is undeniable that overpopulation—in the sense of a large
labour surplus far in excess of employment possibilities—is an important
factor of emigration, particularly as it is usually a structural phenomenon
resulting from fairly constant population pressures.
Overpopulation, however, where it exists, is only one aspect of a
condition common to most underdeveloped economies, the symptoms of
which are an abnormally high degree of underemployment, low over-all
productivity and a low average wage level. Thus the problem merges
with that of the correlation between emigration and wage levels, and
between emigration and unemployment.
The former has already been discussed extensively. However, it
must be further pointed out that population pressures tending to aggravate
an existing state of overpopulation act as a check on rising wages, at
least in occupations suffering from a labour surplus; this in turn tends
to accentuate the disparities which, as already pointed out, are the
fundamental cause of migratory movements.
The relationship between emigration and unemployment is a closely
related problem in so far as underemployed workers earn wages below

THE LABOUR DEMAND AND SUPPLY

255

the subsistence level while the totally unemployed receive allowances more
or less pegged to the minimum subsistence figure. Continuing population pressure can only bring further pressure to bear on the the job
supply, and this means still lower living standards, with all the psychological consequences which such an apparently hopeless situation
entails.
It is this fundamental unbalance between population and wealth,
resulting in substandard productivity, underemployment and low
living standards, which characterises most of the major emigration
countries. This basic relationship, while it admits of exceptions and is at
best only a partial explanation, is sufficiently borne out by the facts to
serve as a useful working hypothesis in attempting to trace migratory
movements back to their source in the various countries. Such an attempt
has been made in the following pages, first for Europe and then for the
rest of the world.

OVERPOPULATION AND EMIGRATION IN EUROPE

Although the situation in Europe varies from one country to another,
a fundamental relationship appears to exist between overpopulation and
emigration. In some countries, e.g. Western Germany, overpopulation
has been a purely temporary phenomenon; in other areas, e.g. southern
Europe and Ireland, it has been a structural one. Generally speaking,
nearly all of the major emigration currents, both continental and intercontinental, have sprung from a situation of temporary or chronic
underemployment. The only exceptions are the United Kingdom and
the Netherlands, and even the latter country was at one time threatened
with overpopulation; the fact that the threat did not materialise is
probably in part the result of timely resort to emigration.
The principal cause of overpopulation—or, if preferred, underemployment—in the various countries has been scarcity of capital.
Broadly speaking, and allowing for certain features peculiar to individual
countries, three different cases may be distinguished: that of Western
Germany, a highly industrialised country with a relatively low rate of
demographic increase, where overpopulation resulting from the partial
destruction of the nation's capital assets, coupled with a massive migratory influx, was a purely accidental circumstance; that of the southern
European countries, where by contrast overpopulation is a structural
phenomenon as it is in all underdeveloped countries with a slow rate of
capital formation combined with strong demographic pressures; and that
of the Netherlands, where overpopulation was never more than a threat.

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INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

As regards Western Germany, the productivity and employment
problems with which the post-1945 influx of refugees of all origins
presented a war-ravaged economy have already been discussed at length.1
During this period the tremendous demand for jobs (which only eased
gradually), coupled with economic disruption, compelled many workers,
particularly refugees, to accept unsuitable employment. However, with
the exception of non-German refugees, who were cared for first by
U.N.R.R.A. and later by the I.R.O.—which subsequently resettled
most of them—emigration from Germany never reached massive proportions. Of the movements that did occur, the most important, oddly
enough, came at a time when the country was well on its way to economic
recovery and employment market conditions were reverting to normal.
These were the currents towards areas such as North America, Australia
and Switzerland, which developed mostly during the latter part of the
period reviewed. Another remarkable feature of West German emigration during this period was the small proportion of unemployed among
the emigrants—even though the rate of emigration was higher among
refugees than among West Germans, and higher also in the overpopulated
Länder than in the others. All of this suggests that, while there was a
connection between post-war German emigration and the critical
economic conditions prevailing at the time (particularly the glut on the
employment market), its timing was conditioned mainly by extraneous,
and primarily political, factors: the ban placed on emigration by the
Occupation authorities during the immediate post-war years; the
reluctance of certain emigration countries, for some years after, to admit
Germans; and the absence, prior to 1949, of a central government able
to guide emigration policies. Thus, throughout the entire period of
economic distress which Western Germany experienced after the war,
its nationals had little or no possibility of emigration. By the time the
situation had improved, particularly as regards overseas emigration, the
inclination to emigrate was far less strong, even among the refugees
who had lost all hope of ever returning to their former homes. Thus,
while emigration to countries with higher living standards continued at
a substantial level during the latter part of the period, it is increasingly
difficult to explain this fact in purely economic terms now that the
Federal Republic of Germany has become one of the most prosperous
countries in western Europe.
In Austria the link between emigration and the population surplus
created by the refugee influx is more obvious : many of the emigrants
were in fact workers directly affected by the surplus ; nevertheless, even
1

See above, Chapter I.

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257

after full employment was restored, emigration continued for the same
reasons as in Germany, albeit at a slower pace.
Overpopulation in Germany and Austria has therefore been a purely
accidental, temporary phenomenon. In southern Europe, on the other
hand, it is a chronic problem with deep-rooted structural causes. Countries in this area are characterised by an essentially agricultural economy 1 ,
low productivity and a rapidly increasing labour force 2, and industry has
not expanded rapidly enough to absorb the labour surplus resulting
from the general population increase and the flight from the land.
The result has been underemployment, both rural and urban, in a wide
variety of forms.
An attempt has been made to express the extent of underemployment
in these countries by calculating how many workers could be withdrawn
from the labour force without affecting national production. The
figures arrived at, while of necessity approximate, are nonetheless
impressive: 3 or 4 million for Italy (i.e. about twice the official unemployment figure), at least 2 million for Spain, and 1 million for Greece.
They give an idea of the tremendous disproportion between human
and capital resources which still exists in the peninsular countries of the
Mediterranean—a disproportion which scarcity of investment during
the past 12 years has tended to perpetuate and, in some cases, to
aggravate.
Thus, scarce jobs and low wages in southern Europe have developed
a propensity to emigrate among large masses of workers and helped to
create a tremendous manpower reservoir for immigration countries
both in Europe and overseas. This, however, does not necessarily
imply a direct correlation between population pressure in a given region
and emigration from that region. Only in Italy do emigrants come, by
and large, from those parts of the country where income per inhabitant
is lowest: elsewhere, such a correlation is by no means the rule. This is
because propensity to emigrate, strong as it is in the overpopulated
countries of southern Europe, is to a greater extent than elsewhere held
in check by the nature of foreign demand. Overpopulation resulting
1
The percentage of the actual population which is engaged in agriculture in each
of the countries concerned, as given by recent census figures, is as follows: 40 per
cent, in Italy (1951), 48.4 per cent, in Portugal (1950) and 48.8 per cent, in Spain
(1950), as compared with 27.7 per cent, for France (1954), 23.2 per cent, for Western
Germany (1950) and 19.3 per cent, for the Netherlands (1947).
2
The average natural rate of increase of the active age groups (i.e. men aged from
15 to 65 and women from 15 to 60) in the southern European countries over the past
ten years appears to have been in the neighbourhood of 1.5, the figure for Italy being
lower and that for Greece substantially higher. In the industrialised countries of
north-western Europe (with the exception of the Netherlands) the rate has never
exceeded, and has often been well below, 0.5 per cent.

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INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

from powerful demographic pressures has had its most telling effect in
agriculture, where it has resulted in the accumulation of an unskilled
labour surplus. By contrast, much of the demand in immigration countries, especially overseas, has been for semi-skilled or skilled workers.
As a result, these countries, by and large, have provided fewer immigration opportunities for the surplus groups of workers than for the others,
and emigration from southern Europe, particularly Italy, has by no
means been consistently confined to unemployed, underemployed or
even badly paid workers. Thus, study of the relationship between
emigration and overpopulation in this area discloses a considerable gap,
quantitatively and qualitatively speaking, between the potential labour
supply and the actual demand.
An analysis of the regional distribution of southern European
emigration would no doubt, in addition, bring to light a number of
factors of a social and psychological (rather than economic) nature,
e.g. tradition and personal relations. It might also show that in some
of the more underprivileged areas, where economic conditions would
normally seem to favour emigration, persons actually wishing to emigrate
simply could not afford to do so. This remark applies less to Italy,
where emigration has been effectively organised by the authorities,
than to other countries, e.g. Spain and Portugal. In these two countries, emigration has remained essentially a regional phenomenon
affecting mainly the north Atlantic provinces in the former and the
northern provinces in the latter—a fact which cannot be explained on
purely economic grounds. In Greece the recent development of emigration must be credited to government action, and in particular to the
assistance of the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration
which has provided badly needed facilities for the emigrants. Finally,
the high level of Maltese emigration from 1948 to 1955 was essentially
the result of public sponsorship.
Thus, emigration from southern Europe over the past 12 years has
been dictated almost exclusively by foreign labour demand and has
followed its vicissitudes; but there was no economic change within the
area itself such as might have affected overpopulation—and hence
emigration—to any appreciable degree. In Italy, however, while unemployment and, with it, propensity to emigrate remained considerable
throughout the entire period, economic progress, particularly in recent
years, made possible the total absorption—and in some instances even
created a shortage—of skilled workers and caused a substantial decrease
in the surplus of semi-skilled labour. Since at the same time real wages
rose considerably, the labour supply available to immigration countries
has become increasingly confined to unskilled workers. Thus, an

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259

improving employment situation in Italy has presented these countries
with an increasingly difficult recruitment problem.
The combination of overpopulation with underdevelopment has by
no means, during the period considered, been confined to southern
Europe. In eastern Europe, where present-day industrial development
policies have basically altered the pre-war employment picture, rural
underemployment has virtually disappeared : indeed, some countries have
suffered from a farm labour shortage. However, population pressures
remain strong and in some cases surpluses have developed. In Bulgaria,
for instance, the Government recently resorted to the placing of unemployed agricultural workers in Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union.
Even north-west Europe has had localised overpopulation problems;
these have been solved by internal rather than by international migration.
Even so, such situations would seem to account, partly at least, for
movements of Finnish workers to Sweden and for seasonal and frontier
movements of Belgian workers into France. The outstanding example,
however, is Ireland where the rate of emigration has been the highest
in the world after Malta. This was due not only to the attraction of
high-wage countries, both close and distant, but also to sluggish economic development at home, where the rural population surplus has
outstripped the expansion of urban employment, thus perpetuating
widespread structural unemployment.
In the Netherlands, which over the past 12 years has been one of
the major European emigration countries, the correlation between
emigration and overpopulation has also been in evidence. However,
owing to the advanced degree of industrialisation and the high level of
employment, thanks to which the threat of overpopulation never really
materialised, the problem in this country was quite different. True, the
comparatively rapid rate of increase of the domestic labour force—
about 1 per cent, per year, a particularly high figure for western Europe—
and the reversal of the traditional migratory flow between the Netherlands and Indonesia subjected the economy to unusually heavy stress
during the post-war period, thus further aggravating the effects of wartime
destruction and loss of colonial income. At no time, however, did unemployment reach alarming proportions, even between 1950 and 1952
when trade difficulties put a damper on industrial development.1 Even
the scarcity of farmland does not seem to have resulted in substantial
rural underemployment, all surpluses having been rapidly absorbed
by urban industry. These circumstances, coupled with a successful
1

From 29,000 in 1949 unemployment rose above 100,000 in 1952, falling again
to a figure slightly in excess of 40,000 in 1955. Even when it was at its highest, however, no more than 3.5 per cent, of the entire labour force was affected.

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INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

policy of full employment through industrial expansion and development of exports, have prevented demographic pressures over the past
12 years from affecting employment to any considerable extent. How
far this success could have been achieved without resort to emigration is,
of course, difficult to say. Furthermore, the tightness of the employment
market appears to have made it rather more difficult for workers, particularly young persons, to find really suitable jobs, while at the same
time slowing down the rise in real wages. It did not, however, significantly
increase propensity to emigrate. That emigration did in fact develop
considerably during the latter part of the-period was due largely to the
deliberate efforts of the Government to encourage it, thus relieving the
economy of the further strain—particularly the need for heavier investment—which would have resulted from unchecked population growth.
Another factor was the Government's desire to provide broader occupational horizons for the younger generations. A major objective of
this policy was to create a regular emigration tradition, which would
help to overcome employment difficulties caused by a rapidly expanding
labour force. These efforts happened to coincide with the opening up
of vast new employment opportunities overseas, particularly in Canada
and Australia. As a result Dutch emigration after 1950 assumed a new
complexion : traditional movements of supervisory personnel to Indonesia
and the overseas territories were largely replaced by permanent emigration of manual workers to the European-peopled countries of the
British Commonwealth.
Remarkably enough, the continuous and
rapid improvement of the economic situation from 1953 to 1957 did not
reduce the emigration flow to any substantial extent.
In the United Kingdom, on the other hand, recent emigration bears
no discernible relation to overpopulation or demographic pressure.
Immigration has not fallen far below emigration, and the natural
increase in the domestic labour force since the war has been slower than
in most countries : not only has unemployment during this period been
non-existent, but there has been an almost constant labour shortage.
In spite of balance-of-payments difficulties, real income per inhabitant
has increased steadily and at a rate which compares quite favourably
with that of other western European countries. Thus, there is no ready
economic explanation for what is in fact one of the most important
emigration currents in the world today. The explanation can only lie in
the strong attraction still exerted by the United States and the Commonwealth countries, particularly those with a European population, where
living conditions are better than in the United Kingdom and where
employment prospects for British emigrants are particularly promising.
This interpretation is borne out by the fact that British emigration

THE LABOUR DEMAND AND SUPPLY

261

includes a higher proportion of skilled workers already enjoying a high
standard of living at home than those of any other major European
emigration country. Even so, neither Canada nor Australia nor New
Zealand have received as many British immigrants as they would have
liked to do.
This is not to say that there is no correlation at all between recent
British emigration and economic and social conditions in the United
Kingdom since the war. The high rate of emigration from Scotland, for
instance, seems due not only to deep-seated tradition but also to a state
of relative underdevelopment by comparison with other areas in the
United Kingdom. From a more general standpoint, the policy of
austerity pursued during the immediate post-war years in order to
achieve a lasting improvement in the balance of payments appears to
have played a significant part. Apart from this, a constant underlying
tendency—readily apparent at the first hint of a crisis—to take a dark
view of the country's economic future may account to some extent for
emigration fluctuations since 1950. The post-war tendency, general
throughout western Europe, towards a levelling of earnings which has
operated to the detriment of certain classes, e.g. non-manual workers,
appears to have stimulated emigration by such workers. Finally,
a part has doubtless been played by housing difficulties in large cities,
particularly the London area, from which emigration has been considerable. However, in the absence of adequate statistical evidence, none
of these factors can be anything but a matter of surmise. The policy of
the Government has been to try to meet the need of Commonwealth
countries for British immigrants so far as the demographic situation and
economic interests of the United Kingdom allowed. The Government
did not, however, engage in active promotion to the extent of adding
much to the contribution already made by spontaneous factors towards
the revival of traditional British overseas emigration currents.
Other European oversea movements originated in countries with a
comparatively static population and bear no relation to the local economic situation. These comparatively minor currents are due to the attraction of high living standards in North America and also to the economic,
and sometimes cultural or political ties which some of these countries,
e.g. France and Belgium, maintain outside Europe.
OVERPOPULATION AND EMIGRATION OUTSIDE EUROPE

Outside Europe, emigration currents have also varied considerably
in cause and nature. Some, owing to the absence of legal restrictions
or the physical impossibility of enforcing them, were a truer reflection of

262

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

demographic pressures in emigration countries than were most of those
originating in Europe. Others, e.g. Canadian emigration to the United
States, were due merely to the power of attraction exerted by some
immigration countries.
The American and African Continents have, over the past 12 years,
been covered by a multitude of migratory currents. These generally
originated in rural areas governed by the traditional forms of economic
life, where a continuously increasing population—often combined with
a deteriorating soil—made life increasingly difficult. This compelled
the able-bodied to leave either permanently or, more frequently, for
limited periods in order to take up paid employment and thereby supplement the meagre income produced by the land. Often this involved
travel across national or territorial boundaries, and in some instances
across the seas. The same problem of rural overpopulation, in varying
form, accounts for recent emigration from the West Indies, Mexican
emigration to the United States, population shifts in the Andean region
(particularly from Bolivia to Argentina) and, in Africa, movements of
indigenous workers from one territory to another for periods of varying
duration. Population pressure in emigration countries is not, of course,
the only explanation for these movements : the pull exerted by immigration countries was also important, as evidenced by the clear preference
of the emigrants for those with the better employment or earning prospects. Sometimes, areas not protected by effective immigration control
provisions have been swamped by the influx of foreign labour, e.g. in
the United States, where inadequate surveillance of the Mexican border
at one time permitted illegal entries on a large scale. In Africa, on the
other hand, emigration from the tribal areas has not, as a rule, given
rise to a labour surplus. Through their basic instability, unwillingness
to abandon their traditional forms of economic life entirely, and low
level of productivity, African migrant workers nearly always constitute
a precarious labour supply at best, and competition for their services
therefore remains keen among the industries of the various territories.
Other movements, of quite a different character, have also taken place
in America and Africa. These include Canadian emigration to the
United States and that of Europeans from the Union of South Africa to
the Central African Federation, consisting in both cases of skilled or
professional workers attracted by favourable conditions in the immigration country. The latter of these two movements is the result of exceptionally rapid economic growth and vastly expanding employment
opportunities, particularly in Southern Rhodesia. The former is probably due less to higher wages in the United States than to a more
diversified employment market. However, there are also other factors,

THE LABOUR DEMAND AND SUPPLY

263

e.g. close cultural kinship between English-speaking Canada and the
United States, the power of attraction of the great cities of the northeastern United States, and the tendency of French Canadians to move
to the United States, where they have certain ties, rather than to the
English-speaking part of Canada. From the United States itself industrial
managers and technicians have gone to the various parts of the world
as a result of the growing economic influence exerted by the United States
everywhere.
In Asia, finally, where overpopulation is general, emigration has
borne no relation at all to the magnitude or nature of the problem.
Emigration opportunities for Asiatics are extremely limited, both in
and out of Asia, and are largely confined to certain privileged groups
such as experienced farmers, craftsmen, businessmen, and semi-skilled
workers. In addition, workers in the less privileged groups usually do
not have the money to emigrate, with the result that Asian emigration on
the whole has had a strongly selective flavour. The only exception
would seem to be overland migration between contiguous countries, on
which very little information is available.

Conclusion
While the foregoing gives an idea of the wide variety of factors
which account for migration currents and, by way of consequence, the
dangers of a dogmatic approach to the subject, it does suggest a few
fairly definite conclusions.
First, it is clear that such currents are determined fundamentally by
differences in levels of productivity. To say that emigrants are attracted
by higher earnings is tantamount to saying that they are drawn towards
economies where labour productivity is high. In practice, however, the
operation of this law is not as simple as it seems, conditioned as it is by
international differences not in over-all productivity but in productivity
within individual occupations. Mass movements, for instance, flow
towards the more technically advanced countries or those where natural
resources can be most readily exploited. Supervisors and technicians,
on the other hand, tend to go to economically less developed areas where
productivity of skilled labour is high, thus constituting a powerful
stimulus for the economy.
However, as already explained, such disparities do not in themselves
suffice to set a migratory flow in motion. To a far greater extent than
formerly, owing to restrictive immigration laws, migration takes places
only to the extent that jobs are available and foreigners are capable of

264

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

filling them. Thus immigration depends largely on how far the pace of
economic development outstrips the increase in the domestic labour
force and the rise in productivity in the various sectors of the economy.
It also depends on the availability of foreign workers, and this is determined not only by their suitability for the job but also by the potency
of the incentives offered them and the extent to which physical or psychological difficulties impede their movement.
The first of these prerequisites of immigration is necessarily bound
up with such questions as labour force trends in immigration countries,
capital formation, investment policy and its employment implications—
problems which have only been touched upon, even though each would
have warranted a detailed country-by-country analysis. One general
observation which trends in the major overseas immigration countries
does suggest is that foreign capital has played a far less important
part in their development than formerly and that, while this is a sign of
growing economic maturity, it also reflects the decline in western European ability to supply the capital. Thus, the relationship which used to
exist between international movements of labour and movements of
capital—or, more specifically, between European overseas emigration
and capital exports from western Europe, and primarily the United
Kingdom—has largely disappeared. The only exception worth mentioning is the flow of investments from certain European countries to their
non-metropolitan territories, which is paralleled by a substantial current
of European migration. The accession of the United States to the position
of chief purveyor of capital, formerly held by western Europe, has given
rise to a sort of triangular pattern, in place of the old parallel movement.
Thus Canada and Venezuela have been developed in part thanks to a
combination of American investment and European immigration;
western European economic recovery has been helped by United States
capital as well as by certain migration currents; and this same capital
has contributed to the promotion of investment by certain countries,
chiefly the United Kingdom and France, in areas outside Europe,
particularly Africa—a process which, as stated above, has been
accompanied by substantial emigration. However, in spite of the
importance of such movements of American capital, they can hardly
be said to bear the same fundamental relationship to migration
currents as the flow of western European capital overseas did in an
earlier day.
As for the matching of supply and demand on the international
employment market, the tendency over the past few years has been to
rely less and less on private initiative to overcome the practical difficulties
involved. To a varying degree, therefore, governments have gone

THE LABOUR DEMAND AND SUPPLY

265

beyond their traditional regulatory functions and embarked on various
promotional schemes which are described in the following chapter.
Finally, it has become apparent that the concepts of " overpopulation " and " underpopulation ", frequently invoked in attempts to
explain migration phenomena, are by themselves inadequate even if
strictly defined as a long-term excess or shortage of population in relation
to productive capital. Overpopulation will lead to emigration only
to the extent (generally limited nowadays) that surplus workers can be
assured of employment abroad. Moreover, much of the demand for
such employment has arisen in countries enjoying a situation of full
employment or, in those countries faced with underemployment, among
those categories of workers least affected by it. Finally, the extent to
which countries with a labour shortage have resorted to immigration
has varied greatly depending on the development and employment policy
pursued in each case, some countries having been either unwilling or
unable to meet certain of their labour requirements in this way. In
short, while differences in levels of productivity and development trends
are an essential factor in the formation of international migration
currents, there are other, more elusive, factors of a physical, psychological and political nature which play a part in determining the direction,
size, occupational characteristics and distinctive sociological physiognomy of each.
Bibliographical References
STATISTICAL SOURCES

In addition to the statistical sources listed in Chapters V and VI, the following may be consulted :
INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND: Balance of Payments Yearbook.
ORGANISATION FOR EUROPEAN ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION: O.E.E.C. Statistical

Bulletins ; General Statistics (semi-monthly).
OTHER SOURCES

General
UNITED NATIONS: Economic Survey of Europe (published annually).
— Economic Survey of Asia and the Far East (published annually).
— Economic Survey of Latin America (published annually).
— Proceedings of the World Population Conference, 1954, Summary Report
(New York, 1955).
ORGANISATION FOR EUROPEAN ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION : Annual reports.
" Inter-Territorial Migrations of Africans South of the Sahara ", in International Labour Review (Geneva, I.L.O.), Vol. LXXIV, No. 3, Sep. 1957,
p. 292.

266

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

J. ISAAC : Economics of Migration (London, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner
& Co., 1947).
A. SAUVY: L'Europe et sa population (Paris, Les Editions internationales, 1953).
A. DELPÉRÉE: Politique sociale et intégration européenne (Liège, Georges Thone,
1956).
C. MARTÍ BUFILL: Nuevas soluciones al problema migratorio (Madrid, Ediciones
Cultura hispánica, 1955).
Brinley THOMAS (edited by): Economics of International Migration (London,
MacMillan and Co. Ltd., 1958).
A. SAUVY: "Some Aspects of the International Migration Problem", in
International Labour Review, Vol. LVIII, No. 1, July 1948, pp. 18-37.
J. ISAAC: " International Migration and European Population Trends ", ibid.,
Vol. LXVI, No. 3, Sep. 1952, pp. 185-206.
A. OBLATH: " The Problem of Surplus Manpower in Europe ", ibid., Vol. LXX,
Nos. 3-4, Sep.-Oct. 1954, pp. 301-322.
X. LANNES: "International Mobility of Manpower in Western Europe".
ibid., Vol. LXXIII, No. 1, Jan. 1956, pp. 1-24, and No. 2, Feb. 1956,
pp. 135-151.
Brinley THOMAS : " International Movements of Capital and Labour since
1945 ", ibid., Vol. LXXIV, No. 3, Sep. 1956, pp. 225-238.
Law and Contemporary Problems (Durham, N.C., Duke University School
of Law), Vol. XXI, No. 2, Spring of 1956 (issue devoted to migration
questions).
Material concerning Individual Countries
Australia.
Sir Douglas COPLAND : " Australian Development and Immigration ", in
International Labour Review, Vol. LXIII, No. 6, June 1951, pp. 633-656.
W. D. BORRIE: Immigration ; Australia's Problems and Prospects (Sydney and
London, Angus and Robertson, 1949).
Hon.

HOLT, Hon.

CALWELL, W.

BORRIE, Jean CRAIG,

P. H. KARMEL and Sir Bertram STEVENS: Australia and the Migrant (Sydney
and London, Angus and Robertson, 1953).
Brazil.
F. BASTOS DE AVILA, S.J. : Economic Impacts of Immigration; The Brazilian
Immigration Problem, Publication IX, Research Group for European
Migration Problems (The Hague, Martinus Nijhoff, 1954).
— L'immigration au Brésil (Rio de Janeiro, Agir, 1956).
Canada.
M. TIMLIN: Does Canada Need More People ? (Toronto, Oxford University
Press, 1951).
D. CORBETT: Canada's Immigration Policy (Toronto, University of Toronto
Press, 1957).
•— " Immigrants and Canada's Economic Expansion ", in International
Labour Review, Vol. LXXVII, No. 1, Jan. 1958, pp. 19-37.
France.
X. LANNES: L'Immigration en France depuis 1945, Publication VIII, Research
Group for European Migration Problems (The Hague, Martinus Nijhoff,
1953).

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267

A. SAUVY: " Besoins et possibilités de l'immigration française ", in Population
(Paris, Institut national d'études démographiques), Fifth Year, No. 2,
Apr.-June 1950, p. 209; and No. 3, July-Sep. 1950, p. 417.
Ireland.
COMMISSION ON EMIGRATION AND OTHER POPULATION PROBLEMS: Reports,

1948-54 (Dublin, The Stationery Office, 1955).
J. MEENAN: " Some Features of Irish Emigration", in International Labour
Review, Vol. LXIX, No. 2, Feb. 1954, pp. 126-139.
Italy.
COMMISSIONE

PARLAMENTARE DI

INCHIESTA

SULLA

DISOCCUPAZIONE:

disoccupazione in Italia (Rome, Camera dei Deputati, 1954).
CAMERA DEI DEPUTATI: Relazione generale sulla situazione economica del
paese (Rome, Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato, 1957).
Japan.
"Post-war Migration Problems in Japan", in International Labour Review*
Vol. LXXV, No. 1, Jan. 1957, pp. 53-67.
Netherlands.
W. PETERSEN : Some Factors Influencing Post- War Emigration from the Netherlands, Publication VI, Research for European Migration Problems (The
Hague, Martinus Nijhoff, 1952).
— Planned Migration : The Social Determinants of the Dutch-Canadian
Movement (Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1955).
Willem STEIGENGA : Industrialisation Emigration ; the Consequences of the
Demographic Development in the Netherlands, Publication X, Research
Group for European Migration Problems (The Hague, Martinus Nijhoff,
1955).
United Kingdom.
J. ISAAC: British Post-War Migration, National Institute of Economic and
Social Research, Occasional Papers, XVII (Cambridge, the University
Press, 1954).

CHAPTER IX
ORGANISED AND ASSISTED MIGRATION
Constituting, as it were, the positive counterpart of more stringent
controls, there has been in recent years a remarkable effort on the part
of governments to promote movements considered desirable through
planned migration schemes and the provision of special assistance for
the migrants. Responsibility in this field is entrusted either to existing
government departments or to agencies set up specifically for the purpose.
Details of both types of scheme, including the structure and operation
of the responsible departments and agencies, are given below.
This development of government action is a feature common to both
immigration and emigration countries and has resulted not only in the
setting up of new departments and agencies but in an increasing degree
of co-operation between the countries concerned, usually under bilateral
agreements. In addition, a number of entirely new forms of international
action have been evolved.
National Machinery
Assisted migration schemes at the national level call for two general
remarks. One is that such schemes—and the machinery to carry them
out—are, by and large, far more elaborate in immigration than in
emigration countries, in keeping with the more prominent role played
by the former in the determination of economic migration currents.
Secondly, immigration and emigration countries do not necessarily
pursue the same goals, nor are their policies always mutually complementary.
EMIGRATION COUNTRIES

In emigration countries—defined as those countries whose interest
requires that part of the population should emigrate—government action
to promote emigration is focused on two major objectives : to limit
emigration assistance to classes of persons which the country does not
need, and thus operate a selection in keeping with the national interest;
and to ensure for those who do emigrate the best possible chances of
success. These are the two guiding principles on which planned emigra-

ORGANISED AND ASSISTED MIGRATION

269

tion policies have been based from the beginning and which largely
account for their increasingly systematic character and growing effectiveness.
Thus, there is both a negative and a positive side to such policies
—negative in so far as they aim at preventing the departure both of
individuals needed at home and of those unlikely to succeed abroad
(and also at protecting would-be emigrants from tendentious propaganda), and positive in so far as they imply a whole series of concrete
promotional measures, ranging from publication of factual data on
conditions abroad to the promotion of employment opportunities and
including participation in selection operations, vocational training for
prospective migrants, partial coverage of transport and establishment
expenses, and payment of repatriation costs.
The extent of the services provided naturally depends on the importance of emigration to the country concerned and on its financial
resources. The structure and working of the agencies entrusted with
these various responsibilities are discussed below.
Administrative Structure of Emigration Services
Emigration services may be organised in one of two ways : a special
agency may be solely or chiefly responsible for the implementation of
emigration policy, including co-ordination of the work of other services
concerned; or responsibility may be divided amongst existing instrumentalities, each acting within its own sphere of competence. In the
latter case, activities carried on within the country, i.e. information,
issuance of documents, vocational training, pre-selection, grant of loans
and, in some cases, inspection of vessels, are entrusted to the departments
responsible for labour and social affairs. Those which entail dealings
abroad, i.e. negotiation of agreements, contacts with government
agencies in immigration countries or with international organisations,
assistance to emigrants and repatriation are usually the responsibility of
foreign ministries. Jurisdictional conflicts are avoided by setting up
co-ordinating bodies or by entrusting primary responsibility to one of
the departments concerned.
Schemes of the latter type are still the more frequent, few countries
having so far set up special agencies to deal with emigration matters.
Italy, for example, has a system of the traditional type whereby responsibility is divided mainly between the labour and foreign affairs departments. 1 Separate emigration agencies, where they exist, have only
1

A proposed scheme for a complete reorganisation of the Italian emigration
services, including the setting up of a separate administration, has been under discussion for several years in the Italian parliament.

270

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

limited powers. For instance, in the Federal Republic of Germany the
Federal Emigration Office merely provides information and advice for
prospective emigrants. Similarly, in the United Kingdom an Oversea
Migration Board was established in 1953 to advise the government
departments responsible for emigration policy.
The countries in which special administrations with sweeping powers
have been established are Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and Japan.
In Spain the decision was quite a recent one: the Spanish Emigration
Institute, operating under the direct authority of the President, was
only set up in 1956. Its purpose is to enable the Government to pursue
a more vigorous emigration policy while at the same time concentrating
responsibility, formerly divided among several ministerial departments,
in a single agency. In Portugal an Emigration Board set up in 1947
performs important functions in the field of information, protection
and material aid to migrants and, although Portuguese emigration is
traditionally spontaneous, has over the past few years sponsored several
planned emigration projects. In the Netherlands the government
services responsible for emigration planning and assistance were completely reorganised in 1952. They report to the Minister of Social
Affairs and Public Health and are entrusted with the full range of
government responsibilities in the emigration field. Their structure is
rather complicated, consisting of an Emigration Council which advises
the Minister, an Emigration Commissariat entrusted with foreign
relations, an Emigration Board which co-ordinates government activities
with those of private agencies, and an Emigration Service which reports
both to the Commissariat and to the Board and is responsible for the
operational aspects of organised and assisted migration schemes. In
Japan, the Advisory Emigration Council, an advisory body reporting to
the Prime Minister, was set up in 1955. An executory organ set up in
the same year and known as the Emigration Bureau operates under the
authority of the Minister of Foreign Affairs but does not perform the
full range of tasks concerned with emigration : it co-ordinates the work
of several administrative departments, which remain entrusted with
important responsibilities at the national level, and supervises the
activities of two semi-public bodies, the Federation of Overseas Associations in Japan and the Japan Emigration Promotion Company Limited.
The main purpose of the former is to maintain contact between the
mother country and Japanese settlements abroad ; in particular, it
carries out selection operations. The latter body is essentially a financing
agency.
In none of these four countries has the existence of special emigration
agencies completely stripped existing government departments, e.g.

*
ORGANISED AND ASSISTED MIGRATION

271

employment, diplomatic and consular services, of their traditional functions. All of these agencies are of a mixed character : they are partly
executory organs and partly liaison and co-ordination bodies, empowered
as such to issue certain instructions to government departments. Nor has
their existence always lessened the tendency of the authorities to leave part
of the work of organising emigration and even of protecting emigrants
to private organisations and voluntary agencies such as have played an
important part in the past and whose experience, contacts and financial
resources enable them to render invaluable assistance. Thus, in the
Netherlands the Emigration Service relies both on the public employment
service and on local offices of voluntary welfare organisations for registration, guidance and briefing of prospective emigrants. Administrative
centralisation of emigration functions has led in some cases to a tightening of the links between such private organisations and the responsible
government departments; in the Netherlands the latter effectively
supervise and co-ordinate the activities of the former, whose representatives sit on the Emigration Council and the Emigration Board.
In Japan, the Government has recently made some inroads in fields
formerly reserved for private organisations, as witnessed by the establishment of the two semi-public bodies mentioned above.
Work of Emigration Services
The first duty of emigration services is to provide emigration opportunities for interested workers. This is traditionally done mainly by
negotiating bilateral agreements with the responsible authorities in
foreign countries. Under such arrangements, the advantages and
facilities of collective recruitment are placed at the workers' disposal,
supplementing whatever opportunities may already exist for spontaneous, unaided emigration. An increasingly common practice is for
emigration countries to entrust their diplomatic or consular officers or
special study missions with the task of searching systematically for new
employment opportunities in the immigration countries. This presupposes close contacts not only with government departments but also
with private organisations or big individual employers who may be
interested in recruiting foreign workers. The Netherlands Emigration
Commissariat, for one, has from the beginning placed heavy stress
on this phase of its work.
To provide emigrants with jobs which they might not be able to
obtain through their own efforts is not, however, the sole purpose of
diplomatic negotiation. Another is to secure legal safeguards and other
advantages in immigration countries both for persons who emigrate

«
272

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

spontaneously and for those recruited under bilateral agreements, and
to ensure through the local diplomatic and consular authorities that the
undertakings given are respected.
The second major function of emigration services is to bring foreign
employment opportunities to the attention of would-be emigrants and
also to inform them as accurately as possible of living and working
conditions abroad. The need for objective information on these subjects
is obvious. Of course, immigrants can also obtain such information
from other sources, e.g. foreign diplomatic and consular missions and
voluntary or other private organisations concerned with migration
matters. The accuracy of the information thus supplied is usually
guaranteed by law.1 Even countries not pursuing active emigration
policies, such as the Federal Republic of Germany and Switzerland,
have entrusted specific government departments with this function.2
In some cases not only information, but advice as well, is provided
either by the emigration department or by the regular employment
services : in the past it was usually left to voluntary organisations to help
future emigrants with their plans. In this field, as in many others, there
has been a general shifting of responsibility towards the State.
Emigration services are also concerned with other essential matters,
such as recruitment and vocational training. In the case of recruitment,
the authorities act in two ways : by supervising private recruitment for
protective purposes, and by engaging directly in recruiting operations
under bilateral agreements. In Italy, for instance, the supervision
exercised over recruitment consists of an examination by the authorities
of the employment contracts produced by applicants for emigration
passports : if the stipulated conditions are not deemed satisfactory, the
applicant is turned down. In African emigration territories, controls
are exercised on recruiting methods, proposed conditions of employment
and the health of migrants. As for the participation of emigration
services in the work of recruiting missions sent by immigration countries,
this may either take place at the time of final selection or (as in Italy and
the Netherlands) consist of a pre-selection process carried out under the
sole responsibility of the emigration country. This procedure simplifies
the work of foreign missions and spares candidates not fulfilling the
1
Most countries have long since adopted laws aimed at preventing the publication
of misleading information, and although cases of propagandistic misrepresentation
are far fewer than in the past, court proceedings are occasionally instituted on the
basis of these laws. Some countries have even restricted the right to publish migration
information to certain recognised agencies.
2
In the Federal Republic of Germany the Federal Emigration Office, and in
Switzerland the Manpower and Emigration Section of the Federal Office of Industry,
Arts and Crafts, and Labour.

ORGANISED AND ASSISTED MIGRATION

273

requisite conditions as to age, health or other qualifications an unnecessary journey to the recruiting centre.
Regarding government action in the field of vocational training,
this has been substantially developed in recent years with a view to
permitting applicants for emigration to meet the occupational requirements of immigration countries. The need for such training has been
felt acutely in southern Europe where emigration pressures are strong
but where few applicants have the necessary qualifications. In the
absence of specific information concerning the nature and extent of the
labour demand in immigration countries, the competent administrative
departments have recently resorted to a new formula whereby basic and,
to some extent, multi-purpose training is given in a limited number of
trades for which demand is both constant and heavy, e.g. building,
metallurgy and engineering construction, it being left to the immigration
countries to supplement this basic training according to their needs.
This has been done in Italy, Greece, Malta and, more recently, in Spain ;
in some cases the training was given specifically with emigration in view,
while in others the training programme was designed to satisfy both
foreign demand and the needs of the national economy. In the Netherlands special centres for agricultural vocational training were set up for
prospective emigrants while those intending to enter non-agricultural
occupations were admitted to training centres for craftsmen. In some
instances, bilateral agreements were concluded between emigration and
immigration countries specifically with a view to training workers in
certain occupations. Such an agreement has recently been concluded
between Italy and France, and unofficial negotiations looking to another
arrangement of this type are now under way between an Italian organisation for the training of commercial employees and hotel trade organisations in Switzerland and Germany. In many instances, vocational
training has been accompanied by an attempt at psychological preparation of future emigrants for their new life, chiefly through the teaching
of languages. However, worthwhile as efforts made in the field of
vocational training have been, they have not so far, in spite of aid from
foreign governments and above all from certain international organisations, achieved fully satisfactory results owing to inadequate financial
support.
Another increasingly important form of government assistance
consists of total or partial coverage of the emigrants' travel expenses
through money grants, loans or services in kind. The Government of
the Netherlands, in particular, has provided quite generously for its
nationals in this respect; similarly, the United Kingdom and the
Government of Malta have subsidised many passages, particularly to

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Australia. In the United Kingdom, financial provision has been made
for this purpose in the Commonwealth Settlement Act, 1957, which
extends until 1962 the provisions of the former Empire Settlement Act.
In Italy, applicants for emigration are entitled to free transport to preselection centres; successful candidates are then transported, again free
of charge, to one of the three emigration centres (Milan, Naples and
Messina) where they are housed and fed at government expense and
where medical—and, where appropriate, vocational—selection is carried
out by representatives of the immigration country; administrative
formalities connected with their departure and establishment in the
country of destination are also performed for them at this stage. In
Japan there are two emigration centres of this type, founded in 1952
and 1956 respectively; the Japan Emigration Promotion Company
Limited is charged with providing financial assistance for emigrants
requiring it. In some cases the assistance provided extends beyond
contributions to travel costs and includes advances to help the emigrant
pay his initial establishment expenses. Thus, in Italy a semi-public body
known as the National Credit Institute for Italian Labour Abroad
grants loans to emigrants for this purpose, including loans to employers
settling in foreign countries and providing employment opportunities
there for Italian workers. The Italian Government also provides financial
assistance for emigrants' families having stayed behind pending receipt
of the first remittances from the head of the family, and also in certain
cases where members of the family have been declared unfit for emigration. In Japan, the Japan Emigration Promotion Company Limited has
been entrusted with a similar task. At the same time voluntary organisations have continued to play an important part in financing the transport
and settlement of emigrants, e.g. by subsidising land settlement schemes.
Assistance to emigrants does not end when they leave the country.
In most cases, transport conditions are regulated by statute. Moreover,
the authorities of the emigration country take a more or less active
part in their reception in the country of destination, where they further
enjoy consular protection. Finally, many governments have established
special funds to aid any of their nationals finding themselves disabled,
sick or destitute abroad and, if necessary, repatriate them.
These forms of government action are, of course, unevenly developed
from one country to another, since the interests and, above all, the
financial resources of the various countries are not the same.
A statistical appraisal of the proportion of assisted emigration to
total emigration would undoubtedly be of interest. Unfortunately, the
statistics of the various countries cannot be compared owing to variations in the definition of " assisted " emigrants. In Italy the figures

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275

cover, in the case of continental emigration, persons selected and moved
under the auspices of the Ministry of Labour pursuant to bilateral
agreements. They account for practically all of the emigration to Belgium
and most of that to France. In the case of overseas movements, the
only official figures published since 1952 are those of the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration with which the Italian
Government co-operates in providing assistance (particularly as regards
transport facilities). Even though the proportion of emigrants assisted
in this way has increased in recent years, from 1952 to 1956 it did
not average more than a quarter of the total figure—thus bearing
witness to a strong and persistent strain of self-reliance among overseas
emigrants. Maltese emigration since 1948 has been assisted by the
joint efforts of the British and Island Governments with the result
that more than 70 per cent, of all emigrants receive some assistance
towards their travel expenses. More than half of the British emigrants
to Australia have travelled partly, and more than one-tenth wholly,
at government expense. In the Netherlands the proportion of emigrants
receiving financial assistance from the Government has also been
considerable, at least in recent years, and has grown steadily: from 1953
to 1956, nearly 135,000 out of 160,000 emigrants proceeding to overseas
countries other than Indonesia, Surinam and the Netherlands Antilles
and the Dutch possessions in the Pacific received assistance in one form
or another from the Emigration Service, and nearly 100,000, i.e. more
than 60 per cent, of the total, received financial assistance to cover part
of their travel and establishment expenses. The proportion, which
amounted to approximately one-half in 1953, increased to three-quarters
in 1956.
IMMIGRATION COUNTRIES

Even by restricting assistance to certain classes of persons, as is
quite generally done, emigration countries are not always able to select
emigrants in accordance with their wishes. Immigration countries are
in a stronger position in this regard, since freedom to emigrate is a
generally recognised principle whereas freedom to immigrate is not.
In addition, a number of these countries—the major ones, in fact—are
in a more favourable economic position and have greater resources to
devote to organising and assisting desired movements.
This form of government intervention has developed considerably
in recent years. Usually, it has been entrusted to specialised administrative agencies whose range of duties and resources have been considerably
extended throughout the period under review and whose structure has

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often been modified in response to new needs. As in emigration countries,
this new trend has both a negative and a positive side—negative in that
selection has grown stricter, and positive in that it is more actively
guided than in the past, with increasingly numerous and elaborate
assistance services being provided for the chosen candidates.
Finally, in spite of the development of government action, nongovernmental organisations have continued to play an important part
in the reception and placing of immigrants and have given them valuable
help in adjusting to their new surroundings.
Administrative Structure of Immigration Services
The admission and settlement of immigrants impinges on various
fields of public policy, including employment, social security, housing,
public health and national security. Formerly it was the responsibility
of foreign ministries to ensure the necessary co-ordination between
the various departments concerned. This system has now been generally
abandoned in favour of other schemes of co-ordination, and special
agencies have, far more generally than in emigration countries, been
set up both to take direct responsibility for immigration matters and to
co-operate as necessary with other government departments having
retained more or less wide powers in this field. The details of such schemes
vary from one country to another; a few examples are given below.
In France six ministries are concerned with the execution of immigration policy : those of Foreign Affairs, Interior (which is responsible for
issuing residence cards), Labour and Social Security, Health and Population, Industry and Commerce, and Agriculture. An Inter-Ministerial
Commission for Immigration Affairs co-ordinates their policies, and an
operational agency known as the National Immigration Office, established in 1945 and placed under the joint supervision of the Ministries
of Labour and Health, is responsible for the selection and movement of
immigrant workers and their families once they have been accepted by
both Ministries. Workers are recruited only if a vacancy has been
notified to, and recruiting authorised by, the labour authorities (who
are assisted by tripartite advisory committees set up at the national and
regional levels). This may or may not involve designating the worker
by name: only in the latter case is the National Immigration Office
directly responsible for recruitment. For this purpose it maintains
permanent recruiting missions abroad 1 and transient centres in France.
By virtue of its monopoly on recruitment it is also empowered to regularise the situation of foreign workers having entered France and taken
1
Such a mission was set up in Italy in 1946 and another in Germany in 1947;
the latter was withdrawn in 1953. More recently, another was sent to Spain.

ORGANISED AND ASSISTED MIGRATION

277

up employment irregularly, subject to the approval of the ministries
concerned. The Office's operations are financed by employer contributions fixed at a flat rate for each foreign worker whom the Office
recruits or whose situation it regularises. The travelling expenses of
families are paid partly by the workers themselves and partly by the
Ministry of Health. The monopoly vested in the National Immigration
Office does not extend to self-employed workers: these fall within
the competence of the Ministry of Agriculture or of Industry and
Commerce, as the case may be, but are not covered by any special
arrangements.
In the United Kingdom the Home Office supervises the admission,
and the Ministry of Labour and National Service the employment, of
foreigners. A National Joint Advisory Council consisting of representatives of employers, workers, the nationalised industries and the Government assists the Minister of Labour in formulating policy, and, in
particular, planning migration programmes ; the execution of the latter
has on several occasions involved sending temporary recruiting missions
to various European countries.
In Belgium, contrary to the practice followed in France and, to
some extent, in the United Kingdom, the Government does not undertake recruitment of foreign workers and does not assist them. Nevertheless, immigration is governed by a prescribed procedure under which
the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Justice are responsible for the
delivery of residence permits, and the Ministry of Labour and Social
Welfare for that of employment permits. In formulating policy, the
Minister of Labour consults a Tripartite Committee on Foreign Labour
consisting of government, employer and worker representatives.
In Switzerland, as in Belgium, the authorities supervise, but do not
actively assist in, the recruitment of foreign workers. The federal
structure of the State has resulted in a sharing of administrative responsibility, except as regards the foreign relations aspect. Employment
permits are delivered by the cantonal authorities entrusted with the
control of foreign residents, subject to approval of the cantonal and
federal labour authorities. The federal, and sometimes the cantonal,
authorities are assisted by an advisory committee on which employers
and workers are represented.
The structure of immigration services in western Europe thus varies
greatly from one country to another. As a rule, they are simply control
organs, except in France where they have clearly been designed to serve
state planning objectives.
In the United States, the enforcement of legislative provisions relating
to immigration, except those which reserve certain powers for the Presi-

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dent or entrust specific responsibilities to the Secretary of State or officiais
of the State Department, is normally the responsibility of the AttorneyGeneral, who delegates part of it to the Commissioner of Immigration
and Naturalization. The Immigration and Naturalization Service cooperates closely with the State Department Bureau of Security and
Consular Affairs, which supervises the issuance of visas by the consular
authorities.1
These various administrative organs have only a passive responsibility, which is to ensure that the regulations are properly applied.
However, the emergency laws of 1948 and 1953 led to the development
of government action along more positive lines. The 1948 Act
established a Displaced Persons Commission reporting directly to the
President, with authority to organise the immigration and settlement of
refugees entitled to admission under the Act. This was done in liaison
with the regular administrative agencies concerned, the International
Refugee Organisation and a large number of voluntary organisations.
The 1953 Act empowered the State Department to take certain measures
aimed at facilitating the movement and settlement of immigrants
admitted under the Act and to conclude agreements for this purpose
with the governments concerned and with the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration. Seasonal farm immigration, finally,
is covered by a special scheme and to that extent may be said to be
" organised ".
Organised immigration, however, is far more developed in Canada.
The scheme includes an Inter-Departmental Advisory Committee on
Immigration, placed under the chairmanship of the Deputy Minister
of the Department of Citizenship and Immigration, and including
officials of that department and of others concerned, i.e. External
Affairs, Labour, National Health and Welfare, and Finance. This
Committee offers advice on immigration policy and helps to co-ordinate
the work of the various departments. Responsibility for the execution
of immigration policy is largely in the hands of the Immigration Branch
of the Department of Citizenship and Immigration, which draws up
programmes of admission, makes the necessary approaches to foreign
governments, selects applicants and, where necessary, provides transport,
reception, guidance and placement assistance for immigrants. Outside
Canada, the Immigration Branch maintains missions in Europe including
an office in London, whose sphere of activity in some cases extends beyond
the United Kingdom and includes continental Europe. The respons1

The 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act has established a Joint Congressional Committee consisting of five representatives and five senators who study
immigration problems and submit periodical reports to both Houses of Congress.

ORGANISED AND ASSISTED MIGRATION

279

ibility of the Labour Department, on the other hand, is confined to
supplying information on employment opportunities in Canada to the
Immigration Branch and directly to the workers concerned through
its offices in Europe, and also to taking part in selection operations. The
Department of National Health and Labour, in co-operation with the
Immigration Branch, conducts medical examinations locally, and the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police examines the applicants' records of
conduct. Finally, the Citizenship Branch of the Department of Citizenship and Immigration has the responsibility of helping immigrants to
become integrated in the Canadian community.
In Latin America organised immigration has often developed in
conjunction with land settlement policies. In several countries, e.g.
Brazil and Venezuela, the authorities in charge of land settlement also
have responsibilities in the field of immigration, and these sometimes
extend to categories of immigrants other than rural settlers.
In Brazil executive responsibility for immigration matters has since
1954 been entrusted to the National Institute of Immigration and
Settlement, an autonomous body placed under the control of the Ministry
of Agriculture, which has taken over powers previously vested in the
Immigration and Settlement Council, the National Immigration Department of the Ministry of Labour, Industry and Commerce, and the Land
and Settlement Division of the Ministry of Agriculture. The Institute
is composed of an executive board, an advisory committee consisting
of eight members representing the various ministries concerned, the Bank
of Brazil and the Brazilian Rural Confederation, and a finance committee. Thus it enjoys considerable independence and is in a position
to co-ordinate the work of the various departments effectively. Its
powers are far-reaching and include preparing bilateral agreements in
co-operation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ; formulating admission
criteria for the guidance of consular authorities; establishing rules for
police inspection of migrants (in co-operation with the Ministry of
Justice) and for medical examinations (with the Ministry of Public
Health); and carrying out immigration programmes through the various
stages of recruitment, selection, admission and settlement of classes of
immigrants considered desirable.1 Prior to the establishment of the
Institute these functions had been performed by the agencies then
responsible through recruiting missions in Europe and reception centres
in Brazil. Both the missions and the centres now report to the Institute.
Venezuela has a less integrated system. Immigration is controlled,
in the traditional fashion, by the Ministry of Foreign Relations through
1
It also carries out occasional surveys of foreign labour requirements and operates
one or more employment services in each of the various states.

280

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

the diplomatic and consular authorities. These nevertheless receive
instructions from the National Agrarian Institute concerning selection
criteria. This body has since 1949 replaced the former Technical Institute
for Immigration and Settlement. It is attached to the Ministry of
Agriculture and one of its functions is to organise and assist immigration
related directly to its own land settlement programme. For this purpose
it maintains missions in Europe and operates reception centres in
Venezuela.
In Argentina responsibility for immigration has since 1949 been
largely concentrated in the hands of the National Migration Directorate.
Immigration policy is not conditioned by land settlement imperatives
to the same extent as in Venezuela, since these play a far less important
part in development planning. The National Directorate is entrusted
with powers formerly divided among several agencies, namely the
General Migration Board, the Argentine Delegation for Immigration
in Europe and the Immigrant Reception and Settlement Commission.
Its duties include negotiating bilateral agreements and dealing with all
problems of selection, transport, reception and final settlement. Other
agencies assume certain responsibilities in liaison with the National
Directorate ; these include the consular authorities (which issue visas)
and the police. More recently an Inter-Ministerial Advisory Committee
and a National Co-ordinating Committee were set up to promote and
carry out immigrant land settlement and development projects.
In Australia the various executive functions are highly centralised:
since 1945 there has been a Commonwealth Department of Immigration
which since 1949 has been headed by the Minister for Labour and
National Service; moreover, in each state a minister is responsible for
immigration matters falling within the competence of state governments.
The Commonwealth Department of Immigration controls admissions,
formulates and carries out immigration programmes, and is responsible
for aftercare of immigrants admitted under such programmes. It has
set up a number of missions in Europe 1 whose duties include, among
others, selection and transport organisation. State governments are
responsible for checking nominations made by Australian sponsors and
also for the reception of assisted immigrants. In addition, three advisory
bodies assist the federal Government in the formulation of immigration
and assimilation policy. These are the Immigration Advisory Council,
consisting of representatives of trade unions, employers' organisations
and various private associations, which provides advice on assimilation
problems; the Immigration Planning Council which is made up of
1

In London, The Hague, Cologne and Rome.

ORGANISED AND ASSISTED MIGRATION

281

representatives of industry and labour and of economists, and is concerned with immigration problems having economic development
implications; and the Australian Citizenship Convention which meets
annually to discuss civic problems.
In New Zealand responsibility for the implementation of immigration
laws and the execution of immigration programmes also lies with the
Minister of Immigration who, as in Australia, is at the same time
Minister of Labour and Employment. The Immigration Division,
placed under the authority of the Director of Employment, is the agency
specifically responsible, the functions of the customs administration
having been confined since 1951 to exercising control at ports of
entry. Two immigration offices have been established in Europe, one
in the United Kingdom and the other in the Netherlands, to carry out
assisted immigration programmes. An Immigration Advisory Council
which includes representatives of employers' and workers' organisations
has been attached to the Ministry since 1947.
In the Union of South Africa immigration is not " organised " in
the true sense : it is merely supervised by the Minister of the Interior.
An Immigrant Selection Board deals with non-British entrance applications.
Work of Immigration Services
The duties of immigration services vary in scope depending on
whether or not the national policy is one of active promotion. In
the United States, for instance, they normally consist only of selection;
but in other cases they may cover the entire process of recruitment,
transport and placing in employment. In countries pursuing active
immigration policies, the first step, of course, is to make recruiting
arrangements through bilateral agreement, and often to send temporary
or permanent missions abroad to provide information for interested
workers, select suitable candidates and facilitate their movement.
Selection proper, however, remains the chief duty of immigration
services.
This may take place either through the normal diplomatic and
consular channels or through ad hoc missions. The two methods do
not differ fundamentally, although selection missions are more expeditious and effective in the case of large-scale recruiting. Owing to its
recent development, this latter practice is worth discussing briefly, even
though most immigrants are still selected by traditional methods. As a
rule, selection missions consist of specialised officials, who must ascertain
whether or not the candidates fulfil general admission criteria, and of

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INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

physicians who examine them not only from the point of view of general
health but also, in some cases, of suitability for the employment contemplated. Selection officers and physicians are often accompanied by
technical advisers, whose function it is to ascertain the vocational skills
of applicants, and sometimes by police officials charged with detecting
potential security risks. Once all of the particulars have been obtained
they are usually referred to a higher authority—either a regional office
or the central headquarters—for decision.
The work of the mission, of course, varies depending on whether
or not it has to fill a specific demand. Only in the former case does
it perform a genuine recruiting function, e.g. where immigration laws
specify that no foreign worker shall be admitted into the country unless
there is a job waiting for him, as in France, the United Kingdom,
Sweden and the Federal Republic of Germany. Some non-European
countries, e.g. Canada, Australia and Southern Rhodesia, have also
resorted on occasion to such practices when faced with well-defined
and urgent needs for workers in certain industries.
In some cases immigrants are selected in part by private organisations, as in Belgium, where the Federation of Belgian Coal-Mining
Employers recruits on behalf of coal-mining companies. The system
is also used in Africa (particularly the southern part) for the recruitment
of African labour. In the Union of South Africa, for instance, the
Witwatersrand Native Labour Association undertakes the recruitment
of foreign workers in neighbouring territories for the account of various
industrial undertakings, in co-operation with the Government and
subject to its supervision. These private societies also assume responsibility for medical examinations and administrative formalities.
Once the immigrants have been accepted, a wide range of facilities
is usually provided for them by the authorities of the immigration
country. Foremost among these is financial aid towards coverage of
travel expenses. This is an increasingly widespread practice, although
the amounts and methods of financing vary considerably. In Europe,
the travel expenses of workers recruited either by the government or
(in the case of Belgium) by private organisations are wholly covered
by the agencies responsible for selection and reimbursed by the
employers. In Canada the Department of Citizenship and Immigration
only provides loans. The United States Government has contributed
generously towards the transport of refugees and displaced persons
admitted under the emergency relief legislation. In Venezuela immigrants
admitted under the auspices of the National Agrarian Institute have hitherto been sent free of charge to their place of settlement, but have had to pay
their own travel expenses to Venezuela. In Argentina, the passage of

ORGANISED AND ASSISTED MIGRATION

283

the Italian immigrants who entered under the bilateral agreement of
1948 was paid by the Argentine Government. In Australia the Government pays part of the travel expenses of immigrants selected under
bilateral agreements with the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malta, the
Netherlands, Italy, the Federal Republic of Germany, and under the
special arrangements with Greece; the balance is borne by the immigrants, the governments of countries of origin and the Intergovernmental
Committee for European Migration, which is a third party to some of
these arrangements. The Government of New Zealand grants free
passage to certain categories of British immigrants and pays part of the
expenses in the case of certain Dutch immigrants. In Africa recruiting
societies provide free transport for the workers to their place of employment.
Often, the immigration authorities provide additional services for
immigrants during the voyage ; these may include payment of personal
maintenance expenses, medical supervision on board ship and sometimes
language and orientation courses. Further assistance is often provided
on arrival, e.g. at reception centres where immigrants are temporarily
housed and fed free of charge or at a nominal cost. Arrangements
of this kind exist in France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Venezuela,
Brazil, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. Immigration services
also undertake, where necessary, to help new arrivals find jobs. Canada
and Australia are particularly well organised in this respect.
Financial assistance to immigrants sometimes covers not only travel
but also establishment expenses, usually in the form of direct government loans or government-guaranteed bank loans. Such assistance has
been a feature of some land settlement schemes in Latin America.
Selected immigrants receive loans to cover their establishment and
initial operating expenses, and sometimes also technical assistance from
the government. Such schemes are not, as a rule, organised and financed
solely by the immigration countries, except in Venezuela where they
have been carried through without any outside help. In other countries,
e.g. Brazil, land settlement projects have been the subject of bilateral
arrangements with the countries of origin, the latter providing financial
assistance from either government or private sources. Generally speaking, however, government assistance towards the establishment either
of land settlers or other classes of immigrants has not so far reached
significant proportions.
Similarly, comparatively little has been accomplished in the field
of vocational training : the problem in immigration countries is regarded '
primarily as one of practical, on-the-job adjustment for which the
employer is responsible. Vocational training centres for adults, where

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INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

they exist, are, of course, open to foreigners, and apart from this there
have been instances during the past few years where immigration countries have helped technically and financially to operate training programmes for prospective emigrants, either directly under bilateral agreements or, more often, under tripartite arrangements made through
I.C.E.M. Some countries, e.g. Canada and Australia, have also
organised language and civic education courses for immigrants.
In spite of the considerable efforts made by governments to assist
immigrants, voluntary organisations have continued to play a dominant
role in many areas such as preparation and financing of the journey,
reception and, above all, placement. They also sponsor welfare and
cultural activities to help the immigrants adjust to their new surroundings.
Statistical analysis raises the same problems in the case of assisted
immigration as in that of emigration. Immigration in most countries
is organised to such an extent that there are few, if any, immigrants who
do not receive government assistance in one form or another. The only
data seriously worth considering, therefore, are those relating to the
main form of assistance, i.e. payment of travel costs.
In France, such assistance is available to all immigrant workers
moved by the National Immigration Office and to their families. All
officially registered immigrants could therefore be counted as assisted
immigrants, were it not for the fact that the figures also include irregular,
and hence unassisted, entries subsequently regularised by the Office.1
In the United Kingdom immigrants recruited under collective programmes have received some forms of government assistance, e.g.
hostel accommodation, but travel expenses have been paid by employers.
In Canada, elaborate provisions have been made for reception
and placement. Moreover, between the entry into force of the assisted
passage scheme in February 1951 and the end of 1955 nearly 32,000
immigrants received loans totalling more than 5 million dollars under
its provisions. In the United States German expellees admitted under
the Displaced Persons Act of 1948 were assisted out of funds provided
by the Displaced Persons Commission. In Venezuela the National
Agrarian Institute, between its establishment in 1949 and the end of
1956, contributed financially to the establishment of more than 45,000
persons. This figure, however, represents a fairly small fraction of total
immigration during the period considered. Moreover, as already
mentioned, this assistance did not extend to the oversea journey: the
dependants of immigrants already established in Venezuela were about
the only persons to receive such aid; this was done under a family
1
It will be recalled that even in the case of movements organised by the Office
transport costs are ultimately borne by the employers.

ORGANISED AND ASSISTED MIGRATION

285

regrouping programme carried out with I.C.E.M. assistance. In Brazil
the National Institute of Immigration and Settlement assisted some
30,000 immigrants from late 1954 until early 1956, contributing financially towards their passage ; but the number of immigrants who have
received passage assistance since 1952—mainly under I.C.E.M. schemes,
most of which antedate the Institute's foundation—is much higher. In
the case of Argentina the only available figures relate to immigration
assisted by I.C.E.M. since 1952, mostly under government-sponsored
schemes for the reuniting of families. In Australia transport assistance
reached considerable proportions: from 1947 to 1956 the Government
contributed financially to the movement of 600,000 immigrants, i.e.
about three-fifths of the total figure, under a series of programmes
drawn up on a bilateral, and later, with the assistance of I.C.E.M., on
a trilateral basis. New Zealand has, on a more modest scale, pursued a
similar policy: some 45,000 immigrants, i.e. more than 20 per cent, of
the total immigration figure, were moved either wholly or partly at
government expense. Most of these were British, the remainder consisting of Netherlands nationals and displaced persons.

Bilateral and Multilateral Agreements
Another major development in the field of government-organised
and sponsored migration has been the conclusion of many bilateral
and a few multilateral agreements concerning the organisation of
movements and the economic and legal status of immigrants in their
new homeland. Formerly, migration provisions were included in
friendship, trade or navigation treaties, and a number of establishment and
labour treaties concluded between European countries contained clauses
defining the rights of nationals of either contracting party living and
working on the territory of the other. However, agreements having the
joint organisation of migratory movements as their primary purpose are
a new development in international law, just as are bilateral and multilateral social security agreements.
TREATIES

Friendship, trade and navigation treaties, which contain clauses
defining the rights of citizens of either contracting party on the territory
of the other are comparatively few and of limited practical significance.
Such treaties have recently been concluded between a number of countries of Europe and Latin America. Another example is the friendship
treaty concluded in 1955 between Japan and Cambodia which provides,

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INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

among other economic and cultural clauses, for the admission of Japanese
nationals to Cambodia as farm settlers, fishermen and craftsmen.
Many bilateral treaties of establishment have in the past been concluded between European countries, the greater part by far before the war.
These treaties usually grant foreigners the right of entry into, residence
and travel in, and departure from, the country concerned, but usually
specify that such rights shall be as defined in existing laws; their practical
significance nowadays is accordingly slight. The same may be said of
treaties granting certain foreign nationals the right to engage in a gainful
occupation. Only clauses providing for the return to their countries
of origin of foreigners expelled by the authorities constitute an exception
to this rule.
Finally, bilateral labour treaties have been concluded between
certain countries, mainly in western Europe between the two wars,
although France has concluded two such treaties since 1946: with
Switzerland and with the Netherlands. These treaties have a more
direct bearing on migration since they deal with such matters as recruiting
procedures, conditions of residence, employment, working conditions,
social insurance and welfare, and repatriation.
MIGRATION AND RECRUITING AGREEMENTS

The proliferation of migration and recruiting agreements since 1946
is due to several reasons. Foremost among these is the increasing
tendency of immigration countries to entrust selection of migrants to
ad hoc missions rather than to the diplomatic and consular authorities :
the work of these missions clearly depends on mutual co-operation
between the governments concerned. Another reason has been the
need to organise and finance increasingly large movements, and the
resulting awareness on the part of governments with common immigration and emigration interests of the need for co-ordinating their activities and sharing expenses according to a mutually agreed plan. A third
factor has been the almost universal practice of currency exchange
restrictions and the need for special provisions to permit the transfer
of savings. Finally, the progress of social security has made it necessary
to harmonise benefits in the various countries, and many countries
have in fact concluded special agreements for this purpose.
Migration agreements are of many different kinds. Some are general,
while others cover specific classes of workers : an example of the latter
is the agreement concluded by France and Italy in February 1946
concerning the recruitment of Italian workers for French mines. Some
agreements are concerned with migration movements in general while

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287

others cover only frontier movements (e.g. the 1949 agreement between
France and Belgium and the 1952 agreement between Germany and
Belgium) or seasonal ones (e.g. the 1951 agreement, since amended
on several occasions, between the United States and Mexico). While
some agreements are concluded for an indefinite period, subject to
unilateral denunciation, they constitute an exception rather than the
rule; periods of validity, however, may differ considerably. Less
commonly, a limit is placed on the number of persons to be admitted;
this is the general practice in the case of agreements covering very
short periods such as those concluded by France in 1947 and 1948
with the British and American Occupation authorities in Germany
for the recruitment of German workers. Finally, governments may not
be the sole parties to migration agreements : many have been concluded
between governments and, first, the I.R.O. and, later, I.C.E.M. In
Africa the contracting parties are, as a rule, the territorial administrations concerned. In some cases one of the parties may be a private
person or body. Thus, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has,
with the agreement of the Brazilian Government, concluded agreements
with Japanese settlers in Brazil aimed at promoting further immigration
of Japanese agricultural workers, and in Africa recruiting agreements
have been concluded between territorial governments and certain
private recruiting agencies.
In spite of the variety of forms in which they occur, most migration
agreements have a number of common features which are briefly
analysed below. Agreements concerned exclusively with social security
matters are dealt with separately in a further section.
Most agreements contain provisions limiting their duration and
sometimes also the number of persons covered. Where the latter is
not specified, agreements commonly require the parties to exchange
periodical information concerning manpower needs and availabilities.
This, for instance, is a strict obligation under the Franco-Italian agreement of 1951.
More important are the qualifications required of the migrants
—even though many agreements merely repeat the conditions already
stipulated in the laws of the immigration country, at least as regards
age and health. However, while national health standards are usually
rigidly adhered to, a more lenient attitude may be adopted in the case
of age, i.e. a higher age limit may be fixed with respect to certain groups
such as workers with particular skills or (as in the 1946 agreement
between Australia and the United Kingdom) heads of large families.
A few agreements, such as the two concluded in 1948 by Italy with the
Netherlands and with Luxembourg, for the recruitment of Italian

288

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

miners and agricultural workers respectively, provide that, unless
suitable housing is available, bachelors shall be accorded preferential
treatment. More important still are the clauses which relate to vocational qualifications ; these are usually more detailed and more stringent
than those contained in existing laws, since immigration countries
providing special advantages, e.g. financial contributions towards
transport costs, for workers recruited under bilateral agreements,
naturally expect some assurance that the immigrants will make a useful
and effective contribution to the economy. Just how stringent these
conditions are naturally depends on whether the purpose of the agreement is to recruit workers requested by employers for specific jobs or
simply to select immigrants who, once admitted, will be left to find
work for themselves.
The basic factor underlying most agreements, however, is the need
for administrative co-operation between the countries concerned with
recruitment and selection. Under many existing agreements—e.g. those
between France and Italy, the 1954 agreement between France and Greece,
and the 1955 agreement between the Federal Republic of Germany
and Italy—pre-selection is a responsibility of the emigration country.
This is followed by the process of selection proper, under the responsibility of the immigration authorities. There are, however, some exceptions: thus, the 1954 agreement between Italy and Belgium for the
recruitment of coal miners calls only for a single medical examination
by Belgian physicians.
In no case do agreements provide for participation by the emigration
authorities in the work of final selection. On the other hand, some of
them give employers the right to be present at selection operations either
occasionally or as permanent advisers.
In the case of recruiting for individual employers, agreements may
provide that, if a candidate selected by the immigration authorities is
not accepted by the prospective employer, the immigration authorities
shall undertake to find alternative employment for him or, if this is not
possible, to repatriate him. A similar provision usually applies in the
event that the worker loses his employment owing to disability arising
in the course of his work.
The provision of information for prospective migrants may also be
covered by bilateral arrangements, sometimes as a responsibility of one
of the contracting parties, sometimes as a joint obligation of both.
In addition, many agreements assign responsibilities to the immigration
authorities with respect to reception, placement, contracts of employment, repatriation, and observance of the generally accepted principle
of equal treatment for national and foreign workers.

ORGANISED AND ASSISTED MIGRATION

289

Another extremely important aspect of migration agreements concerns the financing of transport. In some cases—e.g. the agreements
concluded by Australia and New Zealand with the United Kingdom—this
constitutes the heart of the agreement. Methods of financing vary widely.
In the case of migrants recruited for specific employers the latter often
have to bear the whole of the expense, as is done under the agreements
concluded by Italy with France and Belgium. Where there is no recruiting
in the proper sense, provision is usually made for the expense to be shared
in varying proportion between the immigration country (which usually
bears the greater part), the emigration country and the individual
migrant. There are cases, however, in which the emigration country has
no financial obligations, e.g. Italy under the 1948 agreement with
Argentina. In other cases the immigration country pays part of the
transport expenses by unilateral decision and in the absence of any
formal agreement. Such assistance was extended by Australia in 1948
to Irish nationals, in 1954 to Scandinavian, Swiss and American immigrants and by New Zealand in 1947 to British immigrants, the latter
scheme having been expanded on several occasions. Sometimes no
contribution at all is required of the migrants, as in the case of certain
British movements to Australia and New Zealand and of Italian immigrants entering Argentina under the 1948 agreement. Finally, trie
transport assistance provisions of bilateral agreements are not usually
confined to the workers themselves but extend in greater or lesser
degree to their families, subject in some cases to the availability of
suitable housing.
Other important provisions of migration agreements have to do with
the transfer of savings, and sometimes family benefits, from immigration
countries applying currency restrictions. Such agreements, while
recognising the right to make such transfers, subject them to specified
limits and other conditions. Some agreements also contain social
security clauses, although there is an increasing tendency to regulate
these matters through special instruments.
Finally, many agreements provide for the establishment of committees to supervise their enforcement, settle any differences which may
arise and suggest any necessary changes.
SOCIAL SECURITY AGREEMENTS

An emigrant leaving his country of origin ceases to be covered by
the social security scheme in that country and often loses his accrued
rights thereunder. At the same time, in the immigration country he may
find himself assimilated for social security purposes to a person entering

290

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

employment for the first time. The aim of international social security
agreements and social security clauses contained in migration agreements
is to minimise the prejudice thus incurred by amending existing social
security laws. Many such agreements have been concluded since 1946,
particularly in Europe, and more especially in western Europe, where
they now constitute a highly comprehensive network of mutual obligations. One of these is a multilateral agreement concluded in 1949
between the five Brussels treaty powers, which co-ordinates the provisions of earlier Conventions concluded on a bilateral basis.1
Social security agreements usually cover the entire field of social
insurance and insurance against industrial accidents and occupational
diseases; sometimes they also extend to family benefits and unemployment insurance. They cover not only the establishment but also the
maintenance of rights, including acquired rights and rights in course of
acquisition.
Such agreements may deal with either temporary or permanent
migrants. In the case of the former (e.g. seasonal workers) their purpose
is to ensure coverage against personal and occupational risks comparable to that enjoyed by nationals of the immigration country and
to provide adequately for dependants remaining in the immigrant's
country of origin ; in the case of permanent movements most agreements
provide for the totalisation of periods of coverage and a proportionate
sharing of expenses between the countries concerned. Sometimes they
also provide for the transfer of acquired rights from the former country
of residence to that of immigration, as in the case of the arrangements
concerning old-age pensions between the United Kingdom on the one
hand and Australia and New Zealand on the other, and the more recent
agreements between eastern European countries.
Intergovernmental Organisations
International action in the field of migration is an outgrowth of the
political refugee problem which arose immediately after the First World
War. Not only have political refugees ever since been regarded as a
matter of international concern but the extension of international assistance to the field of economic migration followed as a logical further step.
The machinery which was set up to deal with the tremendous refugee problem which arose after the Second World War has already been described.2
1
Since 1957 the six Members of the European Coal and Steel Community have
been parties to this treaty, since converted into a regulation of the European Economic
Community.
s
See above, Chapters II and IV.

ORGANISED AND ASSISTED MIGRATION

291

In addition to the difficulties raised by the speedy resettlement of
the refugees who had fled to western Europe, however, some European
countries after the war were faced by large manpower surpluses resulting
from the long interruption of traditional migration currents and from
rapid natural population growth. These surpluses could not be readily
absorbed and the need was acutely felt for international action to help
solve the problem through organised migration.
The initiative was taken by the International Labour Organisation
whose tripartite structure as early as 1919 had set it apart from other
bodies and entrusted it with unique responsibilities, and whose enlarged
objectives, as defined by the Declaration of Philadelphia appended to
the Constitution in 1944, included the promotion of programmes
designed to facilitate " the transfer of labour, including migration for
employment and settlement ". In April 1950 the Organisation accordingly
convened a conference for a preliminary exchange of views on the
problem. This was the starting point for many new international activities
in the migration field. A group of countries belonging to both the
O.E.E.C. and the I.L.O. placed nearly 1 million dollars at the disposal
of the latter to enable it to develop its activities in the migration field and
above all, to supply advice on migration and related problems to governments requesting it. For nearly two years such technical assistance,
covering not only migration questions but also the organisation of the
employment market and vocational training for prospective emigrants,
was provided through missions of experts set up in Bonn, Rome and
Vienna and through a group of experts attached to the I.L.O. Latin
American Field Office. Pursuant to the conclusions of the 1950 conference and with a view to strengthening international action the I.L.O.
called a second conference which met at Naples in October 1951. This
conference had before it a programme aimed at facilitating European
migration movements, both economic and political, and at solving
various problems directly or indirectly related to such movements.
The programme, however, was not discussed by the conference
owing to the opposition of certain governments. Another international
conference, held at Brussels in November 1951 on the initiative of the
United States and Belgium, decided to set up a new organisation to
dispose finally of the refugee problem and to tackle that of European
overpopulation. A Provisional Intergovernmental Committee for
the Movement of Migrants from Europe (P.I.C.M.M.E.) accordingly
began to operate in the early part of 1952, using the administrative
machinery of the International Refugee Organisation, and in the following year became the Inter-governmental Committee for European
Migration (I.C.E.M.). Its establishment marked a new departure in the

292

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

field of internationally sponsored migration. Whereas formerly operational activities had been confined to political refugees and limited, in
the case of others, to protection and information (of the kind provided
under the auspices of the I.L.O.), the new organisation from the outset
assumed responsibility for migration planning and assistance on a vast
scale. The considerable part which I.C.E.M. has continued to play
over the past few years should not, however, be allowed to overshadow
the work done in related fields by other bodies; this will be discussed
at a later stage.
THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL COMMITTEE FOR EUROPEAN MIGRATION

The Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration, set up
under a resolution adopted on 5 December 1951 by the Brussels Conference, initially consisted of 14 members.1 Today it has 27 2 divided
into three groups, namely European emigration countries, non-European
immigration countries and sympathising countries. Its constitution was
adopted in October 1953 and entered into force in November 1954.
The purpose and functions of the Committee as defined in Chapter I
of its constitution are " to make arrangements for the transport of
migrants for whom existing facilities are inadequate " and " . . . to
promote the increase of the volume of migration from Europe by providing, at the request of and in agreement with the governments concerned, services in the processing, reception, first placement and settlement of migrants which other international organisations are not in a
position to supply, and such other assistance to this purpose as is in
accord with the aims of the Committee".
The budget of the Committee consists of two parts : an administrative
part, financed by compulsory contributions from member governments
which are fixed according to an agreed scale; and an operational part,
which is by far the larger and consists of voluntary or negotiable contributions paid by governments interested in specific programmes, and
contributions from voluntary organisations and the emigrants themselves
or their sponsors.
The major source of operational income consists of government
contributions which are based on the number of migrants or refugees
moved with the assistance of the Committee. The contribution of the
United States ($74.90 for each migrant transported), however, is not
1
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Federal Republic of Germany,
France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Switzerland and United States.
2
The following countries joined subsequently: Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica,
Denmark, Israel, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, the Federation of Rhodesia and
Nyasaland, Spain, Sweden, Uruguay and Venezuela.

ORGANISED AND ASSISTED MIGRATION

293

limited to persons proceeding to that country, but extends to all migrants
or refugees moved by the Committee. The other governments concerned
pay contributions based on the number of persons having emigrated
or immigrated. Migrants able to do so personally contribute a modest
amount (50 dollars for the head of the family and less for its members)
towards their travel costs; sometimes a loan is made to them prior to
their departure but must be reimbursed after their arrival in the country
of destination. Other facilities provided by the Committee at either end
of the journey and in direct relation with it, as well as technical assistance
and grants to voluntary organisations, are financed without reference
to the number of persons moved.
The Committee has its headquarters in Geneva and operates missions
in all countries covered by its activities in and out of Europe. It requires
a large maritime and air transport fleet to move European emigrants
and in so doing uses normal commercial facilities, so far as possible;
in addition, however, it charters its own ships and planes, its position
as a major charterer enabling it to secure particularly favourable
financial terms and physical transport conditions. Like the I.R.O., it
employs escort personnel who provide welfare and medical services
for emigrants during the voyage.
Migrants moved by the Committee are divided into two categories :
the so-called " spontaneous " migrants, whom it aids either directly
or through voluntary organisations and—by far the more numerous—
those who move under programmes sponsored by overseas immigration
countries. With respect to the latter, the Committee acts as a third
party to the arrangements between the governments concerned, on whose
behalf it undertakes certain planning and assistance functions in return
for contributions to its budget. Thus it has played an important part
in the execution of the immigration programme established in the
United States under the Refugee Relief Act of 1953, family regrouping
schemes sponsored by several Latin American countries and Australian
assisted immigration projects which were originally to have been carried
out on a purely bilateral basis and included immigrants from Germany,
the Netherlands, Italy, Greece and Malta. More recently, the
Committee has played a major part in [the evacuation of Hungarian
refugees.1
The work of the Committee, however, has by no means been confined
—indeed it is less and less confined—to making transport arrangements.
It has had, for instance, to explore ways and means of developing and
improving European migration by promoting agricultural settlement in
1

See above, Chapter II.

294

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

several Latin American countries and by helping governments to improve
their administrative machinery in such fields as pre-selection, selection,
reception and placement; in one country—Greece—it has even assumed
direct responsibility for providing complete emigration services. Technical
assistance is being provided to an increasing extent in such fields as
information, guidance, selection, vocational training and placement.
In order to provide adequate information for migrants on living and
working conditions in countries of destination and to prepare them
for their future life there, the Committee resorts to every available
medium, including manuals and other printed matter, moving pictures
and the wireless. It also helps with recruitment by taking part in preselection and selection operations. In Italy, continuing the work initiated
by the I.L.O., it has trained 40 employment service officials in preselection methods. In addition, several experts attached to its local
mission participated as required in subsequent operations, including
selection. Scientific selection methods, including vocational aptitude
tests, were developed for this purpose. The Committee has also made
great efforts to develop vocational training for prospective emigrants,
e.g. in Greece and, with I.L.O. co-operation, in Italy and has thus been
largely responsible for increasing the migratory flow to Latin America
and the Commonwealth countries. In order to fit the training, so far as
possible, to the actual needs of immigration countries, a joint I.L.O.I.C.E.M. inquiry mission was sent in 1956 to various Latin American
countries to collect data concerning the standards which skilled workers
in those countries should meet and the wage level required to
enable such workers to enjoy a standard of living comparable to that
which they had in Europe. In 1957 a special meeting was convened
by the Committee to discuss technical problems arising out of the
vocational training of migrants. This meeting, in which a number of
European emigration countries, some Latin American immigration
countries and various international organisations participated, reviewed
existing skilled labour requirements and the possibility of meeting them.
The Committee has also organised language courses and prepared
language training manuals. Einally, : .it. : has helped several Latin
American countries, in particular Brazil, Argentina and Colombia^
to organise and develop appropriate services for the placement • of
migrants.
^
The activities of I.C.E.M. have constantly expanded. In its early
days it was concerned primarily with the resettlement of refugees whose
cases the I.R.O. had not been able to settle definitively, and played
a correspondingly modest role in the organisation of ordinary migration.
However, this latter phase of its work expanded rapidly: whereas in 1953

295

ORGANISED AND ASSISTED MIGRATION

TABLE 91.

MIGRANTS MOVED WITH I.C.E.M. ASSISTANCE,
O F ORIGIN A N D DESTINATION, 1952-57 1
(In thousands)

COUNTRIES

Total
1952

Countries

1953

1954

1955

1956

1957
Absolute
Perfigures centages

Countries of Drigin

Europe :
Austria
Federal Republic of
Germany
Greece
Italy
Netherlands
. . . .
Spain
Other countries 2 . . .

11.0

5.5

6.4

12.3

47.7

49.3

132.3

17.3

38.0
0.5
12.3
10.1

40.3
4.1
22.3
2.3

34.9
11.8
54.0
1.3

21.9
14.1
45.9
12.7

—

9.4

11.2

12.9

32.7
11.9
39.4
12.6
0.1
16.2

20.4
8.6
43.4
9.1
10.4
49.8

188.1
51.0
217.2
48.2
10.6
104.3

24.6
6.7
28.5
6.3
1.4
13.7

. . .

76.6

84.0

119.6

119.8

160.6

191.0

751.6

98.5

. . . .

1.0
0.1

3.3
0.2

1.5
0.1

0.6
0.1

1.2
0.2

3.0
0.1

10.5
0.8

1.4
0.1

Total . . .

77.7

87.5

121.2

120.4

162.0

194.1

762.9

100.0

1.2
0.8

8.7
41.1
6.0
11.3
0.4
0.2
6.3
1.7

18.1
43.7
11.3
46.4
0.8
0.9
14.2
2.1

80.8
205.1
65.0
133.5
5.2
1.4
25.9
5.1

10.6
26.9
8.5
17.5
0.7
0.2
3.4
0.7

Total
Far East
Miscellaneous

4.8

—

Countries of destination

Overseas :
Argentina
Australia
Brazil
Canada
Chile
Colombia

0.5
15.5
9.8
8.7
1.3

9.0
13.3
12.7
36.9
0.8
0.1
2.4

29.3
37.8
16.4
21.3
0.8
0.1
1.0

—

0.2

0.4
0.2

1.9
0.3

1.8
2.9

4.2
4.0

0.5
0.5

38.1

—

1.5
0.8

6.4
0.1
3.9
0.8

7.2
0.4
5.3
0.6

20.5
2.8
5.0
0.3

54.3
1.7
4.9
0.3

27.2
2.3
8.6
0.7

153.7
7.3
29.2
3.5

20.1
1.0
3.8
0.5

—

New Zealand . . . .
Central African
Federation
. . . .
Union of South Africa
United States of
America
Uruguay
Venezuela
Other countries . . .

0.8
0.4
0.1

0.2

15.2
53.8
8.9
8.9
1.0

—

. . .

77.6

86.8

120.5

119.0

139.1

181.0

724.0

94.9

Miscellaneous
European countries .

0.1

0.7

1.4

22.8

13.1

38.8

5.1

Total . . .

77.7

87.5

121.2

120.4

162.0

194.1

762.9

100.0

Total

M February 1952-31 December 1957.

'Including Malta and, for 1957, Yugoslavia (Hungarian refugees).

296

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

less than one-third of all emigration from Austria, the Federal Republic
of Germany, Greece, Italy and the Netherlands was assisted by the
Committee, this figure had risen to about one-half by 1957.
The statistics given in table 91 illustrate this trend, bringing out the
importance of refugee movements from Germany and Austria, Italian
emigration to Latin America under family regrouping schemes, Italian,
Dutch and Greek movements under the Australian programme, and
the impact of the recent accession of Spain to membership in the Committee. The table also shows that the largest numbers of migrants were
moved to Australia (26.9 per cent, of the total), the United States (20.1
per cent., largely under the Displaced Persons Act, for the execution
of which a Committee became responsible following the disappearance
of the I.R.O., and other refugee relief laws) and to Canada (17.5
per cent.). Movements to Latin America were smaller, particularly
those to Venezuela. Altogether, from 1952 to 1957 the Committee
moved more than 760,000 emigrants; of these 250,000 were refugees,
including Hungarians, presumed to come within the mandate of the
United Nations High Commissioner. Finally, it may be noted that
persons moved under family regrouping schemes numbered 164,700
(86 per cent, from Italy), most of whom went to Argentina (47 per cent.),
Brazil (24 per cent.) and Venezuela (17 per cent.).

THE UNITED NATIONS AND ITS SPECIALISED AGENCIES

Within the United Nations family, several organisations have a
direct or indirect interest in migration problems; one of these is the
International Labour Organisation which, apart from its responsibilities
in its own technical field, performs a co-ordinating function. Questions
falling directly within the competence of the United Nations include
the rights of aliens, the demographic, economic and financial aspects
of migration, and some of its social aspects. The I.L.O. is concerned
with all matters connected with the migration of workers and their
families and is empowered to lay down international standards, disseminate information and provide technical assistance in these fields.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is responsible
for the international protection of refugees and administers a
special fund for the financing of projects aimed at solving the refugee
problem permanently. The World Health Organization is entrusted with
the health aspects of migration, the Food and Agricultural Organization
with certain aspects of land settlement schemes and the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization with integration

ORGANISED AND ASSISTED MIGRATION

297

problems. Finally, the International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development is concerned with the financial aspects of migration and
is empowered to advance funds for thefinancingof certain programmes.
Apart from the activities already mentioned and in keeping with its
constitutional obligations, the I.L.O. immediately after the war tackled
the problem of the revision of pre-war international instruments which
subsequent social developments had rendered obsolete. In 1949 the
International Labour Conference adopted a new Convention and a new
Recommendation on migration for employment.1 Both instruments lay
down general principles concerning information, recruitment, selection,
transport, reception, placement, repatriation, and migration of families.
The Convention, while making separate provision for workers recruited
collectively under government sponsorship and persons recruited on an
individual basis, lays down the fundamental rule, applicable to all, that
no migrant shall be treated less favourably than nationals of the immigration country in respect of remuneration and other conditions of employment, trade union membership, housing, social security and taxes. The
Recommendation is more detailed and lays down three cardinal principles : first, that the policy of member countries should be " to develop
and utilise all possibilities of employment and for this purpose to facilitate
the international distribution of manpower and in particular the movement of manpower from countries which have a surplus of manpower
to those countries that have a deficiency " ; secondly, that the measures
taken by each member country " should have due regard to the manpower situation in the country " and that " the Government should
consult the appropriate organisations of employers and workers on all
general questions concerning migration for employment " ; and thirdly,
that where restrictions are placed on the employment of migrant workers,
such restrictions should so far as possible be lifted after the worker has
completed a prescribed period of residence in the country, in principle
not exceeding five years. Appended to the Recommendation is a model
agreement on temporary and permanent migration for employment,
including migration of refugees and displaced persons, for use by governments wishing to conclude bilateral migration agreements. A similar
model agreement, together with a number of basic principles, was drawn
up in 1950 with respect to land settlement.
Special international standards were also adopted in 1955 for the
benefit of migrant workers from underdeveloped countries or terri1
The Migration for Employment Convention (Revised), 1949, and the Migration
for Employment Recommendation (Revised), 1949. On 1 June 1959 the Convention
had heen ratified by the following 11 countries: Belgium, Cuba, France, Guatemala,
Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the United Kingdom and
Uruguay.

298

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

tories; they are embodied in a Recommendation 1 intended to cover
more particularly movements taking place within Asia, Africa and Latin
America and containing provisions aimed at protecting migrants during
their journey and at providing various other forms of protection, discouraging movements contrary to the interests of the workers and their
countries of origin, and settling them permanently in their territories of
destination.
Moreover, pending the adoption of detailed regulations concerning
equal treatment for foreigners under national social security schemes,
a number of general principles have been embodied in the Social Security
(Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952.
Finally, the Preliminary Migration Conference of 1950 arrived at a
number of conclusions concerning the practical organisation of migration at the national level; a further result was the production of a vast
amount of technical literature for the guidance of responsible agencies,
which has occasionally inspired, first, the I.R.O. and later I.C.E.M.
This material includes recommendations concerning the organisation
of medical pre-selection and a definition of medical selection criteria for
certain occupational categories (arrived at with I.R.O., I.C.E.M. and
W.H.O. co-operation); an international standard classification of
occupations designed to provide a valid basis for international job
comparisons; manuals on the organisation of employment services,
with particular reference to immigrant selection and placement; and a
guide for the vocational training of emigrants.
In addition to these technical publications, the I.L.O. has issued
material of more immediate practical interest, such as an analysis of
immigration laws and regulations in various countries 2 and a series
of guides concerning living and working conditions in a few Latin
American countries.
Finally, its purely operational activities have included provision of
technical assistance to help governments improve their emigration or
immigration services, operate vocational training projects for prospective
migrants (e.g. in Italy, Greece and Malta) and solve their manpower
problems in general. Projects of the latter type, though not directly
concerned with migration, have obvious migration implications. They
have in the past included a number of manpower surveys and the setting
up of a regular service to provide information on the labour supply and
demand in certain Latin American countries.
1
The Protection of Migrant Workers (Underdeveloped Countries) Recommendation, 1955.
2
See the list of bibliographical references for Chapter VIII.

ORGANISED AND ASSISTED MIGRATION

299

The I.L.O.'s responsibility for co-ordinating the migration activities of
the various United Nations agencies is discharged through a Technical
Working Group on Migration which reports to the so-called Administrative Committee on Co-ordination, a body grouping the SecretaryGeneral of the United Nations and the executive heads of the specialised
agencies. Representatives of other international organisations, namely
I.C.E.M., the O.E.E.C, the Council of Europe and the Organisation of
American States, have also been associated with the work of the group.
The latter co-ordinates the studies and the information work of the
various bodies concerned, as well as their technical assistance activities.
Its purpose is to ensure better co-ordination of the programmes of the
various organisations, including where appropriate the preparation of
joint projects, and thus to give governments the benefit of more effective
and better-integrated international action.
Apart from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees, whose work has already been described1, the remaining
United Nations agencies play a somewhat more limited role. The
United Nations itself has adopted a Convention concerning the enforcement abroad of personal maintenance obligations and a resolution
dealing with indigent aliens. The W.H.O., in co-operation with the
I.L.O., has formulated medical standards for pre-selection and selection
examinations. Finally, U.N.E.S.C.O. in 1956 convened a world-wide
conference on the cultural integration of immigrants, as a result of
which a manual containing policy recommendations for governments
in this field is now in course of preparation.
EUROPEAN REGIONAL ORGANISATIONS

European regional organisations, foremost among them the O.E.E.C,
have concerned themselves chiefly with the statutory side of the problem,
and in particular the relaxation of immigration regulations.2 The Council
of Europe has prepared, in co-operation with the I.L.O., a series of
interim social security agreements under which the contracting parties
undertake to grant equal treatment to each other's nationals under
their respective social security schemes; the European Convention on
Establishment, drawn up in 1955, has not yet come into force. The
Resettlement Fund established by the Council in 1956 to deal with
the problem of " national refugees and overpopulation " has not so far
exerted any sizeable influence on European migration. It has, however,
advanced moneys for the construction of housing for a group of Italian
1
2

See above Chapter II.
See above, Chapter VII.

300

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

immigrants in France and for the establishment at Verona of a new
migrant assembly and selection centre. The European Coal and Steel
Community, in co-operation with the I.L.O., drew up a social security
Convention in 1957, the provisions of which apply to all migrant workers
travelling among the six countries. The Convention was signed in
Rome on 9 December 1957 and has since been converted into a regulation issued under Article 51 of the treaty establishing the European
Economic Community. Finally, pursuant to Article 69 of the treaty
establishing the European Coal and Steel Community, the governments
concerned have estabUshed an agreed administrative procedure to
facilitate the movements to which this Article applies.
Non-Governmental Organisations
The development of government action at both the national and
international levels has been paralleled by an expansion of the activities
of employers' and workers' associations and voluntary organisations.
EMPLOYERS' AND WORKERS' ORGANISATIONS

Since the war, employers' and—to an even greater extent—workers'
organisations have played an increasingly important part in migration
policy discussions and decisions. Their consultation on such matters
—which is explicitly provided for in the I.L.O. Recommendation of
1949—is a common practice in most major emigration and immigration countries, and even in those where no formal consultation machinery
exists they are always in a position to make themselves heard. At the
international level, trade union and employers' federations not only
participate with full voting rights in the work of such bodies as the
I.L.O., the European Coal and Steel Community and the European
Economic Community, but are associated in an advisory capacity in
the work of the United Nations, the O.E.E.C, I.C.E.M. and the Council
of Europe, where even though they have no voting rights they are in a
position to wield considerable influence.
Employers' organisations have a direct interest in international
migration as a means of relieving population pressures in emigration
countries and providing immigration countries with the labour required
for their development. Their participation does not stop at the formulation of migration policy or recruitment and placement programmes;
sometimes they also recruit directly on their members' behalf or pay
the expenses of the government agency entrusted with such operations
(as in France). In some countries, e.g. Brazil and Colombia, they also
play an active part in determining what manpower requirements cannot
be filled through the domestic employment market.

ORGANISED AND ASSISTED MIGRATION

301

The part played by workers' organisations is, of course, more
important still owing to the repercussions of migration on the living
and working conditions of workers in both emigration and immigration
countries, and also to the fact that migrants are usually more in need
of protection than other workers. Such organisations—particularly the
International Federation of Christian Trade Unions, the International
Confederation of Free Trade Unions and their affiliated occupational
or inter occupational bodies—are guided by two major preoccupations:
to ensure that the number of migrants as well as their occupational,
cultural and psychological characteristics are compatible with economic
and social conditions in immigration countries and do not result in a
distortion of the national employment market or any other consequence
prejudicial to the interests of national workers and earlier immigrants ;
and to provide special protection and assistance for the migrants. Such
organisations have consistently come out in favour of properly organised
international migration, calculated to serve this dual purpose, and in
many countries immigration policy and the development of government
responsibility in this field are, to some extent at least, traceable to the
efforts of organised labour.
The type of protection or special assistance provided for migrants
by trade union organisations varies according to the country, the needs
of the migrants and the resources of the organisations. Their aim is
generally to facilitate the occupational adjustment and social integration
of the immigrants and also to protect them against discrimination and
other abuses. Trade unions, moreover, take steps to ensure that the
generally recognised principle of equal treatment for national and foreign
workers is respected ; they also assist immigrants in solving any occupational or social problem arising out of their relations with the employer
or the authorities. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of their action is
often limited by the reluctance of immigrant workers to join local
unions.1
VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS

Far from diminishing the importance of voluntary organisations, the
extension of government responsibility in the migration field has contributed to develop their activities as an essential adjunct of government
action.
1

For further information on the work of international trade union organisations
in this field, see the reports of the congresses of the various international
organisations
mentioned. See also A. OBLATH: The Attitude of Workers'1 Organisations to Immigration (mimeographed), paper submitted to the Third International Catholic Migration
Congress, Assisi, September 1957.

302

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

Many of the organisations confine their assistance to specific religious
or occupational groups of migrants.1 Some, however, extend their
services to all indiscriminately.2
These organisations provide assistance in many forms, including
information and guidance; vocational and language training; financial
guarantees, where required by immigration laws; protection during the
journey; reception, placement and assistance to facilitate adjustment;
and legal assistance. They have all played an active part in family
regrouping schemes.
During the immediate post-war years, such organisations contributed
greatly to the resettlement of refugees, particularly in the United States.
More recently, while continuing their work on behalf of refugees they
have also helped many ordinary emigrants particularly by facilitating
their psychological and vocational preparation for emigration and their
adjustment to their new life in the country of destination. Such
organisations co-operate with governments, I.C.E.M. and the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
The need for co-ordinating the activities of these organisations was
felt as early as 1924, when a Permanent International Conference of
Private Organisations for the Protection of Migrants was established
under the auspices of the International Labour Office. A similar coordinating body was set up in 1950 at the joint suggestion of the United
Nations and the I.L.O. : this is the Conference of Non-Governmental
Organisations Interested in Migration which has already met six times
under the auspices of these two bodies and has adopted many resolutions
as a result of its discussions. A permanent liaison committee co-ordinates
the work of these various organisations and maintains the necessary
contact with intergovernmental agencies. Arising out of the resolutions
of the Conference, minimum standards of protection for migrants during
their journey have been adopted, as well as general and special principles
governing other forms of protection, and a centre for the co-ordination
of migrant legal assistance has been attached to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Bibliographical References
This chapter is based on unpublished I.L.O. material.
1
Such organisations include the International Catholic Migration Commission,
the National Catholic Welfare Conference in the United States, the Lutheran World
Federation, the World Council of Churches, the United H.I.A.S. Service, the
American Joint Distribution Committee, the International Labour Assistance and
the Catholic Italian Workers' Association.
2
These include the International Social Service, the International Committee of
the Red Cross and the League of Red Cross Societies.

SECTION C
EFFECTS OF ECONOMIC MIGRATION
CHAPTER X
DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS
The economic migration currents of the post-war period have
represented only a minor factor in the demographic evolution of the
world as a whole : neither the geographical distribution of the
population by continent and within each continent nor, with the exception of Oceania, the demographic expansion of any one continent were
noticeably affected. However, in a number of individual countries, the
demographic effects of these movements were noteworthy, and in some
they were considerable ; it is with these that the numerical analyses in this
chapter are mainly concerned.
Only as regards the direct effects of recent migration on population
volume, age structure and sex structure, and on the volume and composition of the labour force do available statistics add up to a fairly
definite picture; their indirect effects, i.e. their repercussions on natural
population trends, are at best a matter for conjecture based on migration statistics by age and sex.
Effects on the Size of the Population
ANALYSIS BY CONTINENT

Only European emigration, the greater part of which has gone to
swell the population of America and Oceania, has had a noticeable
effect on the distribution of population among the continents. However,
except in Oceania, the effects of intercontinental migration have been
practically negligible in comparison with natural growth, as shown by
table 92.
Thus, for Europe, net emigration amounted to about 1.4 per cent.
•of the 1946 population figure and considerably less than the natural

304

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

TABLE 92. WORLD POPULATION, BY CONTINENT, IN 1946 AND 1957,
AND BALANCE OF INTERCONTINENTAL MIGRATION
IN THE INTERVENING PERIOD
(In millions)
Population figure
Continent or
major region

Africa
America
Asia
Oceania
U.S.S.R
1

In 1946

In 1957

185.0
300.0
1,302.0
379.0
11.8
175.0

225.0
381.0
1,556.0
414.0
15.4
204.0

Total
population
increase

• + 40.0
+ 81.0
+254.0
+ 35.0
+ 3.6
+ 29.0

Net
immigration

+0.5
+4.4 1
-0.5
-5.4
+ 1.0

Exclusive of movements towards Israel.

increase for two years, while in America net immigration produced an
increase of 1.5 per cent, over the 1946 figure, which was considerably
less than the natural increase for one year. In Oceania, on the other
hand, immigration produced a very high increase: 9.3 per cent, of the
1946 population, or more than the increase resulting from natural
growth over a period of five years.
With respect to the distribution of population within the different
continents, the movements of the last 12 years, with their widely differing effect on various countries, caused particularly noticeable changes
in Europe and Oceania. In Europe emigration has appreciably decreased
the population of the southern countries—by more than 2.5 million
since 1946, or the equivalent of about one-quarter of the natural growth
for this part of Europe between 1946 and 1957. The effects of economic
migration were also considerable in central Europe (Western Germany,
Austria and Switzerland), where their net result was to decrease the
1946 population (amounting to about 55 milhon) by more than 1.3
million. In north-western Europe, on the other hand, losses by emigration were largely offset by gains resulting from intercontinental and
transcontinental immigration, the net result being positive for a few
countries (France, Belgium and Sweden) and negative for the others.
In Oceania the population was increased by immigration only in
Australia and New Zealand. In America, lastly, population gains due
to migratory movements were much higher in North America, where
they amounted to 3.4 million (2.4 million for the United States and
1 million for Canada) for a 1946 population figure of 153 million,
than in South America where they do not appear to have greatly
exceeded 1.4 million for a corresponding figure of 101 milhon, while
Central America lost half a million inhabitants by emigration.

305

DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS

ANALYSIS BY COUNTRY

While post-war economic migration currents had no really important
demographic effects on a continental scale, they did considerably affect
the population of certain countries which were the source or the recipients of relatively strong migratory movements. An attempt has been
made to evaluate the net losses and gains resulting from all migration
movements for each country for which sufficient data are available;
the results are given below.
European Countries
The data in table 93 cover nearly all European countries, except
those of eastern Europe which since 1946 have remained completely
outside the major economic migration currents. These data give an idea
of the part played by external migration in the general evolution of the
T A B L E 93.

POPULATION GROWTH AND NET IMMIGRATION FOR
COUNTRIES,
(In

17 E U R O P E A N

1946-57

thousands)
Estimated net immigration

Country

Austria
Belgium
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany (Fed. Rep.) s
Greece
Ireland
Italy
Malta
Netherlands
Norway
Portugal
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom . . .

1946
population

7,000
8,370
4,100
3,810
40,280
43,950
7,480 <
2,960
45,290
290
9,420
3,120
8,120
27,010
6,720
4,470
49,220

Natural
growth

296
481
497
661
3,538
3,132
1,230
316
5,154
78
1,930
421
1,219
3,524
543
434
3,165

As percentage of
1946 population
In absolute
figures

-330 l
+ 160
-70
-100
+ 350 3
-1,300*
-1503
-380
-1,8003
-60
-125
-403
-400
-480
+ 180
+220 3
-350 3

Total for
entire period

Annual
average

-4.7
+ 1.9
-1.7
-2.6
+0.9
-3.0
-2.0
-12.8
-4.0
-21.0
-1.3
-1.3
-4.9
-1.8
+2.7
+4.9
-0.7

-0.39
+0.16
-0.14
-0.22
+0.07
-0.25
-0.17
-1.07
-0.33
-1.75
-0.11
-0.11
-0.41
-0.15
+0.22
+0.41
-0.06

As percentage of
natural
growth

-111.0
+ 34.0
-14.0
-15.0
+ 10.0
-41.0
-12.0
-120.0
-35.0
-77.0
-6.5
-9.5
-33.0
-14.0
+ 33.0
+51.0
-11.0

N.B. The figures for population and natural growth are taken from the United Nations Demographic Yearbook.
Net immigration has, as a rule, been calculated on the basis of migration statistics, using population statistics as a
countercheck.
1
Except refugees and emigrants to Israel.
* Except national refugees (other than those arriving through Austria),
foreign refugees and emigrants to Israel.
• Margin of error greater than 5 per cent, in either direction possible, owing
to incompleteness of migration statistics.
' 1949 figure.

306

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

population. They cover the population figure at the beginning of the
period, i.e. in 1946, the natural growth between 1946 and 1957, and
estimated net immigration between these two dates.
The table shows that only in four countries did immigration exceed
emigration.1 In all the others (excluding Malta, which is an exceptional
case) there was a net emigration balance varying from 0.7 per cent, of
the 1946 population for the United Kingdom to 12.8 per cent, for
Ireland.
The four countries with an immigration surplus were France, Belgium,
Sweden and Switzerland. In France, net immigration was probably
less than 1 per cent, of the original population figure. It was relatively
higher in Belgium where it amounted to 1.9 per cent., the equivalent of
the natural increase for almost four years, and even higher in Sweden
where it increased the population by some 2.7 per cent., also equalling
the natural increase for four years. The country where immigration
resulted in the greatest population increase by far was Switzerland,
where it amounted to nearly 5 per cent, of the 1946 population, or half
the natural increase for the entire period.
In the 13 other countries the excess of emigration over immigration
varied considerably. It was slight in the United Kingdom, where it
represented hardly more than one year's natural increase. It was moderate in Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark and even Spain, where net
emigration decreased the original population by only 1.8 per cent., the
equivalent of the natural increase for one-and-a-half years approximately.
The effects of emigration were hardly more considerable in Greece, where
it decreased the original population by approximately 2 per cent., as
compared with a natural increase of about 1.3 per cent, each year.
In Finland the population loss due to emigration reached 2.6 per cent.,
but this was less than two years' natural increase. As for Western
Germany and Austria, these two countries are listed as having an
emigration surplus only because refugee immigration was not taken
into account and because the figures in table 93 (1.3 million for Germany
and 330,000 for Austria) refer exclusively to economic migration.
Taking the migratory movements of the post-war period globally, it is
quite obvious that there was an enormous immigration surplus in
Western Germany and a very substantial one in Austria.
The effects of emigration were much more marked in Italy and
Portugal, the former losing some 4 per cent, of its 1946 population 2 , the
1

This was also the case in Luxembourg.
The figure given for Italy (1.8 million) allows for probable underestimation by
Italian statistics of the number of returned emigrants. These place net transoceanic
emigration at 1.1 million and net continental emigration at 0.65 million, but the latter
figure does not include net emigration towards Switzerland—a sizeable omission.
2

307

DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS

latter 5 per cent. 1 , and both countries having suffered a decrease in
population roughly equivalent to the natural increase for four years.
But it was in Ireland and in Malta that the volume of emigration was
proportionately the highest. In the former, it amounted to about 13 per
cent, of the 1946 population figure, more than offsetting the natural
increase during the entire period.2 In the latter, the population loss
exceeded 20 per cent., almost equalling the very large natural increase
from 1946 to 1957. For these four countries, and particularly the last
two, the emigration rate was so high as to raise the question whether
emigration was not actually responsible for inhibiting the natural
increase ; there can, in fact, be little doubt that, besides the direct effect
of diminishing the population, emigration contributed indirectly to
lower the birth rate, though in a proportion which it is virtually impossible to determine. 3
American Countries
Table 94 contains data for certain American countries comparable
to those given for Europe in table 93. Unfortunately the statistics
available are insufficient to give a complete picture.
The figures reproduced in table 94 show that four countries—
Canada, Venezuela, Argentina and probably Uruguay—had a relatively
high balance of immigration from 1946 to 1957, representing some 5 per
cent, of the 1946 population in the latter two countries, and between
7 and 8 per cent, in the first two. These figures, moreover, leave out of
account the surplus of births over deaths among recent immigrants,
which was probably considerable.
For Canada, net immigration was estimated at around 1 million 4,
a figure which is none too reliable in view of the absence of Canadian
1
For Portugal a figure of 400,000 has been taken, in spite of probable underestimation of returns, in order to allow for continental emigration, i.e. emigration to
France. However, the figure may still be somewhat too high.
2
This estimate of net emigration from Ireland is confirmed by the censuses
taken in 1951 and 1956, which show a net emigration of over 320,000 between the
1946 and 1956 censuses, or a yearly average of 24,000 from 1946 to 1951, and of
40,000 from 1951 to 1956.
3
This subject is dealt with further under the heading " Effects on Natural
Population Trends".
4
The method of calculation was as follows :

European immigration
Other immigration
Canadian citizens and former immigrants returning from the
United States (estimate)
Canadian emigration to the United States
United States citizens returning from Canada (estimate) . . . .
Returns to and departures for Europe (estimate)

1,466,000
103,000
70,000
—385,000
—45,000
—150,000

Total . . .

1,059,000

The figure is therefore definitely higher than 1 million. It does not, however,
take into account all emigration to the United States or emigration to other parts of
the world (although the latter was probably negligible).

308
TABLE

94.

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION,

POPULATION

GROWTH

AMERICAN

AND

1945-1957

NET

COUNTRIES,
(In

IMMIGRATION

FOR

EIGHT

1946-57

thousands)
Estimated net immigration

Country

Jamaica
Brazil
Uruguay

1946
population

12,620
141,390
1,300
23,180
15,650
47,310
2,280
4,390

Natural
growth

As percentage of
1946 population
absolute
figures1

3,305 + 1,000
27,735 + 2,200
348 3
-90
8,689
-250
3,358
+ 800
16,000 45
+450
320
+ 110
3
1,812
+ 330

Total for
entire period

Annual
average

+ 7.9
+ 1.6
-6.9
-1.1
+ 5.1
+ 1.0
+4.8
+ 7.5

+0.66
+0.13
-0.58
-0.09
+0.43
+0.08
+0.4
+0.63

As percent age of
natural
growth

+ 30

-23
-3
+23
+3
+ 34
+ 16

N.B. With regard to sources and the method of estimating the balance of migration, see N.B. under table 93.
The estimates here are on the whole more uncertain than for the European countries. For Uruguay, net immigration
had to be calculated from population figures. This estimate should be considered as particularly conjectural.
1
Margin of error greater than 5 per cent, in either direction possible, owing to incompleteness of migration statistics.
'And Newfoundland.
'1946-56 only.
* Approximation based on population estimates.
• Approximation
based on partial data.

statistics for continental immigration. This figure represents almost
8 per cent, of the 1946 population and is equal to nearly one-third of the
natural increase during the period reviewed. In Venezuela, net immigration seems to have been about 330,000, most of it from Europe.
This figure represents roughly the same proportion of the 1946 population as in Canada (7.5 per cent.) but is equivalent to the natural increase
for only two years. In Argentina, the direct population gain from external migration between 1946 and 1957, estimated at about 800,000 1
(though this figure is purely conjectural), would appear to be about
5 per cent, of the 1946 population, representing almost one-quarter
of the total natural increase during the period. For Uruguay, lastly,
there are no statistics relating directly to continental movements. The
figure of 110,000, which represents a proportionate increase of the same
size as that for Argentina, is based solely on the fact that annual population estimates for 1946 and 1957 show a total increase which exceeds
by roughly that figure the probable natural increase for the intervening
1
This corresponds to the net difference between all arrivals and departures,
whether of nationals or aliens, by all means of transport, as given by official statistics.
The official net figure for European immigrants (second and third class passengers
arriving by sea) is fixed at 610,000. The remainder—perhaps slightly overestimated—
represents the balance of other movements, the greater part of which is attributable
to the positive balance of migration from other Latin American countries.

309

DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS

period. However, the population statistics themselves are not entirely
reliable, so that this estimate of net immigration must be considered as
very approximate. 1
At least two other American countries have positive immigration
balances: the United States, with a little over 2.4 million (which,
however, omits the negative balance of movements of American citizens,
particularly towards Canada and, to some extent, towards Europe);
and Brazil, where net immigration is estimated at 450,0002, almost all of
it from Europe. These balances amount respectively to a little more
than 1.5 per cent, and a little less than 1 per cent, of the population of
the two countries at the beginning of the period.
Finally, in two countries the balance was definitely negative : Mexico,
with a net emigration figure of 250,000, practically all of it to the United
States; and Jamaica, whose statistics of arrivals and departures of
travellers show, for the whole period, a surplus of departures of about
90,000, representing roughly 7 per cent, of the 1946 population. In other
American countries the balance of international migration, whether
negative or positive, would probably appear negligible in comparison
with the size of the population, with the possible exception of some
Central American countries and certainly with that of Paraguay, whose
balance with Argentina was definitely, and with Uruguay probably,
negative.
Countries of Africa
From 1946 to 1957 the population of non-African stock in most
African countries was increased notably, and sometimes considerably,
as a result of immigration. Unfortunately, it is seldom possible to assess
the increase accurately. It is still more difficult to measure the effect of
continental migration on the indigenous population.
In the Union of South Africa, the net immigration balance for
persons of European stock from 1946 to 1957 was a little under 85,000,
or about 3.5 per cent, of the white population in 1946, which amounted
to 2.4 million; this corresponds to the natural increase for about two
years. But it was in tropical Africa that immigration increased the
white population to the greatest extent. In the three territories of the
1

The figures on which these calculations were based are as follows (in thousands) :
Population in the middle of 1957
Population in the middle of 1945

2,685
—2,255

Difference (increase from 1945 to 1957)
Natural increase, 1946-57 (estimate)

430
—320

Difference (net immigration, 1946-57)

+110

For a gross immigration figure of 565,000. In the absence of Brazilian emigration statistics, this figure was drastically reduced to allow for both returns recorded
in Europe and the negative balance of known continental movements.

310

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, where the European population
rose, between 1946 and 1957, from 105,000 to 274,000, the contribution
of immigration to this increase was about 116,000, and was proportionately higher in Northern than in Southern Rhodesia.1 In British East
Africa as well European immigration added considerably to the original
white population and was, in fact, the main factor in the increase of over
100 per cent, in Kenya and 200 per cent, in Tanganyika and Uganda
which took place between 1946 and 1956.2 In all these countries, where
European immigration is heavy, its share in population growth is
compounded by its considerable indirect effects on natural growth.
In the Belgian Congo, immigration was responsible for nearly
two-thirds of the European population increase (from 34,000 to 102,000)
between 1946 and 1956.3 If comparable data were available regarding
the evolution of the European population in Portuguese 4 and French 5
1

The European population figures for the three territories at the beginning of
1946 and in the middle of 1957 were as follows (in thousands):
Territory

Population
in 1946

Population
in 1957

Natural
increase

Net
immigration

82
21
2

194
72
8

37
15
1

75
36
5

105

274

116

Total . . .
2

The official estimates of European population for the three territories are as
follows (in thousands):
Territory

M id-1946

Mid-1956

24.9
9.3
2.8

57.7
27.7
8.4

Uganda

Source: East African Statistical Department: Annual
Report, ¡955-1956 (Nairobi, 1957).
3

See United Nations: Demographic Yearbook, 1957 (New York, 1957).
At least for Angola and Mozambique, where the white population amounted
to 79,000 and 48,000 respectively at the end of 1950 and where, according to Portuguese
statistics, net immigration from Portugal between 1946 and 1957 reached 80,000 in
Angola and 36,000 in Mozambique.
5
For the French territories, the only data available are the censuses taken in
1946 and 1951, which show the following increases in the non-indigenous population
(in thousands):
4

Territory

1946

1951

Increase

French West Africa . . .
French Equatorial Africa .

32
8
4
54

62
22
12
66

+ 30
+ 14
+8
+ 12

Madagascar

Source: Population (Paris, Institut national d'études démographiques),
Ninth Year, No. 3, July-Sep. 1954, p. 532. It should be noted that the
non-indigenous population includes persons of non-European stock.

311

DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS

territories, they would doubtless show that immigration there played
a similar role and that its effects were also considerable. Lastly, in
Morocco, where the non-Moroccan population rose between 1946 and
1955 from 305,000 to 460,000 \ natural growth accounts for less than
half of the increase, most of the remainder being attributable to immigration by persons of European stock coming from Europe or Algeria.
No data are available for other countries.
In some territories—particularly those of British East Africa—
recent immigration considerably increased the population of Asian
origin, and principally the Indian minority.2
With respect to indigenous continental migration, it is impossible
to quote exact figures. The most that can be said is that certain territories had a positive migration balance (the Gold Coast (Ghana),
Southern Rhodesia and the Union of South Africa), while others had
a negative one (French West Africa, Ruanda-Urundi, Nyasaland,
Mozambique and the three British protectorates in southern Africa).
The situation is less clear with regard to the other territories, although
Kenya, Tanganyika, Uganda and the Belgian Congo appear to have had
a positive balance.
Countries of Asia

Recent migratory movements do not appear to have had noticeable
demographic effects in the countries of Asia, apart from population
shifts resulting from political events. The only other development
worth mentioning was the diminution of European settlements, in
Indonesia in particular, but also in India, Pakistan and Viet-Nam.
1
See United Nations: Demographic Yearbook, 1957, op. cit. The figure has,
however, diminished considerably since 1955.
2
The following figures illustrate the evolution of the population of Asian origin
in the three territories of British East Africa between 1946 and 1956 (figures in
thousands, estimates made at mid-year) :

Territory

Indian population

Arab population

1946

1956

1946

1956

88.4
42.0
32.0

151.9
76.4
54.3

23.3
10.6
1.4

33.0
16.9
2.0

Source: East African Statistical Department: Annual Report, 19551956, op. cit.

The increase in the Indian population is particularly noteworthy. At least half
seems to be due to net immigration.

312

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

Australia and New Zealand
In Oceania, on the other hand, immigration between 1946 and 1957
considerably increased the population of Australia and New Zealand,
as shown by table 95.
TABLE 95. AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND: POPULATION GROWTH
AND NET IMMIGRATION, 1946-57
!.
(In thousands)
Net immigration
Country

Australia
New Zealand
1

. . . .

1946
population

Natural
growth

7,460
1,66o1

1,391
351

In absolute
figures

As percentage of
1946
population

As percentage of
natural
growth

930
145

12.5
8.7

67
41

European' population only.

Thus, Australia and New Zealand are the two countries in which
immigration caused the highest proportionate increase in the population
during the last 12 years. In Australia, net immigration represented more
than 12 per cent, of the 1946 population figure and about two-thirds
of the natural growth during that period ; in New Zealand it amounted to
about 9 per cent, of the 1946 population and about two-fifths of the
natural growth. Furthermore, a not inconsiderable part of the natural
increase itself was due to recent immigration.

Effects on the Age Structure and Sex Distribution of the Population
Economic migration movements, of which a much higher percentage
than normal consists of economically active individuals, must of necessity alter the age and sex structure of the populations which they affect.
They generally involve a proportionately greater number of adults,
particularly young adults, than are to be found in the population of the
countries concerned and, usually, a greater number of men than of women.
Thus they tend to increase the average age of the adult population in the
country of origin and to lower the proportion of males, while producing
the opposite effect in the country of destination. Recent migratory
currents were, on the whole, no exception to this rule.
It is obvious that the intensity of these effects varies considerably
according to the ratio of the net migration balance to the total popula-

DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS

313

tion in the countries concerned. But the eífects also vary according to
the ratio of dependants to economically active persons. They depend,
moreover, on whether movements in opposite directions are similar in
demographic structure or not, since the demographic effects of immigration and emigration can either accentuate each other or cancel each
other out, according as the immigration consists of genuine immigrants
or of returning emigrants.
EFFECTS ON AGE STRUCTURE

The age structure of recent migratory currents is still characterised
mainly by an exceptionally high proportion of young adults, i.e. adults
under 40, and particularly under 30. This is due both to the fact that
workers usually choose to emigrate in the early part of their active life
rather than in the second half, and to the fact that immigration countries
usually prefer, where possible, to recruit young workers. However,
relatively important variations occur in the proportion of young adults
to other immigrants. This is due to the varying proportion of those who
have children travelling with them or joining them later. Return currents, on the whole, show a much higher average age.
Countries with an Emigration Surplus
The data available for countries with an emigration surplus all refer
to Europe. The age groups from 20 to 40, particularly the 20-30 group,
formed a much larger percentage of the number of emigrants than of the
total population. This was also true of the 15-20 age group in the case
of emigration from the southern European countries, where emigration
traditionally takes place at an early age. As for the 0-15 age group, this
accounted for a much smaller proportion of the emigrants than of the
total population, particularly in the southern European countries; in
north-western Europe, with the exception of Ireland, the tendency for
whole families to emigrate together was more marked. Only in a few
countries did emigration result in a substantial aging of the population.
These countries are Ireland and Malta in the first instance and, to a
lesser degree, Portugal and Italy.
Ireland and Malta.
Analysis of the effects of emigration on the age structure of the
Irish population is rendered difficult by the absence of statistical data
on the most important emigration current, namely that towards the
United Kingdom. Comparison of the 1946 and 1951 census figures does,

314

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

however, yield valuable indications. Thus, in 1951 the 20-30 age group
showed a steep decline from the 1946 figure for the 15-25 age group,
and the 15-20 and 30-35 age groups showed smaller but still considerable
losses in proportion to the corresponding age groups in the 1946 census.1
As emigration has greatly developed since 1951, this phenomenon must
have been even more marked in the second half of the period under
review. Taken by and large, the age pyramid of the Irish population has
since 1946 narrowed considerably at the height of the strata representing
the 15-40 age bracket, growing wider again at levels above 40. The base,
on the other hand, has remained more or less the same size because of a
persistently high birth rate and a relatively low emigration rate below
the age of 15.
In Malta, too, emigration drastically diminished the young adult
generation, so that its effects, together with those of the decline in
mortality, resulted in a marked narrowing of the pyramid between the
ages of 20 and 45 and particularly between the ages of 20 and 30, with
a considerable widening above the age of 45.2 This aging effect was
further accentuated by the relatively high emigration rate among children up to 14 years of age, which placed a check on the widening of the
pyramid's base, in spite of a high birth rate. Thus, the strata under
14 years of age increased relatively less between 1948 and 1956 than
those above 45. However, the population as a whole remains very
young and its future is by no means seriously compromised.
1
See United Nations: Demographic Yearbook, 1955. For a total population
which remained practically stable (2,955,000 in 1946 and 2,900,000 in 1951) the difference between the 20-30 age group in 1951 and the 15-25 group in 1946 amounted to
82,000 (401,000 as against 483,000, or a loss of nearly one-fifth), that between the
15-20 age group in 1951 and the 10-15 age group in 1946 to 21,000 (241,000 as against
262,000), and that between the 30-35 age group in 1951 and the 25-30 age group in
1946 to 16,000 (192,000 as against 208,000).
2
This relationship between emigration and changes in the age structure of the
population is clearly brought out by the following comparison between the 1948
and 1956 population figures and the 1950-56 emigration data (figures in thousands):

Population
Emigration, 1950-56
Age groups

0-15
15-20
20-30
30-45
45 and over
Total . . .

1948 census

1956 (estimate)

Absolute
figures

Percentages

Absolute
figures

Percentages

106.6
27.6
48.4
55.0
68.2

34.9
9.0
15.8
18.0
22.3

114.7
25.9
42.0
51.3
80.3

36.5
8.2
13.4
16.3
25.6

306.0

100.0

314.1

100.0

Source: United Nations: Demographic Yearbook, 1955 to 1957.
Including persons of unknown age.

Absolute
figures
15.3
8.1
14.9
8.8
3.8 >
51.0

Percentages
30.0
16.0
29.2
17.3
7.5
100.0

315

DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS

Italy and Portugal.
For Italy and Portugal the aging effect produced by emigration was
less marked because the rate of emigration was much lower. Moreover,
it mainly affected youthful populations able to withstand the alteration
without serious inconvenience.
For Italy, statistics show (table 96) that about three-fifths of the
overseas emigrants in the period 1946-57 belonged to age groups between
15 and 40 years of age, about half of these being between 20 and 30,
whereas the same age groups accounted for only 30 per cent, of the total
population in 1951.
TABLE 96. ITALY: A G E DISTRIBUTION O F T H E POPULATION I N 1951
AND

OVERSEAS

EMIGRATION

AND

IMMIGRATION

FROM

1946 TO 1957
1951 population 1
Age groups

0-15
15-20 . . . .
20-30 . . . .
30-40 . . . .
40-50 . . . .
50 and over .
Age unknown
Total

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

12,248
4,053
7,998
6,219
6,056
10,164

26.2
8.7
17.1
13.3
13.0
21.7

—

46,738

100.0

Emigration '
Absolute
figures
(thousands)
253.4 3
161.0 3
418.6
247.9
144.2
104.0
31.8
1,361.0

1
Estimate (see United Nations:3 Demographic Yearbook, 1954).
from Mediterranean countries.
0-14 and 14-20 years.

Immigration *

Percentages

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

18.6
11.8
30.8
18.2
10.6
7.7
2.3

22.0
7.9
60.5
66.7
51.6
49.0
2.5

100.0

260.3

3
3

Percentages

8.5
3.0
23.3
25.6
19.8
18.8
1.0
100.0

Excluding movements to and

The percentage of emigrants under 15 years of age, on the other hand,
was relatively low and considerably less than the proportion of the same
age group to the total population. The same applies to the age group
over 40 and particularly to persons over 50. As for immigration, it was
composed entirely of returns, and, for the most part, of persons over
30 years of age, so that it accentuated the aging effect produced by
emigration, though hardly to a noticeable extent because of its reduced
scope. Altogether, the balance of transoceanic migration for Italy adds
up to a relatively high loss for the age groups between 15 and 40, particularly the 20-30 groups; insignificant losses for age groups above 40;
slightly less than proportionate losses for the 0-15 age group; and slightly
more than proportionate losses for the 15-20 group.

316

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

With respect to continental migration, for which there is no breakdown by age, it is probable that the resulting demographic losses affect
the young adult generations in an even higher proportion, and children
under 15 to a considerably lesser degree.
In the last analysis, recent migration has played a considerable part
since 1946 in accelerating the aging of the Italian population: it was
only a secondary factor in narrowing the base of the age pyramid but
was by far the main cause of its relative widening in the above-40 age
groups.
In Portugal, where demographic losses due to emigration were
proportionately higher than in Italy, the aging effect seems to have been
even more marked. It would appear, furthermore, that the average age
of emigrants was lower (table 97). However, it is impossible to come to a
definite conclusion in this matter, since the available data give the age
distribution of emigrants to foreign countries only, excluding the overseas provinces 1 , and since no data at all are available for immigrants.
The age groups between 15 and 30 years contributed 50 per cent.
of Portuguese emigration, whereas in transoceanic Italian emigration
they accounted for only a little over 40 per cent., most of the difference
probably occurring in the over-20 group.
TABLE 97. PORTUGAL: AGE DISTRIBUTION OF THE POPULATION
IN 1949 AND OF EMIGRATION FROM 1946 TO 1957
Population

Emigration *

Age groups

0-15
15-20,
20-30
30-40
40-50
50 and over
Age unknown
Total . . .

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

2,471
806
1,458
1,170
956
1,534

29.4
9.6
17.4
13.9
11.4
18.3

8,395

100.0

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

60.6 3
53.9 4
94.8 5
54.9
19.8
10.0
1.5
295.7

'Estimate at 1 July 1949 (United Nations: Demographic Yearbook, 1951).
1946-54 cover only emigrants to foreign countries departing for the first time.
0-14 years.
«For 1946-54, 14-22 years.
' F o r 1946-54, 22-30 years.

Percentages

20.5
18.2
32.1
18.6
6.7
3.4
0.5
100.0
* The figures for
* For 1946-54,

It should, however, be noted that, while the aging effect produced
by emigration was more marked in Portugal than in Italy—both because
1
Statistics of passengers travelling to and from overseas provinces divide them
into two classes only: above and below 14 years of age.

317

DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS

the emigration rate was a little higher and because the average age of
emigrants seems to have been lower—the population which it affected
was considerably younger, with a much higher birth rate, and therefore
much better able to withstand it.
Other Countries.
Elsewhere, the size of the loss by emigration was not so great as to
affect seriously the age structure of the population, particularly in
countries with youthful populations such as Finland, the Netherlands,
TABLE 98. N E T H E R L A N D S : A G E DISTRIBUTION O F T H E POPULATION
I N 1950 A N D O F E M I G R A T I O N A N D I M M I G R A T I O N F R O M 1946 TO 1957
Population

Emigration

Immigration

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

0-15
15-20
20-30
30-40
50 and over . . . .

2,963
811
1,596
2,615
2,128

29.3
8.0
15.8
25.9
21.0

198.3
45.1
221.4*
240.3
46.8

26.4
6.0
29.4
32.0
6.2

163.2
44.6
142.6
210.4
67.0

26.0
7.1
22.7
33.5
10.7

Total . . .

10,113

100.0

751.9

100.0

628.1

100.0

Age groups

Estimate at 1 July 1950 (United Nations: Demographic Yearbook, 1951).

TABLE 99.

U N I T E D K I N G D O M : A G E DISTRIBUTION O F T H E

POPULATION I N 1950 A N D O F OVERSEAS E M I G R A T I O N

AND

I M M I G R A T I O N F R O M 1946 TO 1957
Population '
Age groups

Emigration *

Immigration •

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

. . . .

14,541
7,349
11,187
6,701
10,595

28.9
14.6
22.2
13.3
21.0

494.2
474.9
460.2
136.2
151.1

28.8
27.7
26.8
7.9
8.8

217.1
193.0
205.5
79.5
92.8

27.5
24.5
26.1
10.1
11.8

Total . . .

50,373

100.0

1,716.6

100.0

787.9

100.0

0-20 3
20-30
30-45
45-55
55 and over

1
Estimate at 1 July 1950 (United Nations: Demographic Yearbook, 1951).
"British migrants
(Commonwealth citizens only).
'The breakdown into age groups of 0-15 and 15-20 years appears
in the Board of Trade statistics only from 1950 onwards.

318

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

Spain and Greece. In Western Germany, however, the loss resulting
from emigration among young adults was felt somewhat more acutely
since it affected generations already reduced in size. In the Netherlands
(table 98) the balance between emigration and immigration is such that
the 20-30 age group suffered relatively higher losses than anywhere else.
In the United Kingdom, losses caused by transoceanic emigration in
the young adult generations (table 99) were doubtless more than offset
by the gains resulting from continental immigration.
Countries with an Immigration Surplus
Just as emigration has had an aging effect on the population of the
countries mainly affected by it, so the result of immigration has been
to rejuvenate the population in countries with an immigration surplus.
While available statistics are insufficient to give an accurate picture of
this phenomenon, they do have considerable illustrative value in several
important cases. These are, in Europe, Sweden and, outside of Europe,
Canada (except that these statistics deal only with immigration), the
United States, Argentina, the Union of South Africa, Australia and
New Zealand.
European Countries.
In Sweden the population gain of nearly 3 per cent, resulting from the
balance of external migration during the period under consideration
was relatively high in the 15-30 age group, thus increasing, in a much
greater degree than was warranted by their size in relation to the total
population, a number of generations born at a time when the birth rate
was particularly low; and while the gain in the 0-15 age group was
considerably lower than would have been proportionate to the size of
that group, it is evident that, together with the high post-war birth rate,
migration has contributed notably to slowing down the aging process in
a country where it was one of the most advanced in the world.1 The
detailed figures are given in table 100.
No data are available regarding the age distribution of migrants
to and from the three other European countries with an immigration
surplus, namely Belgium, France and Switzerland. In these countries,
as in Sweden, the average age of the population is relatively high. For
France the immigration surplus appears to have benefited almost ex1

This is illustrated by a comparison between the age structure of the population
on 31 December 1945 and on 1 July 1955. The group of persons who in 1945 were
between 10 and 20 years of age had by 1955 increased by about 50,000. The 10-20
and 20-30 age groups totalled 857,000 and 1,056,000 respectively at the end of 1945,
whereas in the middle of 1955 the corresponding age groups (20-30 and 30-40) totalled
905,000 and 1,077,000 respectively.

319

DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS

TABLE 100. SWEDEN: AGE DISTRIBUTION OF THE POPULATION IN
1950 AND OF IMMIGRATION AND EMIGRATION FROM 1946 TO 1957
Population

Immigration

Emigration

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

. . . .

1,651
416
993
1,087
1,029
1,866

23.5
5.9
14.1
15.4
14.6
26.5

58.8
32.8
135.2
59.5
28.0
22.3

17.5
9.7
40.2
17.7
8.3
6.6

29.5
9.4
56.9
33.4
15.6
10.8

19.0
6.0
36.6
21.5
10.0
6.9

Total . . .

7,042

100.0

336.6

100.0

155.6

100.0

Age groups

0-15
15-20
20-30
30-40
40-50
50 and over

Census taken on 31 December 1950 (See United Nations: Demographic Yearbook, 1954).

clusively those generations which in 1946 were between 10 and 35 years of
age, but the rejuvenating effect on the population as a whole was hardly
noticeable in view of the relatively low net immigration figure. In
Belgium, on the other hand, and even more so in Switzerland, the effect
of migration was to increase these same generations considerably. Since,
moreover, unlike in Sweden, only the very oldest and youngest generations had been born at a time when the birth rate was low, the effect of
immigration, in widening the age pyramid at a level corresponding to the
young adult generations, was probably to accentuate rather than to
attenuate existing distortions.
American Countries.
Table 101, which compares the age structure of the population in
Canada in 1950 and that of immigration from 1946 to 1957, shows
that the latter consisted mainly of young adults, and more especially
persons in the 20-30 age group who accounted for 35 per cent, of all
immigrants (as compared with only 16 per cent, of the population).
Gains due to immigration in the 15-20 and the 40-50 age groups were
more or less proportionate to the size of those groups in the population
as a whole, but such gains were considerably less than proportionate
for the 0-15 age group and even less so for the over 50 group. Moreover,
the very generations which gained the most by immigration were probably those from which emigration to the United States took the heaviest
toll. Taken by and large, however, it can be safely said that the greater
part of the relatively high population gain (nearly 8 per cent.) which
resulted from net immigration to Canada during the period under
consideration affected generations under 40 years of age and had the

320

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

TABLE 101. CANADA: AGE STRUCTURE OF THE POPULATION IN 1951 1
AND OF IMMIGRATION FROM 1946 TO 1957
Popul ation
Age groups

0-15
15-20
20-30
30-40
40-50
50 and over
Total . . .
1

Immigration

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

4,251
1,058
2,220
2,042
1,613
2,826

30.3
7.6
15.9
14.6
11.4
20.2

365.3
120.2
592.1
330.7
157.0
104.2

21.9
7.2
35.5
19.8
9.4
6.2

14,010

100.0

1,669.4

100.0

Census taken on 1 June 1951.

net result of widening the lower half of the age pyramid in an already
remarkably young nation.
In the United States, where the population is considerably older than
in Canada, the age structure of immigration was fairly similar, although
the average age of immigrants was slightly higher. Here again, the
increase due to immigration was proportionately higher in the 15-40 age
groups, and particularly in the 20-30 group, than for the rest of the
population, but was proportionately lower for the groups under 15 and
over 50 years of age. Emigration, moreover, mainly composed of
persons over 40, considerably enhanced the rejuvenating effect of
immigration. The balance of migration therefore resulted in a much
higher gain for the groups in the lower half of the pyramid than for
those in the upper half. This gain, however, was at all events a minor one
by comparison with the size of the population (table 102).
In Argentina the age structure of immigration 1 was fairly similar
to that of the United States, although it included far fewer adults
between 20 and 30 years of age, far more persons between 15 and 20
and an even higher proportion of persons over 40. The last-named
group, however, formed a very high percentage of emigration, so that
the final net gain, as was the case for Canada and the United States,
was much higher than proportionate for the age groups between 15 and
40 years (particularly the 20-30 age group), a little less than proportionate
for the 0-15 age group and much less than proportionate for the groups
above 40 (table 103).
1

The analysis deals only with migration by sea. No data are available concerning
the age of continental migrants.

321

DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS

TABLE 102. UNITED STATES: AGE STRUCTURE OF THE POPULATION
IN 1950 AND OF IMMIGRATION AND EMIGRATION FROM 1946 TO 1957
Population

Immigration

Emigration

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

40,483
10,617
23,724
22,763
19,274
33,836

26.9
7.0
15.7
15.1
12.8
22.5

533.5
228.7
852.1
508.8
311.6
267.3

19.7
8.5
31.5
18.8
11.5
10.0

24.7
11.7
77.8
60.1
37.7
74.8

8.6
4.1
27.1
21.0
13.1
26.1

Total . . . 150,697

100.0

2,702.0

100.0

286.9

100.0

. Age groups

0-15
15-20
20-30
30-40
40-50
50 and over . . . .

• 1 Census taken on 1 April 1950.

TABLE 103. ARGENTINA: AGE STRUCTURE OF THE POPULATION IN
1947 AND OF IMMIGRATION AND EMIGRATION FROM 1946 TO 1957
Population a

Immigration

Emigration

Age groups 1

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

0-15
15-20
20-30
30-40
40-50
50 and over . . . .

4,885
1,570
2,776
2,386
1,897
2,380

30.7
9.9
17.5
15.0
11.9
15.0

170.2
81.9
233.1
176.0
114.1
116.1

19.1
9.2
26.2
19.7
12.8
13.0

17.1
9.5
45.9
56.4
63.0
84.9

6.2
3.4
16.6
20.4
22.7
30.7

Total . . .

15,894

100.0

891.3

100.0

276.9

100.0

1
For 1945-48, the age groups are slightly different: 0-14, 14-22, 22-31, 31-41, 41-50 and over 50.
Census taken on 10 May 1947 (United Nations: Demographic Yearbook, 1951).

Over the whole period, therefore, migration appreciably increased
the generations of young adults (already very numerous) and, to a less
degree, the generations of children which were also very large.

This

trend towards rejuvenation took place in a country with an even younger
population than that of Canada.

Other Countries.
In the Union of South Africa, where the white population, comparatively speaking, contains few young adults and a large proportion

322

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

TABLE 104. UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA: AGE STRUCTURE OF THE
POPULATION IN 1950 AND OF IMMIGRATION AND EMIGRATION
FROM 1946 TO 1957
Population
1

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

0-15
15-20 . . . .
20-30 . . . .
30-40 . . . .
40-50 . . . .
50 and over .
Age unknown

817
213
408
386
319
466

31.3
8.2
15.7
14.8
12.2
17.8

—

Total

2,609

Age groups

Emigration

Immigration
Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

—

47.7
11.7
54.3
50.2
28.1
22.9
0.5

22.1
5.5
25.3
23.2
13.0
10.6
0.3

35.3
7.3
35.2
25.5
13.9
11.3
2.7

27.0
5.5
26.8
19.5
10.6
8.6
2.0

100.0

215.4

100.0

131.2

100.0

1
For 1955-57 the age groups are 15-21 and 21-30 instead of 15-20 and 20-30.
1 July 1950 (United Nations: Demographic Yearbook, 1954).

Estimate at

of persons over 50, the balance of migration by Europeans favoured
the 30-40 age group more than others. Outside this group, the gain was
relatively higher above the age of 40 than below the age of 30 (table 104).
This was due not so much to the composition of immigration as to that
of emigration, which was directed mainly towards Central Africa and
in which the average age was considerably lower.
In Australia, where in 1951 the age structure of the population was
practically identical to that of the United States (i.e. its average age was
TABLE 105. AUSTRALIA: AGE STRUCTURE OF THE POPULATION IN
1951 AND OF IMMIGRATION AND EMIGRATION FROM 1946 TO 1957
Population

Immigration

Emigration

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

. . . .

2,281
554
1,341
1,277
1,074
1,904

27.1
6.6
15.9
15.1
12.7
22.6

307.4
92.4
393.6
250.7
131.8
94.7

24.2
7.3
31.0
19.7
10.4
7.4

54.3
12.5
112.0
68.5
41.0
52.1

16.0
3.7
32.9
20.1
12.0
15.3

Total . . .

8,431

100.0

1,270.6

100.0

340.3

100.0

0-15
15-20
20-30
30-40
40-50
50 and over

1
Estimate at 30 June 1951 (Demography (Canberra, Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics), Bulletin No. 69, 1951).

323

DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS

higher than in Canada) immigration comprised a higher proportion of
persons in the 15-40 age groups (particularly the 20-30 group) than did
the original population, and nearly as high a percentage of children
under 15. Since immigration was considerable in relation to the size
of the population, its rejuvenating effect was quite an important one.
Emigrants, moreover, added to this effect, since "their average age was
distinctly higher than that of both immigrants and the original population. All told, some two-thirds of the total net immigrants (which
increased the original population by more than 12 per cent.) consisted
of persons in the 0-30 age groups, which accounted for a little less than
half of the 1951 population (table 105).
In New Zealand, where the 1951 population comprised a slightly
higher proportion of children than that of Australia and a slightly lower
proportion of adults between 20 and 40 years of age, immigration
attenuated this difference by increasing the latter group somewhat
more and the former much less. By and large, immigration from 1946
to 1957 has not had as distinct a rejuvenating effect in New Zealand
as in Australia, although the effect was noticeable among the adult
population (table 106).
TABLE 106. NEW ZEALAND : A G E STRUCTURE O F T H E POPULATION
IN 1951 AND O F IMMIGRATION A N D EMIGRATION F R O M 1946 TO 1957
Popu ation '
Age groups

Immigration

Emigration

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

0-15
15-20
20-30
30-40
40-50
50 and over . . . .
Age unknown . . .

571
130
287
275
239
435
2

29.4
6.7
14.8
14.2
12.3
22.5
0.1

42.7
12.8
80.6
45.8
24.7
26.3
0.7

18.3
5.4
34.5
19.6
10.6
11.3
0.3

15.3
4.4
32.1
16.6
8.8
12.3
0.1

17.1
4.9
35.8
18.6
9.8
13.7
0.1

Total . . .

1,939

100.0

233.6

100.0

89.6

100.0

Census taken on 17 April 1951

EFFECTS ON SEX DISTRIBUTION

As the foregoing has shown, the predominance of young adults
in recent migratory currents was general, the variations above or below
the average being confined within relatively narrow limits. On the other

324

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

hand, predominance of the male element, while usual among adult
migrants, does not appear to have been quite so general, and the figures
given in tables 107 and 108 show that in some cases the female element
was in fact in a majority. These exceptional cases are the United Kingdom,
the United States, Sweden and Ireland. They will be discussed at a later
stage.
The preponderance of the male element among adult migrants
is bound up with the conjunction of two traditional factors : the predominance of economically active persons over inactive ones and,
among the former, the predominance of men over women. These two
factors, whose role and intensity varied from one case to another, caused
variations in the balance of the sexes, with the proportion of the male
element ranging from a little more than a half to a little over two-thirds.
Even so, this proportion seems to have been exceeded considerably
in the case of certain continental migration currents comprising few
dependent persons, such as indigenous movements between African
territories.
The data given in tables 107 and 108, which refer for the most part
to intercontinental movements only, show that the proportion of men
among adult migrants was highest in southern Europe and Latin America
(between 60 and 65 per cent, on an average). The correlation between the
figures for these two groups of countries is hardly surprising since Latin
America is still the main outlet for emigration from southern Europe and
most of the immigrants who settled in Latin America after the war
came from that part of Europe. Actually, this applies neither to Greece
nor to Malta, and even Italy supplied fewer immigrants to Latin America
than to the rest of the world. But, whether directed towards Latin
America or not, emigration from southern Europe shows on the whole
a particularly high preponderance of males, together with a relatively
high proportion of workers to dependent persons and, above all, a
low proportion of working women.1 In major emigration countries
such as Malta and, to a lesser degree, Italy and Portugal, this was enough
to cause a noticeable distortion in the sex distribution of the 20-40 age
group, to the detriment of the male sex which should normally have a
slight numerical advantage in that group, particularly as the higher
mortality rate for men does not really begin to operate below the age
of 40. In Malta 2, therefore, recent emigration resulted in a considerable,
1
With the exception, for Italy, of emigration towards the United States and
Switzerland, which comprised workers of both sexes in more or less equal proportions.
2
It appears from an estimate of the Maltese population on 30 June 1956 that the
20-30 age group included only 17,300 men as against 24,200 women, and the 30-40
age group 16,900 men and 18,500 women (United Nations : Demographic Yearbook,
1957).

TABLE 107. EMIGRATION COUNTRIES: SEX DISTRIBUTION OF ADULT MIGRANTS DURING THE POST-WAR PERIOD
(In thousands)
Immigration

Emigration
Absolute figures

Countries
Men

Federal

Republic

Finland

Ireland 4
Italy

Malta

*
5

'
7 8

Netherlands 4
Portugal 6
Spain

6 9

4 2

United K i n g d o m

2 4

Total

Men

Women

Men

Women

Total

Men

Women

. . . .

a
S

O
O

Ger-

many * 2
3

Women

Percentages

Absolute figures

Percentages

51.0

49.0

51.4

53.0

47.0

51.6

49.0

51.0

408.0

1,107.6

63.0

37.0

25.2

12.6

37.8

67.0

33.0

299.1

254.5

553.6

54.0

46.0

155.0

80.1

235.1

65.0

35.0

100.4

95.1

195.5

27.3

24.1

25.3

26.3

699.6

>
X
5.3
176.5

4.8

10.1
238.3

52.5
74.0

47.5

61.7

238.1

226.8

464.9

51.0

49.0

26.0

283.0

197.4

480.1

59.0

41.0

95.2

50.3

145.4

65.5

34.5

523.2

699.2

1,222.4

43.0

57.0

252.1

318.8

570.8

44.0

56.0

M
O
H

4
' Period covered: 1953-57.
' Persons over 20 years of age.
' Period covered : 1947-57.
Persons over 15 years of age.
"Period covered: 1946-57.
'Persons
8
over 14 years of age, but over 15 for 1955-57.
' Period covered: 1950-57.
Persons over 15 years of age, but over 14 for 1957.
' Persons emigrating for the first time.

TABLE 108. IMMIGRATION COUNTRIES: SEX DISTRIBUTION OF ADULT MIGRANTS DURING THE POST-WAR PERIOD
(In thousands)
Immigration
Countries

Emigration

Absolute figures
Men

1 2

Women

Percentages
Total

Absolute figures

Percentages

Men

Women

Men

Women

Total

Men

Women

303.2

205.6

508.8

59.0

41.0

233.0

153.2

386.2

60.0

40.0

Sweden 3 4
Canada 3 4

127.9
710.0

149.8
594.0

277.8
1,304.1

46.0
54.0

54.0
46.0

56.5

69.6

126.1

45.0

55.0

—

United States 3 4

937.4

1,231.2

2,168.5

43.0

57.0

141.2

121.0

262.2

54.0

46.0

Brazil 3

239.3

161.0

40.3

317.2

400.3
721.1

59.7

404.0

56.0

44.0

163.5

96.3

259.8

63.0

37.0

37.5

28.8

66.3

56.5

43.5

—

88.5
552.2

79.1

53.0

47.0

50.8

45.4

96.0

53.0

47.0

411.0

167.7
963.2

57.0

43.0

144.3

141.7

286.0

50.5

49.5

98.6

92.0

190.6

52.0

48.0

35.1

39.2

74.3

47.0

53.0

Belgium

Argentina

3 6

Southern Rhodesia

Union of South Africa
Australia

New Zealand

3 4 8

1
Period covered: 1948-57.
data have not been published.
1 April to 31 March.

. . .
3 4

. .

s
• Persons of all ages.
Period covered: 1946-57.
'Persons over 15 years of age, but over 14 for 1946-48.

5
*7 Persons over 15 years of age.
Periods covered: 1946-51 and 1954-57.
The 1952-53
8
Period covered: 1950-55, except the last two months of 1954.
Years counted from

DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS

327

and in Portugal 1 an appreciable, decrease in the proportion of young
adult men, while in Italy it accentuated the effects of war losses.2 In the
Latin American countries, or at least in Argentina, Venezuela and
Uruguay (since the immigration rate was too low in Brazil for any effect
to be noticeable) immigration caused a corresponding disequilibrium
in favour of the male sex. No accurate data exist in this respect for
Uruguay and Venezuela, but the 1954 population estimate for Argentina
shows a slight but abnormal male surplus in all groups between 15 and
50 years of age. 3
The surplus of male over female immigration was also distinct in
France and Belgium. No figures are available for France, but it is
known that the great majority of immigrant workers were men, and that
the dimensions of family immigration were much more modest. Immigration in France, therefore, attenuated the effect of war losses on the sex
distribution of the young adult generations. It is true that emigration
(whether composed of departing aliens or of French emigrants) cancelled
out part of this compensating effect. In Belgium migratory movements
left an adult male balance much higher than the female balance, even
though this does not appear clearly from the figures in table 108, which
include Belgian nationals and also children and do not take into account
the important balance of the years 1946-47.
Data for the main immigration countries of the British Commonwealth also showed a more or less marked surplus of male emigration.
This was negligible in New Zealand and the Union of South Africa, more
important in Canada and even more so in Australia where the proportion
of men in the net adult immigration figure exceeded three-fifths.
In Canada, except for 1946, when the large number of war brides
among immigrants resulted in a female surplus, the proportion of male
immigrants continued to rise above the median, reaching almost twothirds in 1951, when immigration rose abruptly (table 109). Variations
in the sex structure of immigration during the period under consideration
often appear to be related to fluctuations in the global immigration
volume itself because a notable proportion of immigrant workers are
not accompanied by their wives but send for them after a certain period
of time. As a result the proportion of males tends to be highest in periods
1
An estimate of the Portuguese population on 30 June 1956 (United Nations:
Demographic Yearbook, 1957) showed that the 20-30 age group included 752,000
men and 768,000 women, and the 30-40 age group 494,000 men and 553,000 women.
2
The only data available for Italy are given by the census taken on 4 November
1951. They are as follows: for the 20-30 age group, 3,900,000 men and 4,030,000
women; and for the 30-40 age group, 2,980,000 men and 3,227,000 women (the
latter difference due partly to war losses).
3
Altogether, 5,860,000 men for 5,675,000 women, i.e. a ratio of more than 103
to 100 (United Nations: Demographic Yearbook, 1956).

328

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

TABLE 109. CANADA: DISTRIBUTION OF IMMIGRANTS BY SEX, 1946-571
Absolute figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Year

1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957

. . . .

Tota 1
1

Men

Women

Total

Men

Women

10.5
28.3
55.2
40.9
32.6
99.5
69.1
71.5
67.3
44.5
70.6
119.9

41.8
25.8
47.1
34.5
25.3
55.5
55.7
59.0
53.8
41.8
58.0
95.9

52.3
54.1
102.3
75.4
57.9
155.0
124.8
130.5
121.1
86.3
128.6
215.8

20.1
52.3
54.0
54.3
56.3
64.2
55.3
56.4
55.6
51.5
54.9
55.6

79.9
47.7
46.0
45.7
43.7
35.8
44.7
43.6
44.4
48.5
45.1
44.4

710.0

594.0

1,304.0

54.4

45.6

Persons aged 15 and over.

of rising immigration and lowest in periods of decline. This phenomenon,
coupled with the development from 1951 onwards of Italian immigration with a greater preponderance of males, explains the particularly high
rates between 1951 and 1954.
Examination of the figures for Australia leads to similar conclusions
(table 110). It was from 1949 to 1952 and during 1955, when immigration
TABLE 110. AUSTRALIA: DISTRIBUTION OF IMMIGRANTS BY SEX,
1946-57 1
Absolute figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Year

1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
Tota 1
1

. . . .

Men

Women

Total

Men

Women

5.5
13.4
30.0
77.7
80.7
60.5
63.3
27.0
39.2
56.7
55.1
43.2

9.1
12.3
23.3
53.4
52.6
38.6
36.3
27.4
33.4
40.1
39.6
44.7

14.6
25.7
53.3
131.1
133.3
99.1
99.6
54.4
72.6
96.8
94.7
87.9

37.5
52.2
56.3
59.3
60.5
61.1
63.6
49.6
54.0
58.6
58.2
49.1

62.5
47.8
43.7
40.7
39.5
38.9
36.4
50.4
46.0
41.4
41.8
50.9

552.2

411.0

963.2

57.4

42.6

Persons aged 15 and over.

DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS

329

reached its highest levels, that the greatest proportion of males was
recorded. The fact that the average rate (57.4 per cent.) was considerably
higher than in the case of Canada (54.4 per cent.) can doubtless be
attributed to the higher proportion of immigration from southern
Europe.
In Canada, however, the predominance of adult male immigration
was not sufficient to upset the existing balance of the sexes in the age
groups particularly affected 1 : this was due partly to the size of Canadian
war losses, and probably even more so to the neutralising effect of emigration, particularly to the United States. In Australia, on the other hand,
recent immigration caused a constant numerical disequilibrium in favour
of the male sex in the age groups above 20, and particularly between 20
and 35.2
A certain number of countries, however, constitute exceptions to
the general rule of predominance of the male element among adult
migrants; they are, among emigration countries, the United Kingdom
and Ireland and, among immigration countries, Sweden, Switzerland
and the United States.
For the United Kingdom the very great predominance of the female
element was due to a combination of factors, some adventitious, others
permanent : the numerous departures of war brides in 1946, the important
role of family emigration in total emigration, including not only wives
but also ascendants of the female sex and, finally, the exceptionally
high proportion of women among economically active emigrants.
After 1946, when it reached an abnormally high figure, the proportion
of female British emigrants remained remarkably stable at about
55 per cent. The effect which this had on the sex distribution of the
population was probably accentuated by immigration, although it
would be hard to say precisely to what extent.3 The balance of migration
1
It appears from an estimate of the Canadian population made on 1 June 1955
(United Nations: Demographic Yearbook, J956), that men were in a minority in the
age groups between 25 and 40 and in a majority above the age of 40.
2
This is reflected in an estimate of the Australian population at 30 June 1955
(see United Nations: Demographic Yearbook, 1956).
3
The proportion of women having been almost as high among overseas immigrants as among emigrants, net female emigration represented about 60 per cent.
of total net emigration, exceeding the net male emigration figure by about 100,000
(table 107). The net balance of continental movements can unfortunately not be
established by sex. Immigration by Polish soldiers, prisoners of war and workers
recruited collectively (up to the end of 1951) was responsible for an approximate
gross gain of 200,000 adult men and 60,000 women, while recruitment under individual
employment permits, together with collective recruitment after 1952, was responsible
for a compensating gain of some 220,000 adult women and 70,000 adult men. But
it is certain that the final balance was much larger for the former group of movements
than for the latter. There remains the unknown factor of Irish immigration, which
seems to have been mainly female.

330

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

TABLE 111. UNITED KINGDOM: DISTRIBUTION OF OVERSEAS
EMIGRANTS, BY SEX, 1946-57 *
Absolute figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Year

1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
Tota 1

. . . .

Men

Women

Total

Men

Women

25.7
39.4
52.0
50.4
46.8
51.4
56.2
47.9
44.4
37.3
44.9
50.1

93.1
50.6
62.9
55.3
53.0
59.8
67.9
61.8
57.7
49.1
52.8
61.7

118.8
90.0
114.9
105.7
99.8
111.2
124.1
109.7
102.1
86.4
97.7
111.8

21.8
43.8
45.3
47.7
46.9
46.3
45.3
43.7
43.5
43.2
46.0
44.8

78.2
56.2
54.8
52.3
53.1
53.7
54.7
56.3
56.5
56.8
54.0
55.2

546.5

725.7

1,272.2

42.9

57.1

1
Persons above the age of 20 for 1946-49 and above 15 for the remaining years ; Commonwealth
citizens only.

in toto was much more distinctly negative for the female sex than for
the male, in which generations above the age of 20 do not appear to have
suffered any appreciable loss from migration. The differential effect of
migration on the sex distribution would thus appear, if this analysis
is correct, to have counterbalanced in part the effect of war losses,
although this conclusion is without prejudice to the results of a more
detailed analysis, that is to say, an analysis extending to age groups.
The detailed data are given in table 111.
It is even more difficult to establish the balance for Ireland \ from
which the great majority of emigrants went to the United Kingdom.
There are in fact no accurate statistics available for these movements.
Several indications, however, such as the slight surplus of women
among recorded overseas emigrants (table 107), the definitely higher
number of women among emigrants applying for travel documents
to the Irish authorities, and certain anomalies in the sex distribution
of the young adult generations at the time of the 1951 census 2, suggest
that, up to that date at least, female emigration was larger than male
1

The statistics in table 107 do not even cover the whole of Irish overseas emigration and are therefore of purely indicative value.
2
The 1951 census (United Nations: Demographic Yearbook, 1955) showed that
the proportion of men to women was abnormally high in a number of age groups,
particularly between 15 and 25 years of age. On the other hand, for all age groups
between 15 and 65, the surplus of male over female population increased by 18,000
between 1946 and 1951.

DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS

331

emigration, owing in part to the many opportunities afforded to women
by the employment market in Britain. But it cannot be said with any
certainty that this trend persisted in the second half of the period.
Among the immigration countries in Europe, Sweden and Switzerland seem to have received more female than male immigrants. In the
case of Sweden, this is apparent from the immigration statistics (table 108)
and, in the case of Switzerland, from various indirect data. 1 In both cases,
the excess of female immigration seems to be due largely to the nature
of the demand on the employment market. In Sweden, the effect on
sex distribution, though slight, is clearly perceptible from a comparison
of the data giving the sex distribution of the population by age group
for 1945, 1950 and 1955.2 In Switzerland, the trend seems to have been
more pronounced : it was distinct at the time of the 1950 census3, and
has become even more marked since.4 However, more recent immigration,
with a clear majority in favour of the male sex, has probably corrected
it to some extent.
In the United States, women accounted for no less than three-fifths
of net adult immigration. This unusual distribution is due to several
factors, which include the attraction exerted by the United States on
female labour, the relative importance of family immigration, the high
number of women admitted on a non-quota basis as wives of American
citizens—war brides and others—and the lesser stability of male immigrants, who returned more frequently to their own country. In spite of its
comparatively modest proportions (by comparison with the size of the
population), immigration over the period considered nevertheless
appreciably accentuated the predominance of the female element among
the generations today comprised between the ages of 30 and 44.

Effects on Natural Population Trends
Migration not only reduces the population of emigration countries
by a certain number of units, with a corresponding increase in that of
1

See Annuaire statistique de la Suisse (Berne, Bureau fédéral de statistique). The
.1950 census, in comparison with that of 1941, showed an increase of the female
population almost twice as high as that of the male population (nearly 38,000 as
against 17,500, for the age groups between 15 and 65). Moreover, statistics of foreign
workers subject to employment restrictions in February 1957 showed for the first
time a slight surplus of men, the majority of immigrant workers having previously,
and for a long time, been women. Two further factors have doubtless contributed
to alter the sex distribution of the population in favour of women ; the immigration
of non-workers, mainly women, and the emigration of Swiss citizens, mainly men.
2
See United Nations : Demographic Yearbook, 1955 and 1956.
3
Ibid., 1955.
4
Ibid., 1956.

332

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

immigration countries, but it also in some degree diminishes the growth
potential of the former and increases that of the latter. This indirect
effect is, of course, extremely difficult, if not impossible, to measure
precisely.
The problem nevertheless is a very real one in so far as certain
emigration countries seek to reduce not only their population but also
to check their rate of demographic growth; others, on the contrary,
fear that result; and some immigration countries are deliberately endeavouring to increase, rather than reduce, their rate of growth.
The question is therefore whether, and how far, migratory movements
composed mainly of young adults increase or decrease the rate of
natural population growth in the countries concerned. Their influence
on average life expectancy is usually negligible, at least from a short-term
point of view, in both immigration and emigration countries. As for
their influence on the birth rate (which in turn depends principally
on the marriage rate, or rather on the fertility rate among married
couples), a distinction must be made between migration by married
couples and movements of single persons. With regard to the former,
emigration deprives the country of departure of its future births, which
go to benefit the country of destination (since it may be assumed, for
the sake of simplicity, that the number of children born to migrating
couples is the same as it would have been had they not migrated).
But the greatest unknown factor is the effect on the marriage rate of
migration by single persons. By reducing the number of potential couples
in emigration countries (in a degree which, of course, varies according
as the sex distribution of the emigrants is more or less unbalanced),
such movements tend to reduce the actual marriage rate; but this reduction is not necessarily proportionate—and, experience seems to show, is
in fact often less than proportionate—to the losses suffered by the sex
of which emigration takes the heavier toll, particularly in the many
cases where male emigration is preponderant. Conversely, in countries
of reception, where the number of possible couples increases, there is
not necessarily a corresponding increase in the marriage rate, owing to
the fact that, immigrants often live in conditions which discourage or even
prevent them, temporarily or permanently, from getting married. Thus
the positive effect of immigration on the rate of population growth is often
less, and sometimes much less—particularly when the sex distribution of
migrants is heavily lopsided—than might be expected in view of the very
favourable age structure of most movements. Thus it would seem—and
detailed analysis would probably bear this out—that the effect of migration on the natural growth of the populations concerned is not as pronounced as might be thought at first glance ; that the decline of the birth

333

DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS

rate in emigration countries, where compensating factors appear to come
into play, is not as great as might be expected ; and that in immigration
countries the rise in the birth rate is likewise held in check by certain restraining factors. The higher the proportion of single persons among
migrants, the more widely this conclusion applies.
This does not mean that the effects of migration on the birth rate
in the countries concerned are invariably less than proportionate to the
respective population losses and gains which it causes; even less does it
mean that these effects are negligible. It simply means that in both emigration and immigration countries they are partially absorbed by a sort of
cushioning effect which, it is true, varies widely from one case to another.
While it is impossible, for lack of precise statistical information,
to establish a clear mathematical correlation between migration and
birth rate trends, it is nevertheless worthwhile to examine the latter in
the case of a few major emigration and immigration countries. There
can be little doubt, for instance, that the downward trend in the birth
rate of several southern European countries since the war (particularly
Malta) was due at least in part to emigration.1 Emigration appears also
to have been responsible for the slight decline in the Irish birth rate.
A similar correlation is to be observed in the case of immigration countries. For example, in Canada the birth rate increased slightly during
the period under consideration whereas the size of the generations
reaching marriageable age decreased, as did the marriage rate.2 In
Australia, both the size of the generations reaching marriageable age and
1
The birth rates in four southern European emigration countries from 1946 to
1957 are given below (number of births per thousand inhabitants).

Country

1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957
21.6 21.5

23.3 21.7

20.2 20.1

20.8

20.6 20.0

20.6

20.7

Italy

23.1 22.2

21.9 20.3

19.6

18.4

17.9

17.8

18.2

18.1

18.2

Malta

38.9 38.8

36.0

34.1

33.0

30.4

29.3

28.3

28.1

27.2

26.8

27.5

25.4 24.5

26.7

25.5

24.4

24.5

24.7

23.4 22.7 23.9

22.9

13.7

Portugal

. . . .

21.7

Source: United Nations: Demographic Yearbook, 1955 and 1957, and information supplied by the
United Nations.
2
The trend in the marriage and birth rates in Canada from 1946 to 1957 is given
below (number of marriages and births per thousand inhabitants).

Item

1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952

1953 1954 1955 1956 1957

Marriage rate

10.9

10.1

9.6

9.2

9.1

9.2

8.9

8.5

8.2

8.3

8.0

Birth rate

27.2

28.9

27.3

27.1

27.2

27.9

28.1

28.5

28.2

28.0

28.2

. . .

Source: United Nations: Demographic Yearbook, 1955 and 1957, and information supplied by the
United Nations.

334

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

the marriage rate declined somewhat more, whereas the birth rate declined
only slightly.1 These data, however, are purely indicative and there are
doubtless other factors besides immigration which contributed to
these trends.

Effects on the Labour Force
Economic migratory currents normally include a more or less clear
majority of economically active persons. Consequently, they produce
a relatively greater variation in the size of the labour force than in the
total population. The proportion of the latter represented by persons
in gainful employment is normally about 40 per cent. In the case of
migrants, however, the proportion is usually above 50 per cent., and
sometimes considerably more, even for permanent movements; in the
case of short-term migration it comes close to, and sometimes reaches
100 per cent.
The aim of the present discussion is to assess the losses and gains
to the labour force in the countries concerned, both in absolute figures
and in percentages. This attempt has been confined to the major emigration and immigration countries. Wherever possible, the analysis has
been extended to include a breakdown by occupation and sex.
However, the statistical material available is far from complete;
nor are the data generally comparable. 2 For one thing, the migration
statistics on which this analysis is largely based do not always include
a breakdown by occupations, so that it is not always possible to distinguish between economically active migrants and others. Although
such a breakdown does exist for most of the more important countries
it usually refers only to the workers' occupation proper, and not to their
occupational status. Moreover, each country establishes its classification
according to its own standards, and this considerably complicates the
1
Marriage and birth rate trends in Australia from 1946 to 1957 are illustrated
by the following figures (number of marriages and births per thousand inhabitants).

1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957

Item
Marriage rate
Birth rate

. . .

10.1

9.7

9.2

23.6 24.1

10.6

23.1

22.9

23.3

23.0

8.0

7.9

23.3 22.9

8.6

22.5

7.8

7.6

22.6 22.5

22.9

Source: United Nations: Demographic Yearbook, 1955 and Ì957, and information supplied by
the United Nations.
2
For a more detailed discussion of the problem of the value and comparability
of statistics relating to occupational characteristics of migrants, see United Nations :
Economic Characteristics of Internationa! Migrants : Statistics for Selected Countries,
1918-1954, Population Studies, No. 12 (New York, 1958), Chapter III.

DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS

335

problem of international comparison. Besides, the indications are
often vague and not always meaningful. Finally, the classifications
do not always coincide with those used in labour force or employment
statistics.
Gaps in the migration statistics can sometimes be filled by using
indirect data such as figures relating to the employment of foreigners
published by immigration countries. Such data, however, are not
always easy to apply to the purposes of this study and can often lead to
inaccurate results. The best migration statistics themselves cannot
always be considered as wholly satisfactory tools. They are based on
data collected at a critical moment, often a turning point, in the migrants'
lives when most of them cannot clearly foresee what employment
they will have (or whether they will have any). Thus they often represent
classifications by projected occupation and as such must be approached
with caution. Even statistics which refer to the former activity of migrants
may contain important errors, due to poor interpretation of the questionnaires or to vague or inaccurate answers.
The foregoing refers only to the direct or primary effects of migration
on the size and structure of the labour force. Obviously, it is difficult
to go much further and try to assess either secondary variations in
size resulting from the effects of migration on natural labour force trends
or variations in structure caused by occupational mobility bound up
more or less directly with migration. Even on the basis of migration
statistics by age and sex, the former problem is difficult to solve. As for
the latter, it cannot even be gone into because of the lack of reliable data.
The following analysis therefore deals only with the primary effects of
migration on both the size and structure of the working population
in the countries concerned.

COUNTRIES WITH AN EMIGRATION SURPLUS

Europe
United Kingdom.
The United Kingdom has a relatively slight emigration surplus,
but while migration appears to have had a negligible global effect on
the size of the labour force, it has had a comparatively far-reaching
influence on its structure. Net transoceanic emigration of Commonwealth
citizens travelling by sea from 1946 to 1957 (totalling approximately
930,000) included about 390,000 economically active persons, representing
some 42 per cent, of the over-all figure; almost 280,000 of these were

336

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

TABLE 112. UNITED K I N G D O M : OVERSEAS EMIGRATION A N D
IMMIGRATION (BY SEA), BY OCCUPATION A N D SEX, 1946-49 1
Emigration
Occupation

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Immigration
Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Male workers2 :
Agricultural
Commerce, finance and insurance
Professional
Skilled trades
Transport and communications
Labourers not ¡n agriculture
or transport
Ill-defined occupations 3 . .
Total male workers . . .
Males not gainfully occupied .

168.1
74.4

69.3
30.7

73.7
33.4

68.8
31.2

Total . . .

242.5

100.0

107.0

100.0

10.7

3.4

34.5
20.4
63.5

16.3
12.5
19.7

6.9

2.8

6.7
25.4

1.4
17.7

Female workers2 :
Domestic service, hotels, etc.
Commerce, finance and insurance
Professional
Clothing trades
Ill-defined occupations 3 . .

22.7
13.9
3.6
16.5

Total female workers. . .

65.5

18.8

27.2

20.4

Females not gainfully occupied .

282.1

81.2

106.2

79.6

Total . . .

347.6

100.0

133.4

100.0

2.8
8.5
7.3
1.0
7.8

1
Commonwealth citizens only.
* Persons 18 years of age and over.
persons not gainfully employed (e.g. students), particularly for 1946 and 1947.

Includes a number of

men and over 110,000 were women. The detailed figures, including the
occupational breakdown, are given in tables 112 (for 1946-49) and 113
(for 1951-57).1 The total balance of intercontinental movements,
including foreigners and air travellers, came to a considerably higher
figure, but was still less than 450,000.
Continental movements are much more difficult to evaluate. They
include not only a considerable fraction of the immigration surplus from
continental Europe (recorded by the Home Office) and of Irish immigration, but also Polish soldiers of the " Polish Resettlement Corps ",
1

There are no figures for 1950.

337

DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS

TABLE 113. UNITED K I N G D O M : OVERSEAS E M I G R A T I O N A N D
IMMIGRATION (BY SEA), BY OCCUPATION A N D SEX, 1951-57 1
Immigration

Emigration
Occupation

Male workers

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

:
16.9

8.8

55.2
61.2
131.8

27.6
35.2
53.0

Clerical, distributive and nonProfessional and managerial
Transport and

communica-

. .

Total male workers . . .
Males not gainfully occupied2 .

300.8
161.3

64.9
35.1

139.8
84.1

62.4
37.6

Total . . .

462.0

100.0

223.9

100.0

Ill-deflned occupations

7.6
5.2
2.5

19.2
10.9
5.6

Female workers2 :
Domestic service, hotels, etc.
Clerical, distributive and nonProfessional and managerial
Industrial
Ill-defined occupations 3 . .

59.2
42.5
19.0
3.8

Total female workers . . .
Females not gainfully occupied2.

135.8
398.5

25.4
74.6

69.7
187.7

27.1
72.9

Total . . .

534.3

100.0

257.4

100.0

11.2

6.3

1
Commonwealth citizens only.
* Persons 15 years of age and over.
persons not gainfully employed (e.g. students).

24.5
26.0
11.4
1.5

Includes a number of

and war prisoners having become free workers. Out of the net gain of
some 680,000 resulting from all such movements between 1946 and 1957,
the proportion of economically active persons was beyond doubt very
much higher than average. Even if it had amounted to no more than
two-thirds—and it was certainly more than this—it would have offset
all losses resulting from the negative balance of intercontinental movements. Thus it appears that, far from diminishing the United Kingdom
labour force, the migratory movements of these 12 years increased it.
Furthermore, this estimate does not take into account the contribution
of Irish seasonal labour. It should, however, be noted that the balance
seems to have been markedly positive only in the first few years of the

338

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION,

1945-1957

period ; since then there have been slight fluctuations, with gains and
losses more or less offsetting each other.
This compensating effect, however, applies only to the over-all
figures and does not extend to individual occupational categories.
Overseas emigrants leaving the United Kingdom were, for the most part,
skilled or semi-skilled industrial workers, commercial and office employees
TABLE 114. U N I T E D K I N G D O M : E U R O P E A N I M M I G R A N T S R E C R U I T E D
COLLECTIVELY U N D E R

OFFICIAL P R O G R A M M E S , BY
1946-57
(In

Occupation

Agriculture

. .

Manufacturing .
Public transport
Services 3 . . .
Miscellaneous 4
Total .

thousands)

Ex-members of the
Polish Re- Ex-war Displaced
settlement prisoners persons
Corps

8.2
7.3
17.0
12.0

22.3

15.5
24.0
84.0 5

OCCUPATION,

Total
Miscellaneous *

0.1
2.8
14.0

1.4
1.2

29.7
11.8
19.8
0.3
0.1
14.5
1.0

24.8

77.2

26.9

0.8
9.1

Absolute
figures

Percentages

60.2
21.8
50.8
12.3
0.9
40.5
26.1

28.5
10.2
23.9
5.8
0.4
19.0
12.4

212.6

100.0

Sources: Unpublished O.E.E.C. data, and Ministry of Labour and National Service: Report for
1957 (London, H.M. Stationery Office, 1958).
1
No data are available concerning the distribution by occupation of Irish workers, apart from those
who received assistance from the Ministry of Labour and National Service and who were not numerous
except in 1947 and 1948. The majority of these were placed in agriculture, rural industries
and mines
3
(men) and in hospital
and domestic service (women).5
' Mostly Italian workers.
Domestic and
4
hospital service.
Mainly industrial workers.
Does not include dependants of Polish soldiers,
of whom 16,000 took up employment.

TABLE 115. U N I T E D K I N G D O M : I N D I V I D U A L E M P L O Y M E N T P E R M I T S
ISSUED TO F O R E I G N W O R K E R S , BY OCCUPATION, 1946-57 l
Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Occupation

Total

. . .

Percentages

46.9

11.5

230.4

56.6

129.7

31.9

407.0

100.0

Source : Annual reports of the Ministry of Labour and National Service for the years 1939-46 and
1947-57.
1
The great majority of these permits were issued to nationals of European countries.
* Including
8
nurses and hotel staff.
For the most part artistes and student employees in various occupations.

DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS

339

and professional workers. Continental immigration, on the other hand,
increased the population by far fewer skilled workers and consisted
mainly of agricultural workers, general or semi-skilled industrial labour
and domestic staff. The contrast is evident from tables 114 and 115.
The most noticeable effect of recent migration on the British working
population has therefore been to increase the labour force at the lower
levels of the occupational scale and to weaken it at the middle and upper
ones or, in other words, to lower the over-all standard of technical
skill. This effect, however, may be considered negligible in relation
to a total labour force of over 23 million (the figure for 1951) with
particularly high vocational standards.
Ireland.
It would doubtless be interesting to assess precisely the effects of
the heavy emigration of recent years on the labour force of Ireland.
This is unfortunately impossible on the basis of available statistics.
It has, however, been established that a very high proportion of the
population losses due to emigration were sustained by the generations
of working age—probably a much higher proportion than by the population as a whole. In actual fact, the labour force which (assuming the
1946 proportion of the labour force to the total population to have
remained constant) should have increased by something like 170,000
or 180,000 between 1946 and 1956, decreased by some 80,0001 (reducing
the proportion of the labour force to the total population from 43.9 to
42 per cent.).
The occupational characteristics of Irish emigrants are not well
known. They seem, at any rate, to have included few skilled workers
and to have consisted mainly of farm workers, labourers and female
domestic servants.2 This may have resulted in a rise in the over-all
level of vocational skill of the remaining population.
Netherlands.
According to Netherlands statistics, net emigration of economically
active persons from 1948 to 1957 came to more than 100,000, including
1
1,298,000 at the time of the 1946 census, as against 1,216,000 according to an
O.E.E.C. estimate made in 1956.
2
See Commission on Emigration and Other Population Problems, 1948-1954:
Reports (Dublin, the Stationery Office), p. 127; and numerical data in Statistical
Abstract of Ireland (Dublin, the Stationery Office), 1947 to 1952: of the men who
obtained travel permits, identity cards or new passports to go abroad, 47.3 per cent.
declared that they were labourers and 30.1 per cent, indicated that they were farm
workers, while 64.3 per cent, of the women stated that they were housewives or
domestic servants and 9.9 per cent, nurses (statistics for 1946-51).

340

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

84,000 men and 19,000 women. This represents about 60 per cent, of
total net emigration, which amounted to some 170,000 during the same
period. Comparison with the ratio of the labour force to the total
population—scarcely more than 40 per cent., according to the 1947
census—shows that the former lost considerably more to emigration,
proportionately speaking, than did the latter. In the absence of adequate
data on the occupational status of migrants for the years 1946-47, it is
impossible to give a complete picture for the period under consideration.
However, it may be surmised that the balance of migration for these two
years, which left an immigration surplus of 47,000 due to large-scale
repatriations from Indonesia in 1946, did not increase the labour force
by as much as 20,000, because of the relatively low proportion of workers
TABLE 116. NETHERLANDS: EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION, BY
OCCUPATION AND SEX, 1948-57
Emigration
Occupation

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Male workers :
Employers and self-employed .
Professional
Managerial
Salaried employees and public
servants

Immigration

Percentages

15.7
6.3
15.0
72.5
104.8 x

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

6.4
5.1
10.8

64.3
43.6 2

Total male workers . . .

214.2

63.4

130.3

54.9

Males not gainfully occupied . .

126.4

36.6

108.2

45.1

Total . . .

340.6

100.0

238.5

100.0

Female workers :
Employers and self-employed
Professional
Salaried employees and public
servants
Manual

0.7
1.0
23.5
18.8 3

0.4
0.7
15.1
ILO 4

Total female workers . . .

45.8

14.9

27.1

11.4

Females not gainfully occupied. .

248.6

85.1

198.1

88.6

Total . . .

294.4

100.0

225.2

100.0

1
Including workers employed in agriculture (23.7), industry and mining (53.9), building (11.7) and
miscellaneous occupations (15.6).
'Including workers employed in agriculture (4.5), industry and
mining (28.3), building (3.7) and miscellaneous occupations
(7.1).
'Including industrial workers
4
(4.8) and others (13.9), mainly household servants.
Including industrial workers (2.4) and others
(8.6), mainly household servants.

DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS

341

among those repatriated. The net effect of migratory movements
from 1946 to 1957 was therefore to reduce the working population
by some 80,000 persons, or a little over 2 per cent, of the 1947 labour
force.1
It appears, moreover, from table 116 that the heaviest losses consisted
of manual workers engaged in agricultural or industrial trades. The
category of " employers and self-employed workers " also sustained
fairly heavy losses. For the other groups—the professions, managerial
staff, salaried employees and civil servants—the net loss was fairly low.
Federal Republic of Germany.
The statistics available for Western Germany cover only the years
1953-57 and, within that period, a small part only of continental emigration. They show a very high proportion of workers among the emigrants
(more than 55 per cent.) and an exceptionally large proportion of gainfully employed women (table 117). However, it may be risky to extrapolate these proportions to the whole of post-war German emigration,
TABLE 117. FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY: EMIGRATION, BY
OCCUPATION AND SEX, 1953-57 1
Women

Men
Occupation

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Workers :

Personal service
Administrative and legal . . .
Intellectual and artistic . . .
Unspecified

7.3
63.5
5.1
16.6
1.5
3.1
1.6
8.3

Total workers . . .
Not gainfully occupied2
. . . .

106.8
38.7

73.4
26.6

55.2
83.2

39.9
60.1

Total . . .

145.6

100.0

138.5

100.0

Industrial
Technical

1
Nationals and aliens. The figures include West Berlin.
of age.

0.8
12.7
0.3
12.2
13.5
7.5
2.0
6.3

"Includes all persons under 16 years

1
This covers only permanent movements. In addition, the Netherlands labour
force has been considerably supplemented, particularly in mining and manufacturing,
by Belgian and German frontier workers; these numbered nearly 14,000 on 31 December 1956.

342

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

even if displaced persons and alien refugees are excluded. It would seem,
on the one hand, that overseas emigration prior to 1953 comprised a
much lower percentage of workers than did subsequent movements and,
on the other, that in continental emigration currents the percentage was
still higher. On balance, the loss of working population in the Federal
Republic resulting from the emigration of nationals between 1946
and 1957 was probably somewhere between 350,000 and 400,000, or less
than 2 per cent, of the labour force at the time of the 1950 census.
Italy.
Italian statistics of overseas migration show for the period 1946-57
a net emigration of 515,000 workers, which is a little less than half the
total net emigration (table 118). Unfortunately, it has not been possible,
for lack of complete data on the labour force status of continental
migrants, to obtain exact figures covering all migratory movements.
However, an approximate assessment can be attempted.
Net Italian emigration towards the rest of Europe amounted to
about 700,000, and it is obvious that the greater part of this figure
by far consisted of economically active persons, the share of family
TABLE 118. ITALY: OVERSEAS EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION,
BY OCCUPATION, 1946-57 l
Immigration

Emigration
Occupation

Workers :
Employers

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

19.6

19.7
225.8
406.4 2

9.0
34.5
107.5 3

Total workers . . .
Not gainfully occupied
Occupation not stated
. . . .

684.7
626.8
20.3

51.4
47.1
1.5

170.7
81.8
4.9

66.3
31.8
1.9

Total . . .

1,331.8

100.0

257.4

100.0

and

professional
32.8

Management staff and salaried
Agricultural workers
. . . .
Wage earners and craftsmen .

1
Exclusive of movements between Italy and non-European countries of the Mediterranean basin,
and air travel.
'Including masons (74.4), mechanics (59.0), carpenters (31.9), and tailors and shoemakers (38.2).
'Including masons (20.8), mechanics (16.0), carpenters (8.5), and tailors and shoemakers (7.3).

DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS

343

migration in continental movements having been quite small.1 Thus,
taking account of both transoceanic movements and emigration to
other European countries (movements to non-European countries of
the Mediterranean having been negligible), the loss of working population
in Italy due to emigration from 1946 to 1957 may be estimated at 1 million
at least, equivalent to about 5 per cent, of the labour force counted
in 1951 2, or about two-fifths of its natural increase between 1946 and
1957 (assuming that the proportion which it bore to the total population
in 1951 remained constant). Nor do these figures include seasonal
emigration to Switzerland and France, which accounted for an additional
70,000 workers each year on the average, the figure having been much
higher in the latter part of the period under review.
Losses by emigration consisted almost exclusively of manual workers
in agriculture and industry (especially the latter), although the statistics
available give no clue as to their level of skill; this, at all events, appears
to have been higher among transoceanic than among continental
emigrants. The lack of data concerning the proportion of labourers
among the emigrants is particularly to be deplored, as this group is
among those most seriously affected by the labour surplus in Italy.
Nor is there any basis for assessing the number of women among emigrant
workers, though this was probably very low.
Spain and Portugal.
Spanish statistics show for the years 1946-57 a net emigration of
less than 190,000 economically active persons. This figure does not
include emigration to Africa nor the comparatively large movement to
France; had these been taken into account, the total would probably
have come to about 250,000. Here again, the loss of working population
due to emigration—slightly less than 2.5 per cent, of the 1950 labour
force 3 —was considerably higher, relatively speaking, than the population
loss as a whole. While economically active persons accounted for
38.6 per cent, of the 1950 population, the proportion of workers in net
transoceanic emigration came to 46.5 per cent. The proportion of
workers in continental emigration was probably, as in the case of Italy,
considerably higher. The case of Portugal is even more typical: here
emigration abroad and to the overseas provinces appears to have cut
1
Statistics of continental emigrants by occupation for 1950-53 show that over
80 per cent, were economically active; the same applies to statistics of assisted intercontinental emigration during the psriod 1950-56.
2
20,672,000 persons, according to the census taken on 4 November 1951.
s
10,793,000, according to the census of 31 December 1950.

344

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

TABLE 119. SPAIN: OVERSEAS EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION,
BY OCCUPATION, 1946-57
Emigration
Occupation

Workers :
Agricultural
Industrial
Commerce and related occupations
Professional

Immigration

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

97.0
108.7
9.2

14.9
25.1
7.9
35.0
1.9
8.7

42.8
7.8
15.1

Percentages

Total workers . . .
Not gainfully occupied . . . .

280.7
283.8

49.4
50.6

93.5
64.7

59.1
40.9

Total . . .

564.4

100.0

158.3

100.0

down the working population by about 200,000 1, or between 6 and
7 per cent, of the 1950 figure.2 If these figures are compared with those
which express the growth trend of the working population in both countries, it becomes apparent that emigration absorbed between 12 and 15 per
cent, of the natural labour force increase for Spain and approximately
one-third of that for Portugal.3
In both cases, practically all of the emigrating workers seem to have
been men. In this respect, no precise data are available for Spain, but
the Portuguese statistics disclose that the number of working women
among emigrants was insignificant.* As for the manner in which emigration affected the different occupations in both countries, a particularly
heavy toll seems to have been taken from the farm sector (almost 45 per
cent, for Spain and around 42 per cent, for Portugal, as shown by
tables 119 and 120). But, in proportion to its size, the labour force in
the industrial sector (building, mining and manufacturing) sustained
much greater losses in both countries. Manual workers in these two
1
According to the Portuguese statistics, returns from abroad were negligible
(see Chapter VI). They need not in any case be deducted from the figures in table 119 :
these refer only to emigrants departing for the first time, and the number of emigrants
outside this category happens to have been approximately equal to the number of
returns. As for emigration to the overseas provinces, it left a balance of 69,240 male
emigrants 14 years old and over, a figure which may be taken as indicating the approximate size of net emigration by workers.
2
3,288,000, according to the census of 15 December 1950.
3
1.5 million approximately for Spain and 550,000 to 600,000 for Portugal.
4
Approximately 4,000 out of a total exceeding 153,000.

345

DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS

TABLE 120. PORTUGAL: EMIGRATION \ BY OCCUPATION, 1946-57
Occupation

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

63.5
29.3
28.5
32.0

153.4

51.9

134.5

45.5

7.8

2.6

295.7

100.0

Workers :
3

Commerce and related occupations
Miscellaneous occupations4 . . . .

Total workers . . .

Percentages

1
For 1946-54, the
data refer to emigrants leaving their country for the first time; for 1955-57, to
8
total emigration.
The occupational breakdown
1955 onwards includes additional details and
Total
. .from
. sake,
is grouped under different headings. For
simplicity's
however, it has been 3deemed preferable
to group the data for the last two years together with those of previous years.
Performance and
supervision of services other than personal
services (at least, with reference to 1955, 1956 and 1957).
4
6
Mainly industrial occupations.
Children and housewives.
• Probably includes a majority of
persons not gainfully occupied.

sectors accounted for the bulk of emigration, although it is unfortunately
impossible to determine in what proportion the various levels of skill
were represented.1 Net emigration for other occupational categories was
low in Spain, in spite of a fairly high emigration rate for the commercial
and related occupations, gross emigration in these categories having
been very nearly offset by immigration. The situation was apparently
different in Portugal: emigration was high in the commercial sector
whose limits, however, are ill-defined.
Malta and Greece.
In Malta the proportion of workers among emigrants was also
relatively high. Emigration statistics show for the years 1946-57 almost
28,000 male workers out of a total of about 60,000, a ratio of more than
47 per cent, which inclusion of the female element would doubtless raise
to about 50 per cent., whereas the number of economically active persons
in Malta at the time of the 1948 census amounted to only 32 per cent.
of the population. Thus, emigration took a very large slice out of the
labour force (which in 1948 numbered less than 100,000), amounting
to twice the figure by which it would have risen had its 1948 ratio to the
total population remained constant—an exceptional proportion, higher
1
Spanish statistics count labourers separately, but certain classes of comparatively
unskilled workers may nevertheless have been included in the figures for agricultural
and industrial emigrants.

346

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

even than in Ireland. More than half of this loss concerned skilled industrial
workers 1, most of them trained in building and civil engineering trades.
The remainder was divided up among various unskilled categories,
mostly farm workers and labourers.
It would appear that the proportion of economically active persons
among emigrants from Greece was even higher, although the statistics
are at best fragmentary. Those of I.C.E.M., which sponsored most
overseas movements from that country during the last few years, show
that from 1952 to 1956 the proportion of workers reached two-thirds—
an exceptionally high figure, almost double the proportion of the Greek
labour force to the general population. The rate for emigration as a
whole was doubtless a little lower; assuming—somewhat arbitrarily,
perhaps—a rate of 60 per cent., the total number of emigrant workers
over the entire period would work out at some 90,000 (mostly men), or
over 3 per cent, of the 1951 labour force.
Non-European Countries
For most non-European emigration countries, it is quite impossible
to arrive at even a rough estimate of the occupational distribution of
emigrants. Only for Mexico are relatively accurate data available,
thanks to United States immigration statistics. Between 1 July 1949
and 30 June 1956, almost 195,000 permanent immigrants entered the
United States from Mexico, of whom nearly 100,000 (slightly over 50 per
cent.) were recorded as workers. Applying this rate to the entire 1946-57
period, the loss of working population sustained by Mexico as a result
of permanent emigration to the United States 2 can be estimated at some
130,000, representing about 1.5 per cent, of the 1950 labour force.
Approximately 60 per cent, of the emigrants were unskilled workers,
i.e. labourers, farm workers and household servants. To gain a true
picture of the movements of Mexican workers towards the United States,
it should be remembered that seasonal as well as permanent emigration
took place, and that the former, for which figures have already been
given, was considerably greater than the latter.
Regarding emigration from the British West Indies towards the
United Kingdom, some estimates are available from British sources.3
1

This extremely high proportion can doubtless be explained by the action taken
by the public authorities to promote vocational training for prospective emigrants.
2
Permanent returns to Mexico were insignificant.
3
Commonwealth Relations Office: Fourth Report of the Oversea Migration
Board, December 1958 (London H.M. Stationery Office, 1958). See also " Post-War
Migration of West Indians to Great Britain", in International Labour Review (Geneva,
I.L.O.), Vol. LXXIV, No. 2, Aug. 1956, pp. 193-209; and Industry and Labour (Geneva,
I.L.O.), Vol. XVI, No. 12, 15 Dec. 1956, pp. 512-513.

DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS

347

The net movement for the whole period would appear to have involved
more than 90,000 persons, more than two-thirds ofthemmen and at least
80 per cent. (i.e. more than 80,000) economically active persons, mostly
from Jamaica. This figure represents a high percentage of the West
Indian labour force, which in 1946 amounted to approximately 1 million.
As for the other non-European countries with an emigration surplus,
little is known about the occupational structure of migratory currents
originating in them. In most cases the numbers involved were so small
that it is hardly worthwhile to try to fill the gaps in the statistics of
emigration countries with the help of those compiled by immigration
countries, even where this is practicable.1 The only movements important
enough to justify systematic statistical investigation are the interterritorial ones on the African Continent. But the inaccuracy of available
data concerning these movements, and indeed of the actual labour
force statistics for the territories in question, does not allow of such
investigation. All that can be stated is that these movements, which are
usually temporary, consist almost wholly of male workers.

COUNTRIES WITH AN IMMIGRATION SURPLUS

Europe
Sweden.
In Sweden international migration from 1946 to 1957 resulted in a
net gain of 180,000 persons, representing the difference between net
continental immigration, which amounted to 210,000, and net intercontinental emigration of about 30,000. For the purposes of the present
survey, these two trends will be treated separately, as one related
essentially to Swedish nationals and the other to aliens.
In the absence of direct data concerning the occupational status of
migrants to and from Sweden, the effect of recent migration on the
Swedish labour force can only be estimated on the basis of other statistics.
From 1 January 1946 to 1 January 1958, the number of aliens gainfully employed in the country rose to 128,000 from somewhere between
45,000 and 50,000 2, making an increase of around 80,000. This does not
include aliens naturahsed between 1946 and 1957, of whom some 40,000
to 45,000 (out of a total of 70,000) were gainfully occupied. The overall increase in the working population attributable to continental
immigration was therefore in the neighbourhood of 123,000. As for
1

As in the case of Japanese immigration to Brazil.
The figure was 58,000 at 1 November 1946 and had probably increased by
something between 8,000 and 10,000 since the beginning of the year.
2

348

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

TABLE 121. SWEDEN: ALIENS IN EMPLOYMENT ON 1 JANUARY 1947
AND 1 JANUARY 1958, BY OCCUPATION
1 January 1947
Occupation

1 January 1958

Absolute
Absolute
figures
figures
Percentages
Percentages
(thousands)
(thousands)

Agriculture
Industry
Transport
Commerce and the hotel trade . .
Administrative and intellectual
professions
.Health services
Domestic service
Miscellaneous
Total . . .

6.4
29.6 '
2.6
5.4

48.6
4.2
8.9

13.2
60.6 s
9.3
15.0

10.3
47.3
7.3
11.7

5.2
3.2
5.5
3.2

8.5
5.3
8.9
5.2

9.0
6.4
8.8
5.7

7.0
5.0
6.9
4.5

61.0

100.0

128.0

100.0

10.4

1
Including 9.2 for mining and metallurgy and 9.1 for textiles and clothing.
for mining and metallurgy and 12.3 for textiles and clothing.

Including 29.3

overseas migration, it does not appear to have decreased the working
population by much more than 15,000. Thus, the total net gain to the
labour force due to migration between 1946 and 1957 can be estimated
at somewhat more than 100,000, a figure about equal to its natural
increase between the two censuses of 1945 and 1950 and representing
about 4 per cent, of its size as disclosed by the 1950 census.1 Table 121
gives an approximate idea of the increase due to immigration in the
different occupational sectors, based on the number of aliens employed
in each at the beginning and at the end of the period considered.
The sectors which gained the most from the influx of foreign labour
were industry (principally mining and metallurgy), agriculture, the hotel
trade and transport.
Belgium.
The data for Belgium are even less informative than those for
Sweden, even though Belgian migration statistics include a breakdown
by occupational sector. This is because the breakdown exists only for
the years following 1948 and also because industrial workers are lumped
together with commercial workers, and persons not gainfully occupied
with workers in unspecified occupations. Moreover, in Belgium as in
Sweden migration is divided into two main currents, one continental,
1

The 1945 figure was 2,988,000 and that for 1950, 3,105,000.

349

DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS

with an immigration surplus, the other intercontinental, with an emigration surplus, the occupational characteristics of the two being basically
different.
From 1946 to 1957 international migration in Belgium resulted
in a total immigration surplus of about 150,000. This included a figure
of 130,000 for 1948 and subsequent years, when net continental immigration amounted to 185,000 and net intercontinental emigration to 55,000,
the corresponding numbers of economically active persons having
been at least 75,000 and 26,000. The balance for the years 1948-57
would thus appear to have been positive and to have amounted to
some 50,000, or about one-third of total net immigration, excluding
the workers counted under the heading " miscellaneous " in table 122.
Applying the same rate to the immigration surplus for the years 1946-47,
total net immigration of workers would seem to have been approximately
65,000, or less than 2 per cent, of the Belgian labour force at the time
of the 1947 census.1 There can, however, be no doubt that this
is appreciably less than the real figure, not only because of the exclusion
of some categories of workers from the total, but also because continental
immigration during the years 1946-47 very probably included a considerably higher proportion of workers than in subsequent years. In these
circumstances, the real figure may be placed at around 80,000—still a
fairly low one in relation to the total labour force.
However, while migratory movements to and from Belgium increased the labour force only by a moderate amount, their effects on its
structure were fairly marked, since they derived from a fundamental
TABLE 122.

BELGIUM: IMMIGRATION AND EMIGRATION, BY OCCUPATION,
1948-57
Continental migration
Immigration

Intercontinental migration

Emigration

Immigration

Emigration

Occupation
Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Percentages

. . . .

9.0
193.5
18.0
237.1

2.0
42.3
3.9
51.8

6.1
126.0
14.0
132.7

2.2
45.2
5.0
47.6

0.8
8.2
7.7
34.4

1.6
16.1
15.0
67.3

3.9
27.6
11.4
64.4

3.7
25.7
10.6
60.0

Total . . .

457.6

100.0

278.9

100.0

51.2

100.0

107.4

100.0

Agriculture
Industry and commerce .
Miscellaneous

Percentages

3,481,000.

350

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

difference between the two types of movement involved, i.e. continental
and intercontinental. From 1946 onwards continental immigration
increased the Belgian labour force by more than 100,000 units, mostly
men engaged for work not requiring prior vocational training, principally
coal mining. Intercontinental emigration, on the other hand, decreased
it by roughly one-third as many comparatively skilled manual and nonmanual workers. Hence the effect of migration, in Belgium as in the
United Kingdom, was to swell the lower ranks of the occupational
hierarchy and to thin out its middle and upper strata, though not to
such an extent as in the United Kingdom.
This trend was accentuated by two further factors, both negative:
seasonal movements towards France of workers employed in agriculture
and rural industries, which averaged 10,000 a year from 1946 on, and
frontier migration of industrial workers to France and, subsidiarily, to
the Netherlands, which averaged no less than some 50,000 per year
during the period considered.1
France.
The effects of migration on the French labour force between 1946
and 1957 are impossible to assess precisely. As in the case of Belgium,
a distinction must be drawn between continental movements, which
showed a large immigration surplus consisting for the most part of
unskilled workers, and intercontinental ones, which were less important
numerically but involved a net emigration of highly skilled workers.
Data are insufficient on the former and practically non-existent on the
latter.
TABLE 123. FRANCE: ALIEN WORKERS PLACED IN EMPLOYMENT
BY THE NATIONAL IMMIGRATION OFFICE, BY OCCUPATION, 1946-57
Occupation

Agriculture
Metal working
Construction
Domestic service
Miscellaneous
Total . . .

Absolute figures
(thousands)

Percentages

119.7
69.1
80.2
146.5
26.0
56.0

24.1
13.9
16.1
29.4
5.2
11.3

497.5

100.0

1
See above, Chapter V. The number of these workers fluctuated within relatively
narrow limits as regards France and more widely as regards the Netherlands which
was, moreover, the source of a smaller movement in the opposite direction.

DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS

351

From 1946 to 1957 the French National Immigration Office placed
approximately 500,000 alien workers in employment; their occupational
distribution is given in table 123.
To this figure should be added some 40,000 prisoners of war who
became free workers in 1946 and who chose to remain in France at the
expiry of their contract, Italians having entered illegally in the early
part of 1946, and a number of refugees whose number is difficult to
estimate and whose placing in employment was not supervised by the
National Immigration Office. Thus, gross immigration for employment
during these 12 years would appear to have amounted to about 550,000
to 600,000 persons.
As for net immigration, the 1946 and 1954 census data provide the
basis for a rough estimate. Taking into account persons who acquired
French nationality in the meantime, total net immigration of aliens
between these two years may be estimated at approximately 310,00o1,
as compared with 450,000 to 500,000 for total gross immigration.
Departures of aliens would thus appear to have amounted to roughly
one-third of the number of arrivals. Assuming this proportion to
hold good for the entire period considered, net immigration of foreign
workers between 1946 and 1957 would come to about 400,000; this,
however, as already stated, is at best a rough approximation.
Agriculture, construction, mining and metallurgy were the sectors
which benefited most from these arrivals which, although their total was
impressive, represented only about 2 per cent, of the 1954 labour force.2
In addition, seasonal workers numbered 15,000 to 20,000 annually
between 1946 and 1950, around 30,000 between 1951 and 1955, and
approximately 50,000 in 1956-57, and the number of frontier workers
from Belgium fluctuated between 40,000 and 50,000 between 1946
and 1955.
With regard to overseas movements of French nationals—both to
French overseas territories and to foreign countries—the figures are, as
already stated, too imprecise to allow of an assessment of the resultant
loss of working population. However, taking into account persons
recently repatriated from Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco, it is probable
that the net loss was negligible.
1

Calculated as follows :
Alien population in 1954
Persons having acquired French nationality between 1946 and
1954
Natural increase from 1946 to 1954
Alien population in 1946
Total net immigration by aliens

18,824,000.

1,560,000
+ 500,000
- 7,000
— 1,744,000
309,000

352

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

Switzerland.
As in the case of Sweden, Belgium and France, immigration to and
emigration from Switzerland differed vastly in size and in structure.
Immigration of aliens was on a large scale and consisted mainly of manual
and relatively unskilled workers; emigration of Swiss nationals, on the
other hand, was principally to overseas countries and was largely confined to the more highly skilled categories.
The increase in the working population which resulted from all
foreign immigration (including permanent, frontier and seasonal movements) was very large in proportion to the Swiss labour force (2,156,000,
according to the 1950 census). Permanent and frontier movements alone
seem to have resulted in a net gain of at least 240,000 workers 1 or over
10 per cent, of the 1950 labour force. As for seasonal movements, they
averaged 50,000 a year between 1949 and 1952, and since then progressed considerably until in 1957 they exceeded 135,000.
As tables 124 and 125 show, the sectors which rely most heavily
on foreign labour are the manufacturing industries, principally metallurgy, and construction, the latter mainly under seasonal contracts. Then
come the hotel trade, agriculture and domestic service.
In comparison with the massive influx of foreign workers, emigration
was on a modest scale. Statistics of departures and returns of Swiss
TABLE 124. SWITZERLAND: FOREIGN WORKERS SUBJECT TO
EMPLOYMENT RESTRICTIONS IN 1950 AND 1958, BY OCCUPATION
1950
Occupation

Absolute
Absolute
figures
Percentages
figures
Percentages
(thousands)
(thousands)

Agriculture
Construction 1
Manufacturing
Hotel trade

9.4
1.8
22.5 2
16.7
30.7
8.9
Total . . .

Including mining and quarrying.
1

1958

90.1

10.5
1.9
25.0
18.6
34.1
9.9

14.3
14.7
129.7
45.1
33.8
23.9

5.5
5.6
49.6
17.3
12.9
9.1

100.0

261.6

100.0

* Including metallurgy (7.2) and textiles (5.6).

This figure is borne out by the statistics of foreign workers subject to employment restrictions, which between February 1949 and February 1958 showed an increase of 155,000 approximately. In addition, between 1949 and 1957 some 40,000
persons, presumably workers for the most part, were freed from employment restrictions. As for the balance for 1946-48, this would appear to have been somewhere
between 50,000 and 60,000.

353

DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS

TABLE 125. SWITZERLAND: EMPLOYMENT PERMITS ISSUED TO
SEASONAL WORKERS IN 1949, 1952, 1954 AND 1957, BY OCCUPATION
1952

1949
Occupation

Absolute
Absolute
Absolute
Absolute
figures Percenfigures Percen- figures Percen- figures Percen(thou(thoutages
tages
(thou(thoutages
tages
sands)
sands)
sands)
sands)

Agriculture . . . 13.3
Construction . . 11.7
Manufacturing *
1.1
Hotel trade. . . 12.0
Domestic service
7.4
Miscellaneous
2.0

28.1
24.7
2.3
25.2
15.6
4.1

15.0
33.7
2.3
11.3
0.3
1.0

23.6
53.0
3.5
17.8
0.5
1.6

15.9
43.4
3.9
16.0
0.2
1.7

Total . 47.4

100.0

63.5

100.0

81.1

1957

1954

19.6
53.5
4.8
19.7
0.3
2.1

18.2
88.8
6.8
20.7
0.3
1.7

13.3
65.1
5.0
15.2
0.2
1.2

100.0 136.3

100.0

Including mining and quarrying.

citizens subject to military service suggest that the loss of economically
active persons during the period considered was in the neighbourhood
of 20,000, of which approximately two-thirds went to overseas countries.
This figure does not include women or aliens, but these do not appear to
have weighed heavily in the over-all total.

The Americas
Canada.
In the case of Canada, lack of emigration statistics makes it extremely
difficult to assess net immigration of economically active persons. The
changes in the occupational classification of immigrants which were
made in 1953 further increase this difficulty.
According to the data given in tables 126 and 127, which cover the
whole of the period, nearly 900,000 immigrants entered Canada in order
to engage in a gainful occupation. This should be set off against losses
resulting from returns of immigrants to Europe and the United States
and emigration by Canadian citizens or residents, mainly towards
the United States, which during the period under consideration caused
a total population loss of some 580,000 persons of whom less than
half, apparently, were economically active. Judging by these figures,
the gain in working population resulting from total migration during
the period must have amounted to over 600,000, representing nearly
12 per cent, of the working population counted in 1952.1 This means
1

5.3 million.

354

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957
TABLE 126. CANADA: IMMIGRATION, BY OCCUPATION, 1946-52
Absolute figures
(thousands)

Occupation

Percentages

Workers :
Skilled
Semi-skilled and unskilled
Commercial
Professional
Domestic service
Miscellaneous

. . . .

103.0
99.9
94.2 '
17.7
27.9
20.2
32.1
25.7

Total workers. . .
Not gainfully occupied2 . .

420.7
368.6

53.3
46.7

Total . . .

789.3

100.0

•Including lumbermen (11.5), miners (8.9), labourers (27.7), industrial
workers (6.8), construction workers (6.8), transport workers (8.9) and others
(23.7).
* Including persons whose occupations were not stated.

that the Canadian labour force was greatly increased as a result of
immigration, and to a proportionately much greater extent than the total
population.
The figures reproduced in tables 126 and 127 give an idea of the
occupational distribution of the immigrants. A particularly high proportion were manual workers destined for the primary and secondary
sectors of the economy, i.e. skilled and semi-skilled workers for mines,
construction and, above all, manufacturing, farm and forestry workers,
and general labourers. Taken together, these different categories accounted for more than two-thirds of all immigrant workers. The
other important groups were female domestic servants, office staff
and professional workers. As for emigration to the United States and
returns to Europe, these seem to have affected mainly skilled industrial
workers, clerical and commercial employees and professional workers.1
To the relatively small extent that emigration cut down the working
population, the change in the labour force structure was entirely different
from that caused by immigration. Roughly speaking, immigration
strongly reinforced the middle and lower strata of the occupational
hierarchy, whereas emigration had a tendency to weaken the middle
and upper strata. However, even in the categories most affected by
emigration, the balance of arrivals and departures appears to have been
clearly on the positive side.
1

This information is based on United States and United Kingdom statistics.

DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS

355

TABLE 127. CANADA: IMMIGRATION, BY OCCUPATION, 1953-57
Absolute figures
(thousands)

Occupation

Workers :
Professional and technical
Managerial, administrative and clerical .
Transport and communications
. . . .
Commerce and finance
1
Services
Agriculture
Other primary occupations
Mining
Industry and construction
General labour
Miscellaneous

49.7
51.6
12.5
18.5
66.7
53.5
2.3
4.1
151.0
63.1
3.0

Total workers .

476.0

54.1

404.1

45.9

880.1

100.0

Not gainfully occupied
Total .
1

Percentages

Principally domestic service.

United States.
American immigration and emigration statistics only give a breakdown by occupation for fiscal years ending on 30 June. Table 128
shows that net foreign immigration between 1 July 1945 and 30 June 1957
increased the labour force by 1,090,000 persons, representing a little less
than half (actually 47.3 per cent.) of total net immigration. If the same
proportion is applied to net immigration for the 12 calendar years
1946-57, which amounted to 2,415,000, the corresponding increase in the
labour force comes to about 1,150,000 persons—still a very low figure in
comparison with the total labour force, which in 1950 amounted to
60 million.1 The proportionate increase in the labour force was slightly
higher than that of the total population, of which the number of economically active persons at that time represented only 40 per cent. ; nor does
this include seasonal farm workers, of whom officially recorded immigrants alone numbered about 200,000 in 1951, 400,000 in 1955 and
450,000 in 1957.
In view of the small size of the over-all proportionate increase in
the labour force, there is no need to go into a detailed analysis of its
breakdown by occupation. Suffice it to say that the number of skilled
1
This does not allow for losses resulting from emigration of United States
citizens, which reduced the net gain to less than 1.1 million.

356

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957
TABLE 128. UNITED STATES: FOREIGN IMMIGRATION AND
EMIGRATION, BY OCCUPATION, 1946-57 l
Immigration
Occupation

Absolute
Absolute
figures
Percentages
figures
Percentages
(thousands)
(thousands)

Workers :
Professional and technical . .
Farmers
Proprietors and management
staff
Clerical and sales workers . .
Craftsmen and specialised work-

Emigration

35.0
3.3

1,227.8
1,372.4

47.2
52.8

136.7
158.1

46.4
53.6

2,600.2

100.0

294.7

100.0

180.1
77.6
66.9
198.6

Skilled and semi-skilled workers
Domestic service workers. . .
Other service workers . . . .

196.3
186.4
100.2
63.8
39.9
118.0

Total workers . . .
Not gainfully occupied . . . .
Total . . .

22.2
15.1
8.4
12.8
6.7
10.9
5.8
16.6

Year ending on 30 June.

industrial workers and, even more so, of professional workers was proportionately much higher among immigrants than among the American
working population. On the other hand, it is probable that emigration
by United States citizens, on which very little information is available,
also consisted mainly of persons in these two categories, particularly the
latter.
Argentina.
Immigration and emigration statistics for Argentina, as already
stated, apply only to movements of aliens by sea, thus covering most,
but not all migratory movements. For 1945-57, they show a net immigration of 224,000 workers, representing only 36.4 per cent, of total
net immigration. This exceptionally low figure can be explained by the
importance of family immigration, the small number of working women
among immigrants and the high percentage of workers among repatriates.
Argentina would seem to have been the only immigration country where
the working population gained proportionately less than the total
population as a result of immigration, the proportion of the population
gainfully occupied at the time of the 1947 census being 40.6 per cent.

357

DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS
TABLE 129. ARGENTINA: IMMIGRATION AND EMIGRATION,
BY OCCUPATION, 1946-57
Immigration
Occupation

Emigration

Absolute
Absolute
figures
Percentages
fìgures
Percentages
(thousands)
(thousands)

Workers :
Agricultural and related . . .
Industrial
Construction
Transport and communications
Professional
Services
Miscellaneous

114.0
132.7
23.6
57.8
10.2
18.6
6.1
4.7

Total workers . . .

367.7
523.7

41.3
58.7

143.9
133.0

52.0
48.0

891.3

100.0

276.9

100.0

11.9
50.4
7.8
50.0
6.7
12.0
2.1
3.1

Total . . .

In relation to the labour force counted at that date 1 , the contribution of
immigration by sea represented less than 3.5 per cent. It consisted mainly
of farm, industrial and construction workers, no details being available as
regards their degree of skill.
The figures given in table 129 exclude, among other things 2 , the
large balance (amounting probably to about 190,000) of continental
movements, other than by sea, to and from neighbouring countries.
In the absence of precise data, it may be assumed that half of this figure
consisted of workers, mostly unskilled. In addition, there was some
immigration of seasonal labour on which, however, no data are available.
Other Countries.
For Brazil, where gross immigration between 1946 and 1957
amounted to approximately 570,000, the proportion of active immigrants appears to have been slightly higher than 50 per cent, (table 130).
Net immigration of workers during the same period may be set at about
220,000, or slightly more than 1 per cent, of the 1950 labour force.3
This gain consisted principally of farm workers and of skilled and semiskilled industrial workers.
1
2
3

6,446,000.
There are no figures available for 1952 and those for 1951 are unreliable.
17,117,000.

358

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957
TABLE 130. BRAZIL: IMMIGRATION, BY OCCUPATION,
1946-50 AND 1953-57
1946-50
Occupation

1953-57

Absolute
Absolute
figures
Percentages
figures
Percentages
(thousands)
(thousands)

Workers :
Agricultural
Skilled
Unskilled
Technicians
Traders
Miscellaneous

13.6
16.3
1.3
2.4

25 6

46.8
61.7
8.6
3.0
22.6
20.6

Total workers . . .
Not gainfully occupied1 . . . .

59.2
52.7

52.9
47.1

163.3
142.7

53.7
46.3

Total . . .

111.9

100.0

306.0

100.0

} - {

1
This includes immigrants classified under the heading domésticos which appears to include children
and the great majority of female immigrants.

In Uruguay, immigrant workers—some 35,000 for the entire period—
seem to have accounted for at least 60 per cent, of total overseas immigration. Approximately half the immigrants were farm workers, and most
of the remainder were skilled industrial and construction workers.
For Venezuela no national statistics are available. Most of the
immigrants came from Italy and Spain, whose statistics show that at
least 60 per cent, of net emigration to Venezuela consisted of economically active persons. Assuming net immigration during the period considered to have totalled approximately 330,000, net immigration of
workers can reasonably be estimated at about 200,000, or roughly 12 per
cent, of the 1950 labour force.1 With regard to Italian and Spanish
immigration, the gain consisted almost entirely of manual workers,
mostly for manufacturing and construction.

Africa
In the Union of South Africa, where gross immigration by persons
of European stock reached 215,000 during the period under review,
nearly half this total consisted of economically active persons, including
a high proportion of industrial workers, a remarkably high percentage
of professional workers and a remarkably low one of farm workers
1

1,706,000.

359

DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS

TABLE 131. UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA : IMMIGRATION, BY OCCUPATION,
1946-57
Absolute figures
(thousands)

Occupation

Workers :
Agricultural
Industry, mining and construction
Transport and communications
Administrative, commercial and
clerical
Professional
Personal service
Independent
Miscellaneous and unspecified

Total workers . . .

Percentages

4.5
40.3
1.9
22.9
22.1
3.5
3.7
6.8

105.5

49.0

109.9

51.0

215.4

100.0

Total . . .

(table 131) ; however, owing to heavy emigration, mostly to the Rhodesias,
total net immigration came to little more than 80,000. This would
mean a net gain of only 40,000 for the working population—a figure
which, however, represents 4 per cent, of the entire European labour force
counted in 1951.1 This gain was further increased by African immigration, which must have run into hundreds of thousands, although it is
impossible to make an accurate estimate.
With regard to the three territories which now form the Central
African Federation, where net immigration by persons of European
stock reached 135,000 for the period as a whole, the resultant gain for
the working population can be estimated at about one-half of this
figure.2 This means that the increase considerably more than doubled
the European labour force in the whole of the Federation, the figure for
1946 being less than 45,000. The sectors benefiting most from this influx
were manufacturing, mine construction (in Northern Rhodesia) and
transport. Immigration by African workers was also considerable,
though lower than in the Union of South Africa; between the censuses of
1951 and 1956 African wage earners from other territories (principally
1

983,000.
A breakdown by occupation for 1949-53 is available in the case of Southern
and Northern Rhodesia, but this includes movements between the two territories, a
distinct breakdown for the whole of the Federation being available only from 1955
onwards. These figures show that the proportion of workers among immigrants,
including persons seeking employment, was about 50 per cent.
2

360

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

Mozambique) employed in the three territories of the Federation increased in number by some 30,000 only, while their proportion to the
total number of African wage earners dropped from 22 to 16 per cent. It
is, however, probable that the increase had been greater between 1946
and 1951.1
Australia and New Zealand
Out of a total net immigration of 939,000 persons to Australia from
1947 to 1957 2, the number of economically active persons appears to
have been around 480,000, representing a proportion of 51 per cent.
This increased the 1947 labour force 3 by no less than 13 per cent.
—a much larger proportionate gain than that registered by the total
population.
Table 132 shows that this increase concerned manual occupations
chiefly (skilled industrial and construction workers having accounted for
nearly one-fourth of the total), agricultural workers, semi-skilled industrial workers, labourers and domestic staff. The gain was also relatively
large in the professional category and relatively low in that of commercial
TABLE 132. AUSTRALIA: IMMIGRATION AND EMIGRATION,
BY OCCUPATION, 1947-57 1
Immigration
Occupation

Absolute
figures
(thousands)

Workers :
Agricultural
Professional
Administrative
. . . . .
Commercial and clerical .
Domestic service
Skilled workers
Semi-skilled workers
. .
Labourers
Occupation not stated . .

Percentages

Emigration
Absolute
figures
Percentages
(thousands)

. .

88.9
49.0
13.0
80.5
56.2
158.9
90.5
69.0
37.5

Total workers . . .
Not gainfully occupied

643.1
596.4

51.9
48.1

156.4
143.7

52.1
47.9

Total . . .

1,239.7

100.0

300.2

100.0

. .
. .
. .

6.6
28.3
7.3
35.6
9.6
34.7
15.5
14.3
4.5

From 1 July 1947 to 31 December 1957.
1
2
3

The total number of African wage earners rose from 759,000 to 1,038,000.
The data for 1946 showed a negative balance.
3,238,000, representing 42.7 per cent, of the total population.

361

DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS

TABLE 133. NEW ZEALAND: IMMIGRATION AND EMIGRATION,
BY OCCUPATION, 1946-57 1
Immigration
Occupation

Emigration

Absolute
Absolute
figures
Percentages
figures
Percentages
(thousands)
(thousands)

Workers :
Agriculture, forestry, etc. . . .
Industry and construction . .
Transport and communications
Commerce and finance . . .
Administrative, clerical and
Miscellaneous and unspecified .

11.1
41.0
7.5
8.3

>
f

44.5
10.0
10.9

2.7
10.5
2.5
4.1

25.8
2.9
3.0

.
S

(<J
;
(
)

Total workers . . .

133.3
100.1

57.7
42.9

51.5
38.1

57.5
42.5

Total . . .

233.4

100.0

89.6

100.0

1
From 1 April 1946 to 31 March 1958.
all types of personal service.

* In the statistics for 1956 " domestic service " includes

and clerical workers. Thus the occupational structure of immigration to
Australia during the period in question was similar to that of immigration to Canada. The figures in table 132 also show that it was vastly
different from that of emigration, the latter including, in particular, a
much higher proportion of non-manual workers. Here again there was
a marked similarity between Australia and Canada.
In New Zealand, out of a total net immigration of 144,000 from
1946 to 1957, economically active persons numbered 82,000, or almost
56 per cent, (table 133). This represents a gain of nearly 12 per cent.
over the 1945 labour force.1 The proportionate gain for the working
population was therefore much larger than that for the population as a
whole. Its occupational structure differed slightly from that for Australia :
it included fewer industrial workers and considerably more non-manual
workers.
Bibliographical References
See the list of statistical sources for Chapters V and VI. See also
Proceedings of the World Population Conference, 1954,
Papers, Vol. II (New York, 1955).
UNITED NATIONS:

679,000.

CHAPTER XI
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EFFECTS
The economic and social consequences of post-war migration are
more difficult to assess than its demographic effects. There are two
reasons for this. In the first place, the analytical problem is not merely
one of establishing the facts ; it also entails the working out of complex
relationships between a series of factors, which leaves much more scope
for personal judgment. In the second place, many of the data needed
to ascertain the facts are lacking. These two considerations apply even
more to the social than to the economic aspects of the analysis, for by
their very nature the social consequences are much more difficult to
measure statistically than the economic ones.
Even the choice of a standpoint from which to judge the facts is a
highly controversial problem. There can be no doubt that international
migration, by moving men to countries where better use can be made of
their working capacity, tends to raise the over-all level of productivity;
on the other hand, the argument that migration removes the difficulties
which gave rise to it is open to challenge. In other words, the supranational, liberal approach, which tends, a priori, to favour migration,
overlooks the fact that the world is still divided up, from the economic
point of view, into national units and therefore cannot be accepted
without qualification. Account must therefore be taken of the interest of
each of the countries concerned, particularly that of emigration countries.
But the choice of national interest as a criterion is an equally controversial matter. If income per inhabitant is taken as the yardstick for
measuring national interest, the problem of increasing it will differ
according to the length of the period during which that increase is to
take place. A measure which is beneficial in the short term may cease
to be so in the long run; on the other hand, a short-term sacrifice may
prove beneficial in the long term. The problem is even more complicated if, in addition to the increase in average income, account is
also taken of the social problem of the distribution of income.
In view of all these conflicting considerations it has been considered
preferable to confine this chapter as far as possible to descriptive material,
dealing successively with the repercussions of recent migratory movements on economic and social development in emigration and immigration countries and the effects of migration on the migrants themselves.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EFFECTS

363

Effects on Emigration Countries
GENERAL

The effects of emigration on economic and social development in
emigration countries can be expressed in terms of its repercussions on
real average incomes and on the distribution of the national income.
It is readily apparent that emigration will immediately tend to raise
average personal income if the income of the emigrant is below that
level and to lower it if his income is higher. But such a view of the
question is too superficial; for obviously the departure of an income
earner will do more than simply reduce the national product by the
amount of his contribution to it.
In this connection a fundamental distinction must be made between
emigration by persons in regular employment and emigration by the
unemployed.1 The former gives rise to a loss of production and a
consequent drop in the national product, the amount of which will vary
in direct proportion to the productivity of the emigrant workers measured
in terms of their incomes. This loss will cause a fall in consumption
and in savings corresponding to the proportions of their income which
the emigrants previously allocated to each. The effects of emigration
by unemployed persons are different in that it does not cause a fall in
production; its only effect is to make an income which previously had
to be drawn from savings for consumption purposes available for
consumption of a different type or for investment. Thus the effects of
emigration on development are different in the two cases. In the former
the fall in consumption resulting from emigration has an adverse effect
on propensity to invest, while the fall in total savings gives rise to a
corresponding fall in the capacity to invest. On the contrary, in the
second case propensity to invest may decrease in the sectors in which
consumption is reduced but will increase in others, while investment
capacity will also increase.
However, emigration will produce its full investment-curtailing effect
only if the emigrant workers are not replaced, either because there is
nobody to replace them or because their departure and that of their
families have resulted in such a fall in demand in the particular branch
or branches of production in which they were previously employed as
to make their replacement unnecessary. On the other hand, if emigrant
workers are replaced by others previously employed in another branch
1

The dependants of an economically active person need not be taken into account
if they have no income of their own, as their consumption can be considered as part
of the consumption of the breadwinner.

364

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

—who may in their turn be replaced by yet other workers from other
sectors, and so on—the pressure to disinvest is ultimately transferred to
the sector or sectors in which the vacancies remain unfilled. This effect
is, however, eased by the fact that each switch of jobs involves a transfer
from a less productive to a more productive job; and if the migrants
are replaced by unemployed or previously inactive persons, there will
be no tendency towards disinvestment at all, since the emigrants' incomes
—and consequently their consuming and saving potential—passes to
new producers who were not previously obtaining incomes from employment—a situation, in effect, analogous to that resulting from emigration
of unemployed persons, the only type of emigration likely, a priori, to
stimulate development.
It follows, then, that emigration will have a completely different effect
in a country with full employment and in an overpopulated one suffering
from underemployment. In the latter case emigration may make for
higher productivity (provided that the producers lost can be replaced
immediately and without difficulty). In countries with full employment,
on the other hand, emigration may create a cumulative tendency to
disinvest which may have a repercussion on the national income much
greater than the direct fall in earnings and thus exert a depressing
influence on average incomes even if the incomes of the emigrants were
themselves relatively low.
It has been assumed so far that each country is a completely independent economic unit and that migration only affects production and
income in so far as it alters the employment situation. Obviously this
is never the case in practice. Emigration has certain effects on the
balance of payments; this is adversely affected by the capital exports
which the emigrants are allowed to make, and favourably affected by
the capital repatriated by those who return, remittances of savings and,
in some cases, increases in certain exports. These secondary effects of
emigration are sometimes important and will inevitably have some
influence on the manner in which emigration affects development in the
last analysis. The conclusions reached so far must therefore be reexamined in this new light. They are valid only to the extent that the
effects of emigration on employment and income within the country are
not partially or completely offset—or even more than offset—by its
favourable or adverse effects on the balance of payments. Of course,
these two series of effects need not be opposite : they can be cumulative
as well.
Even so, these conclusions require yet further qualification, for full
employment and overpopulation—the two situations considered so far—
may be of a purely temporary nature. If a fairly long recession takes

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EFFECTS

365

place in a country, full employment may for a time be replaced by
underemployment. A much more serious and long-term danger to full
employment may exist where population growth gives rise to a need
for investment which exceeds the actual investment potential. Here the
surplus of labour may be not an immediate problem but a latent threat
which emigration can help to avert. Similarly, underemployment is not
necessarily a permanent situation; it may be absorbed by the natural
play of economic forces, with the result that the need to combat it by
emigration becomes less pressing. In any case, there are many recognised
forms of overpopulation, ranging from unemployment due to underdevelopment to labour surpluses resulting from structural unbalance
between the labour supply and demand ; and emigration is not necessarily
the best remedy in all cases. The situations that can arise and the ways
in which they can develop are in fact so many and varied that it would
be dangerous to try to formulate hard and fast conclusions covering
all conceivable cases.
Mention should be made at this point of one of the arguments
frequently put forward against emigration, namely that, as emigrants
are for the most part young adults, it tends to destroy the balance
between economically active and inactive age groups and to increase
the average age of the population. This argument requires qualification,
since the economic effects of emigration are actually harmful only if
it gives rise directly to a fall in employment; if, however, the migrants
are unemployed (though of employable age) the immediate effects
will be nil. But if a long-term view is taken it becomes clear that
even in the second case the immediate benefit which the economy in
general and its workers in particular derive from the departure of the
unemployed may well be lost later if economic conditions improve, for
then development will be hampered by labour shortages, while the
burden of supporting the inactive part of the population will have
become heavier.
Lastly, it should be pointed out that the effects of emigration—for
better or worse—on development cannot usually be distinguished as
such. As a rule, it slows down certain demographic trends, but this
influence is rarely strong enough to affect them substantially, let alone
reverse them. Thus it may help to siphon off surplus labour without
necessarily diminishing the labour surplus; the latter may, in fact,
continue to increase. Similarly, emigration may draw off useful labour
without apparently affecting development in any way. Emigration
affects such a small proportion of the population that in most cases
it can be considered as a secondary phenomenon; this adds to the
difficulty of finding factual evidence to confirm theory.

366

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

The problem of measuring the effects of emigration on the distribution of income involves a similar difficulty. From a purely theoretical
point of view, it can be expressed in relatively simple terms, although
the argument that emigration will always be beneficial to the workers
who remain behind because it reduces the labour supply and thereby
tends to force labour costs upwards is obviously an oversimplification,
applicable only to cases where emigration makes for an increase in
productivity—which, as has already been seen, does not automatically
follow. Actually, emigration will only benefit the workers left behind
if it takes place under conditions which will stimulate development. If
this is the case it will, other things being equal, be a positive factor of
economic and social progress. The question then arises as to how this
benefit, expressed in both relative and absolute terms, will be distributed
among the different groups of workers. This, however, is a problem
which goes far outside the field of emigration and its consequences ; it is,
rather, a facet of the much wider problem of general trends in
development.
EFFECTS ON OVERPOPULATED COUNTRIES

Even in the absence of detailed statistical evidence, there can be little
doubt that emigration from the overpopulated countries since the
Second World War has on the whole facilitated the development of
those countries by easing population pressure, which was retarding
the rise in productivity. Thus the problem is usually one of assessing
the benefit obtained rather than of establishing that the country has in
fact benefited from emigration. There are, however, a few cases in
which emigration seems to have assumed unduly large proportions or
to have followed patterns which were in some ways to have undesirable
consequences.
There can be no doubt that southern Europe has benefited from
emigration, although the extent to which the latter has helped to
relieve population pressure—which can be roughly measured by comparing net emigration with the natural population growth—has varied
considerably from country to country. In the absence of more direct
evidence, the active interest which the governments of the countries
concerned usually take in emigration should be sufficient proof that these
countries have in fact benefited from it.
The most detailed information available relates to Italy, where
approximately one-third of the natural population increase since 1946
has been offset by emigration. As in all the other countries of southern
Europe, the employment market in Italy, during the whole of the period

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EFFECTS

367

under consideration, was subjected to pressure from two—not always
readily distinguishable—sources: the labour surplus in agriculture and
that due to natural population growth. The latter alone added 300,000
persons to the number requiring employment every year; and although
productivity in the economy was increasing rapidly, the provision of so
many new jobs was beyond the country's powers. Thus, except in
the years immediately following the war, the level of employment
until quite recently rose far more slowly than would have been
necessary to keep pace with demographic growth. The result was
saturation of the employment market, the principal sufferers being the
younger generations. Unemployment continued to rise steadily until
1953, when it was slightly short of the 2 million mark—that is to say,
approximately 10 per cent, of the entire labour force—and remained at
about that level for some years; not until 1957 did it begin to fall. Even
so, this figure does not, as was seen earlier 1 , take account of underemployment.
Clearly, then, emigration—both permanent and seasonal—to the
extent that it did not deprive the economy of workers difficult to replace
(and in fact very few were difficult to replace) can be considered for
practical purposes as having reduced the level of unemployment. Admittedly, in some regions workers in certain categories have emigrated in such
numbers as to give rise to actual labour shortages 2, but where such
shortages occurred they were on too small and too local a scale to alter
the benefit which the Italian economy as a whole and the workers in
particular received. Moreover, by contributing, as it probably has done,
to reducing the birth rate, emigration has slightly reduced the over-all
cost of maintaining the inactive population.
In addition, Italy's national income and ability to pay for her imports
have been directly increased by the funds remitted by emigrants either
for themselves or for members of their families remaining in Italy.3
Table 134 shows the annual amounts involved and the proportion of
the country's imports which they represent, as communicated by the
Italian Exchange Control Office.
It will be seen that savings remitted through official channels between
1946 and 1957 totalled nearly 1,200 million dollars. On the average, the
remittances covered nearly 5 per cent, of Italy's imports and one-seventh
of her foreign trade deficit. Some of this money—but probably not
1

See above, Chapter VIII.
See G. PARENTI: " I t a l y " , in Economics of International Migration (London,
MacMillan & Co. Ltd., 1958), pp. 85-95.
3
Remittances of savings properly so called (rimesse) by permanent migrants
and earnings from employment (redditi da lavoro) transferred by temporary migrants.
2

368

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

TABLE 134. ITALY: SAVINGS REMITTED BY ITALIAN EMIGRANTS,
1946-57
(In millions of dollars)
Currency

Year
Dollars

1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

Total remitted

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

Sterling j

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

36.1
21.3
29.0
18.6
21.5
16.3
28.2
43.3
49.0
57.3
58.3
61.2

9.0
7.1
5.4
7.0
6.8
12.1
21.3
24.9
24.8
29.1
36.0
38.9

Total. . .

439.9

222.4

Clearing
credits

0.1
0.2
1.2
0.2
1.1

45.1
29.1
35.1
25.7
30.4
33.2
49.5
68.3
74.0
86.4
94.5
101.2

0.2
3.2
35.3
65.1
41.8
36.3
52.5
50.6
40.0
38.3
60.0
86.1

45.3
32.2
70.4
90.8
72.2
69.5
102.0
118.8
114.1
124.7
154.5
187.3

5.2
2.6
4.6
4.9
5.0
3.2
4.4
4.9
4.7
4.6
4.9
5.2

11.3

672.5

509.4

1,181.9

—

0.7
0.6
0.2
2.2
4.8

Absolute
figures

As
percentage of
imports

Total

Other

Source: Notiziario delV emigrazione (Rome, Ministero degli Affari Esteri), Ninth Year, N o . 5,
May 1955, and information communicated to the I.L.O.

very much, especially in recent years—was certainly remitted by persons
who emigrated before the war. On the other hand, the amounts which
passed through Italian exchange control channels probably came to
little more than half the total amounts actually remitted to Italy (at
least in recent years).1 In addition, it should be borne in mind that the
Exchange Control Office does not count social security payments or
payments made abroad by Italian emigrants to Italian transport companies for travelling expenses as savings transferred. This suffices to
show the importance of emigration as a source of invisible earnings,
and particularly of hard currency 2—a source of income, in fact, ranking
before shipping and even the tourist trade.
However, these are not the only beneficial effects which emigration
has had on Italy's balance of payments. Foreign trade statistics show
that since 1949 Italy's exports to Canada, Australia and Venezuela, all
countries with hard or fairly hard currencies, have increased sharply.
There can be no doubt that there is a connection between this increase
1

Some of the remittances were effected by arrangements between private
individuals and others by illegal transfer operations; in addition, some returning
emigrants brought money back to Italy with them. Money sent from Venezuela and
Switzerland seems to have made up a particularly large proportion of these " free
market " remittances.
Mainly through the free market.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EFFECTS

369

and the development of emigration to those countries. By the same token
Italy's ability to pay for her imports has been increased appreciably.1
However, the effects of emigration on the Italian economy have not
all been favourable. There are also negative items in the balance-sheet.
First of all, the direct costs of emigration and its consequences must be
considered. These are made up of both government and private expenditure, the former including the operating costs of the emigration services,
the State's contributions towards travelling expenses, selection and
vocational training for prospective emigrants and, above all, assistance
to emigrants before and after emigration, while the latter consists of the
proportion of travelling expenses paid by the emigrants themselves, the
capital taken by them on their departure from Italy, and such private
assistance as they may have received. This is not the place to examine
these items in detail and to try to work out a comprehensive financial
balance sheet for emigration : in any case, much more information would
be needed. However, it may be said in passing, first that a large part
of the cost of emigration operations was borne in one form or another
by other countries and, secondly, that the overwhelming majority
of the emigrants were of very modest means and consequently unable to
take any substantial sums out of Italy with them. It thus appears that,
while from the financial standpoint emigration has been extremely
profitable to the Italian economy, it has not been so profitable as the
figures of savings remitted suggest.
It has also been pointed out that the groups of the economically
active population in which the surpluses are largest have not contributed
to the migratory movement in proportion to their share in the total
surplus ; it can be argued that this is an effect of the combined influence
of selection by the public authorities and individual choice. A particularly striking case is that of agricultural workers and unskilled labourers.
In 1952, 45 per cent, of all unemployed persons belonged to these two
groups, and by 1956 the percentage had risen to over 50; but it is unlikely
that anywhere near the same proportion of the migrants during these
years came from those groups. Thus emigration has probably checked
the spread of unemployment less in those sectors of the labour force
where levels of skill are lowest and the labour surplus highest than in
the others. In addition, there can be no doubt that a similar tendency
existed as regards physical qualifications. One of the obstacles in
the fight against unemployment is the low general level of vocational
skill of a considerable proportion of the surplus labour force; and a
study of the development of the Italian economy with particular reference
1
See Emilio BETTINI: " Alcuni aspetti economici dell' emigrazione italiana", in
Homo Faber (Rome), No. 56, Aug. 1956, pp. 3555-3560.

370

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

to the gradual reduction of unemployment—a field in which encouraging
progress seems to have been made during the last few years—reveals
that, where the better elements have been or are being siphoned off by
emigration, the latter is actually making a reduction in unemployment
more difficult, especially where it results in shortages of skilled labour,
even in very small sectors. It can be added—looking into the future
rather than at the present—that emigration has hastened the aging of
the population, the undesirable economic effects of which have already
begun to appear and will make themselves felt much more severely in
years to come.
There can be no doubt that the conclusions reached in the case of
Italy are valid for the other emigration countries of southern Europe,
which during the period under consideration have had to cope with
similar and even more serious—though sometimes less apparent—
problems of underemployment.1 It is, however, worthwhile examining
the case of each country separately, although the information available
s scanty.
In Spain emigration was on a much smaller scale than in Italy and
was more localised; thus its contribution to easing the employment
situation was much smaller, and only in a few provinces did it have a
noticeable effect. There is not enough information available on the
subject of funds remitted by emigrants to indicate whether they increased
to any great extent as a result of emigration during the last few
years. The only information available, which concerns a few recent
years, reveals that the sums involved were quite considerable and
suggests that at least during the years in question such remittances
formed a substantial item on the credit side of Spain's balance of
payments.2
In Greece emigration did not develop on any substantial scale until
after 1950 and even so did not assume substantial proportions until 1954.
Transfers of savings increased rapidly with the development of emigration, rising from 14.3 million dollars in 1950 to 75 million in 1957
(table 135). In 1950-51 they represented a very small fraction of
the value of imports, but during the years 1954-57 they accounted for
more than 15 per cent. ; in other words, the recent increase in the amount
transferred in this way has very substantially—in fact, proportionately
1

Greece and Portugal do not publish any unemployment statistics, while those
published by Spain cover only part of actual unemployment.
2
See C. MARTÍ BUFILL : Nuevas soluciones al problema migratorio (Madrid,
Ediciones Cultura hispánica, 1955), p. 321. In 1952 legal transfers of funds amounted
to 75 million dollars, or more than 13 per cent, of Spain's imports (571.7 million
dollars). In 1953 and 1954 the corresponding figures were 90 million and 150 million
dollars respectively; transfers of funds by emigrants are estimated to have made up
about three-quarters of these amounts.

371

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EFFECTS

TABLE 135. G R E E C E : S A V I N G S 1 REMITTED BY G R E E K EMIGRANTS,
1948-57
Amounts

In millions of
dollars . .
As a percentage of
imports . .

1948

11.1
3.3

1949

1950

1951

1952

1953

1954

1955

1956

1957

Total

8.6 14.3 17.0 18.0 45.6 47.0 50.7 60.9 75.0 348.2
2.7

3.7

4.2

7.2 20.1 15.5 14.6 14.1 16.3

10.3

Source: Balance of Payments Yearbook and International Financial Statistics (Washington, D.C.,
International Monetary Fund).
1
The figures actually represent total private donations, the greater part of which consisted of
remittances.

far more than in Italy—increased the country's importing capacity.
The effects of emigration on the employment situation seem to have
been very small up to 1954, for prior to that year total emigration lagged
far behind the increase in the domestic labour force. Since 1954,
however, it has been catching up rapidly, rising to over 70 per cent.
of the natural labour force increase in 1956. If the inactive elements are
left out of account it appears that some 40 per cent, of the increase in
the working population was siphoned off by emigration in 1955 and
approximately 50 per cent, in 1956. This is admittedly a high proportion,
but it was not enough even to check the increase in unemployment, let
alone to reduce the number of unemployed persons. In other words,
in spite of its recent development emigration from Greece since the war
still falls considerably short of what is needed to offset the particularly
rapid population growth.
In Portugal the rate of emigration among the active population was
about three times as high as in Spain and was comparable to that of
Italy. Emigration thus proved a fairly effective check to the spread of
underemployment, at least in those parts of the country where the rate
was above the average. The amount of savings remitted by Portuguese
emigrants seems to have increased considerably during recent
years; there is probably some relationship between this fact and
the development of emigration; at least, an examination of the item
" private donations " in Portugal's balance of payments, which rose
from 10.4 million dollars in 1952 to 48.3 million dollars in 1957 \
suggests that such a relationship exists. However, on the average this
item only covered about 6 per cent, of imports during that period. On
the other hand, the item " private donations " probably does not include
1

Figures taken from International Financial Statistics (Washington, D.C., International Monetary Fund) and converted from escudos into dollars.

372

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

all the remittances effected by emigrants.1 It should also be remembered
that a considerable proportion of all emigrants from Portugal went to
Portugal's overseas provinces, and the repercussions of these movements
on the Portuguese economy can only be examined within the general
framework of the efforts of the metropolitan territory to develop its
overseas possessions—a subject which is outside the scope of this study.
Malta is a special case. The rate of emigration is very high and has
more than offset the natural labour force increase. As a result, unemployment was kept down to a very low level until 1954. On the other
hand, Malta is not self-governing and therefore has few other means
of coping with the extremely severe strain which the high rate of
population growth has placed on its economy. Unfortunately, a policy
of relying principally, if not exclusively, on emigration as a means of
combating overpopulation is not without drawbacks and, in the case
of Malta, has proved insufficient in the long run to improve economic
conditions on the island. Consequently, there has been during the
last few years a tendency to turn away from the old policy, under which
surplus workers had no choice but to emigrate, and to try to strike
a more satisfactory balance between emigration and local development ;
but in spite of the attention now being paid to development emigration
will still remain a necessary safety valve.2
The only other European country chronically beset with overpopulation (in the sense of an oversupply of labour) is Ireland, where the
situation has also been dealt with by large-scale emigration. As in
Malta the rate of emigration has considerably outstripped the
natural growth of the labour force, with the result that the latter has
fallen substantially; this decline was particularly severe in agriculture,
without there being an equivalent expansion in the non-agricultural
1
The Bank of Portugal has communicated to the I.L.O. figures slightly higher
(except for 1957) than those appearing under " private donations" in the balanceof-payments data published by Internationa! Financial Statistics. The figures are as
follows (millions of dollars):

Amounts transferred by emigrants

Private
donations

Year
From North From South From E.P.U. From other
America
America
countries
countries
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957

.
.
.
.
.
.

6.5
7.1
8.4

6.0
4.3
5.9

10.8

11.6
11.2

9.0

6.2
6.5
7.7
9.9
4.0

1.4
2.4
4.4
3.7
0.7

Total

20.1
20.3
26.4
36.0
25.0

10.4
17.0
15.8
20.2
30.6
48.7

2
See Colonial Office: Malta, Interim Report of the Economic Commission (London,
H.M. Stationery Office, 1957).

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EFFECTS

373

labour force to offset it.1 There is nothing unusual about the first of these
two phenomena; it should even be considered as a factor of progress
since agricultural production, instead of falling, has risen considerably
since 1946. In this case, emigration seems to have made for an improvement in agricultural productivity and acted as a catalyst in bringing
about a necessary change. On the other hand, the slow rate of expansion
of the non-agricultural labour force suggests a certain lack of resiliency
in the Irish economy for which emigration may well be partly responsible,
first because it reduces the propensity to invest, and secondly because,
in spite of the fact that a large number of emigrant workers are comparatively unskilled, many are needed at home if the country is to make
full use of its resources.2 Admittedly, the gross product per inhabitant
increased considerably during the period under consideration, but this
increase was relatively slow, particularly when the decline in population
is borne in mind. Moreover, it is symptomatic that although more than
300,000 workers have emigrated since 1946 there has not been any
falling trend in unemployment, the rate having in fact remained one
of the highest in Europe. 3 The balance-of-payments figures 4 do not give
a clear picture of the extent to which the Irish economy has benefited
from remittances of savings by emigrants, as there are no figures for
remittances from Great Britain, which make up a considerable proportion of the total. Examination of the item " private donations " in the
balance-of-payments data reveals that during the period under consideration there has been no definite upward trend. The money entering
the country in this way—nearly all of it sent by emigrants, as far as
can be ascertained—was equivalent to about 5 per cent, of the value of
imports between 1950 and 1957.
In the other overpopulated emigration countries of Europe, the
link between problems due to overpopulation and the patterns
1
See Central Statistics Office: Ireland, The Trend of Employment and Unemployment in 1956 (Dublin, undated); and J. F . MEENAN: " Eire ", in Economics of International Migration, op. cit. pp. 77-84.
2
See Commission on Emigration and Population Problems, 1948-1954: Reports
(Dublin, The Stationery Office, undated), pp. 136 ff.
3
There were 62,700 unemployed persons in 1946, 61,400 in 1956 and 69,700
in 1957.
4
The amounts coming under the heading of " private donations " on the credit
side of Ireland's balance of payments between 1946 and 1957 were as follows (millions
of Irish pounds) :

1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951

9.4
9.4
8.4
9.7
10.3
10.1

Source: United Nations: Statistical Yearbook.

1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957

9.9
10.8
10.8
11.0
11.3
12.1

374

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

of emigration is much less obvious: this has already been pointed
out in the section dealing with the factors of emigration. It applies,
for instance, to the emigration of non-German refugees from
Germany and Austria under the auspices of international relief organisations, the effect of which on the economies of the two countries was
practically nil. It applies with even greater force to emigration of
German nationals from Germany, of Austrian nationals and Volksdeutsche refugees from Austria and, though in a rather different way,
to emigration from the Netherlands. In Western Germany, as has
already been seen, emigration of nationals from the country developed
at a comparatively late stage, when the problem of overpopulation
resulting from the refugee influx had passed its critical stage. Moreover,
many of the persons who emigrated—whether overseas, to Sweden or
to Switzerland—were highly skilled workers, only a few of whom were
without employment in Germany. Under the circumstances, therefore,
it may be wondered whether emigration has made any contribution at
all to the return of full employment in Western Germany. In any case,
in the present situation of the employment market further emigration
appears to have become not only economically useless but actually
undesirable.
In Austria, too, it is doubtful whether the large-scale emigration of
nationals and Volksdeutsche which has been going on since 1952 helped
to reverse the rising trend in unemployment, which levelled off in 1953.
Admittedly, the information available is not sufficient to establish a
connection between the two; but emigration can in any case have
played no more than a secondary role in comparison with the factors
which have enabled the Austrian, as well as the German economy, to
expand rapidly in recent years. As in Germany, the problem can therefore not really be set against a background of underemployment.
The case of the Netherlands is more complex. As has already
been seen, the net result of migratory movements during the period under
consideration was a comparatively slight decrease in the labour force.
In fact, but for the considerable increase in emigration to Europeanpopulated Commonwealth countries during the second half of the
period, the number of immigrants would have been considerably in
excess of the number of emigrants. Even so, it can hardly be asserted that
the employment situation would have been less favourable during the
last few years if there had been no emigration or if it had been on a
smaller scale; for even in 1951-52 unemployment was not serious,
and since then the economy has been moving rapidly towards overemployment. Nor, however, in the absence of any statistical correlation
between the occupations of the emigrants and the labour surpluses

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EFFECTS

375

in certain occupations—which, once again, were very small—can the
opposite assumption be made. What can be said is that, even in the
boom conditions of recent years, it is doubtful whether the equilibrium of the employment market could still have been maintained if
the excess population had not been siphoned off on such a large scale
by emigration, and it could in any case have been maintained only at
the price of a considerable investment effort, which in its turn would
have slowed down the rise in the standard of living. Thus, on balance,
emigration in recent years seems to have preserved the Netherlands
economy from excessive strain.
Emigration does not seem to have had as favourable an effect on
the balance of payments in the Netherlands as it had in many other
countries.1 However, even if the net profit which the country has received
has been small, the policy of promoting emigration is still justified in
terms of longer-range economic benefits.
Outside Europe overpopulation due to underdevelopment and the
continuous and rapid growth of the economically active population is
rife in large areas. Emigration there has rarely reached sufficient proportions to make a substantial contribution to the solution of the problem.
This is true of all the countries of Asia, including India and
Japan, from which emigration has been very small. It is also true of
most of the countries in Central and South America which have large
surpluses of farm labour. There are, however, three exceptions : Mexico,
the British West Indies and probably Paraguay; possibly, there may be
others. From Mexico emigration to the United States has been considerable in recent years. Until it was brought under effective control
seasonal emigration was chaotic and sometimes disorganised agricultural
production in the northern part of the country; this, however, is apparently no longer the case.2 Emigration of this type has provided an
outlet for a considerable proportion of the surplus population in rural
areas, and the invisible earnings which it has brought in have been a
substantial item on the credit side of Mexico's balance of payments. 3
In the British West Indies the relief obtained as a result of seasonal
emigration to the United States, and above all from permanent emigration to the United Kingdom, seems to have been even more marked, at
1
It appears that capital transfers effected by the emigrants and appearing on
the credit side of the balance of payments (remittances of funds, reimbursement of
travelling expenses and payment of interest) have been largely offset by substantial
capital exports.
2
Economic Review of Mexico (London, The Economist Intelligence Unit), No. 3,
Aug. 1952.
3
Even so, during the last few years at any rate, they have fallen far short of the
earnings derived from the tourist trade.

376

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

least during recent years, when emigration to the United Kingdom
developed on a considerable scale. Lastly, Paraguay, whence large
numbers of persons emigrated to Argentina (and probably to Uruguay),
has also probably reaped considerable benefit from emigration; the
persons involved have been mainly agricultural workers.
In Africa—at least, in Africa south of the Sahara—movements of
indigenous labour take place on a very large scale. The information
available is insufficient to allow an estimate to be made of its effects on
economic development in the territories from which the migrants come.
Has emigration from these territories helped to improve the productivity
of the tribal economy ? Or has it had a depressing effect on productivity
by depriving that economy of badly needed workers ? Has it hampered
the development of the non-indigenous economy by creating labour
shortages ? Lastly, have the savings of the migrant workers (even though
their wages are usually very low) made up an appreciable proportion
of the incomes of the territories from which they emigrate ? All that can
be said in answer to these questions is that the regulations in force in
these territories are intended to prevent their economic development
from being adversely affected by emigration, and there is good reason
to believe that in most cases this, at least, has been achieved.
EFFECTS ON COUNTRIES WITH FULL EMPLOYMENT

Migratory movements from countries with full employment have
usually been on a very small scale. There is, however, one outstanding
exception : the United Kingdom, a highly developed country with a high
level of employment and without serious problems of overpopulation
from which, nevertheless, large numbers of persons have emigrated every
year. It is true that this movement has been nearly offset by immigration
and that the proportion of economically active persons among the
immigrants has been even higher than among the emigrants. It may indeed
be asked whether the United Kingdom can be classified as an emigration country at all, particularly since emigration only exceeded immigration between 1949 and 1955.
The somewhat confused picture as regards the economic consequences
of this two-way movement can be made clearer by reference to two
factors which have already been mentioned in the previous chapter.
First of all, migration during the period under consideration helped
to increase the proportion of economically active elements in the population; this was due partly to the slight surplus of economically active
persons among immigrants but mainly to the heavy surplus of inactive
ones among emigrants. On the other hand, the average level of occupa-

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EFFECTS

377

tional skill was considerably lower among the former than among the
latter. The first of these two factors has certainly been beneficial
to the country's economy. The second, however—at first sight at least—
must be considered as adverse to economic development, as there had
always been full employment in the sectors to which the emigrants
belonged and in some of them emigration may well have given rise to
critical shortages.
But it may be wondered whether, in dealing with the economic
effects of emigration from the United Kingdom, immigration need be
considered at all, as if there were a direct connection between the two.
Having regard to the nature of the immigration movement, there is in
fact no ground for assuming (except, obviously, as regards emigrants
returning to the country) that it would have been less if there had been
no emigration. It is even difficult to establish that there was an indirect
connection between the two movements; for emigration does not seem
to have helped in any way to create vacuums likely to attract immigrants.
Moreover, it is doubtful whether emigration has helped to improve
the balance-of-payments situation. Admittedly, it has helped to reduce
the need for imports and, by reducing domestic consumption, to increase
exportable surpluses; on the other hand, productive capacity has been
reduced, and the capital exported by the emigrants has formed a debit
item in the balance of payments. It is thus difficult to see what direct
benefit the economy of the United Kingdom has derived from emigration
in recent years. It would probably be true to say that its adverse effects
on development have been more or less offset by the favourable effects
of immigration, and that the demographic and economic losses resulting
from emigration are the price which the United Kingdom has to pay
in order to go on making a contribution to the population of certain
Commonwealth countries. Emigration directed towards the other
Commonwealth countries with a view to providing them with an élite
of trained men is so closely linked with the United Kingdom's policy
of investment in those countries to promote their development that it can
only be analysed within the over-all context of that policy and its
achievements.
Emigration from other countries with full employment in northwestern Europe (the Scandinavian countries, Belgium, France and
Switzerland) and from Canada and the United States suggests similar
remarks. Most of these countries have been receiving immigrants
far in excess of the number of emigrants; the inward movement,
though different in composition from the outward movement, has more
than offset the adverse effects which the latter might have had on the
development of those countries. In many cases, too, these movements

378

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

have represented part of a deliberate effort to carry economic expansion
beyond national frontiers, a general discussion of which would be out
of place here.
Effects on Immigration Countries
GENERAL

The starting point for analysing the consequences of immigration
is the same as for those of emigration, namely the dual question of its
influence on real average income and on the distribution of income.
To say that immigration tends to increase average income if the immigrant
enters a job in which he earns more than the average, and vice versa,
is hardly a satisfactory answer, since it would imply a blanket indictment
of immigration not only by inactive persons but also by workers earning
less than the average. Actually, to assert that the only direct effect of
immigration is to add to total income is just as much of an oversimplification as to say that the only direct effect of emigration is to reduce it.
The addition of an immigrant to the labour force can, under certain
conditions, have an effect on development which will multiply in the
same manner as an investment. If these conditions are fulfilled—i.e. if
the extra worker is really needed and if the economy is able to undertake
the investment which immigration calls for—income in the branch of
the economy which the immigrant has joined will increase, and in
addition income in the sectors from which he purchases his consumer
goods and those into which his savings are channelled in one form or
another will also rise. These secondary effects may go on spreading
through the economy almost indefinitely. On the other hand, if these
conditions are not fulfilled immigration may set up an inflationary
pressure and cause a fall in productivity which in its turn may have a
depressing effect on average income. The vital question is therefore
whether, assuming that in the short term immigration tends to reduce
over-all productivity, it will in the long run tend to increase it. This
is a most important question, for restrictive immigration policies are
intended not only to safeguard full employment but also to ensure
that immigration does not slow down the rise in average income.
The difficulty of answering the question put in these terms is that much
depends on the intended length of the initial stage. However that may be,
immigration can make an immediate contribution to development provided that three conditions are fulfilled: first, the immigrant must take
up a useful occupation (that is to say, one for which there is a market
demand); secondly, the job must be one that cannot be done efficiently

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EFFECTS

379

by anyone else ; and thirdly, his total remuneration in the form of wages
and social benefits must not be greater than the value of the goods or
services he produces. Clearly, if these three conditions are fulfilled the
inflationary pressure the immigrant may give rise to in the sectors from
which he purchases his consumer goods (if those sectors are not in a
position fully to meet the additional demand which he creates) will be
more than offset by the reduction in the inflationary pressure on the
sector of production to which he belongs, for his income, which is
already less than the market value of what he produces, is further reduced
by taxes and similar charges; moreover, the immigrant does not necessarily spend all that remains of his income after these deductions.
It should be pointed out that the situation will differ considerably
according as the immigrant has a family or not. Workers with families
often receive higher wages for the same work than those without families ;
they always keep a greater proportion of their income as take-home pay;
and they usually spend a larger proportion of their take-home pay on
consumer goods. Thus the immigration of whole families inevitably
gives rise to a greater inflationary pressure than that of workers without
dependants.
So far, however, no account has been taken of the possible effects
—both direct and indirect—of immigration on the balance of payments ;
these may be quite considerable. Immigrants often bring with them some
capital, however little, and this will appear on the credit side of the
balance sheet. On the other hand, immigration often entails assistance
to the immigrant, part of which has to be paid for abroad. A more
important debit item, however, lies in the savings which migrants often
send back to their countries of origin; in addition, the government may
also have to pay social security benefits and even family allowances to
persons in those countries. The amount expended in this way will
obviously be greater if a large proportion of the immigrants have dependants from whom they are separated; thus it is in the interest of the
immigration countries that such separations—except where they are
inevitable by-products of temporary migration—should be kept as short
as possible. Lastly, immigration will have a favourable effect on the
balance of payments if the resulting increase in production increases the
country's ability to export or reduces the need to import; on the other
hand, the need to increase investment and at the same time to cope
with an immediate rise in the demand for consumer goods may have
the opposite effect.
However, even if immigration satisfies these different conditions
—that is to say, if it can be absorbed without unfavourable effects on
the employment situation, without inflationary pressure ensuing and

380

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

without upsetting the balance of payments—it does not necessarily
follow that the average income will tend to increase as a result. This
can only happen if immigration has, directly or indirectly, a stimulating
effect on productivity. The next step is therefore to ascertain under
what conditions immigration can have that effect.
The problem does not arise in countries with enormous natural
resources and highly developed industries, whose economies, as a result
of these two factors, are governed by the law of increasing returns. In
such countries productivity inevitably tends to improve as the population
increases, particularly if the latter is still well under its optimum size.
This does not necessarily mean, however, that immigration is undesirable
in countries where conditions are not so favourable, even if full employment has not yet been achieved ; for a situation can be brought about in
which the law of diminishing returns ceases to operate, and immigration
may actually be a prerequisite for bringing such a situation into being.
This is true, for instance, of the underdeveloped countries in which
immigration of skilled workers will tend not only to increase productivity
but also to create new jobs. In addition, in an economically advanced
country there may be bottlenecks in the productive system which make
it impossible to achieve full employment in certain sectors ; these bottlenecks may be the consequence of labour shortages which can only be
made up by immigration. In all these situations immigration obviously
has a direct and positive influence on the general level of productivity.
If, however, none of these three situations exist, can it still be argued
that immigration, by stimulating investment, is likely to raise the general
level of productivity in the long run, even though it may have opposite
effects in the short run? If the population is increasing rapidly the answer
will obviously be in the negative. If, on the other hand, the population
is declining or not increasing rapidly enough, immigration may provide
the necessary stimulus for certain forms of progress which could not
otherwise have been achieved—provided, of course, that the other
prerequisites for such progress exist. Such a situation rarely occurs in
practice, for the makers of immigration policy are extremely careful to
ensure that the admission of foreign workers does not lead to even a
momentary decline in productivity. The case deserves mention, however, as an illustration of how the long-term advantages of immigration
can point to the same conclusions as a chain of reasoning based solely
on its short-term benefits.
Immigration is often opposed on the ground that it makes labour
more abundant and thereby tends to slow down the rise in real wages.
This objection has some validity where immigration affects sectors in
which higher productivity can be achieved but in which an abundant

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EFFECTS

381

labour supply acts as a brake on such progress. However, it reflects a narrow outlook and does not take all the facts into account. For one thing,
shortages of labour do not necessarily result in increased productivity :
the investment needed must also be technically feasible and the necessary
financial resources available. Otherwise, the increasing cost of labour
may simply have a depressing effect on production and eventually cause
unemployment. Experience shows that advances in productivity depend
more on the vitality of the economy in general (two facets of which
are propensity as well as capacity to invest) than on the existence
of labour shortages in particular sectors of employment. Immigration
—which, as has been seen, has a stimulating effect on production,
savings and consumption and thus has the same snowball effect as an
investment—may be an important factor in developing or maintaining
that vitality. Thus, even if in the short run it tends to reduce wage
levels it will not necessarily do so for long. It may therefore be concluded
that immigration kept within reasonable limits need not prevent productivity from improving or wages from rising as productivity improves.
Developments in countries where it has been an important economic
factor fully confirm this thesis.

WESTERN EUROPE

In western Europe immigration has been mainly of the " replacement "
type; that is to say, the great majority of immigrant workers have entered
the lower ranks of the occupational hierarchy replacing workers who
have moved on towards less arduous or better-paid jobs. This tendency,
in itself a natural one, has been accentuated by existing regulations.1
Moreover, conditions governing the entry of migrants into these countries have been such that productivity has not been adversely affected,
even in the few cases where immigration has been unrestricted. Thus
there can be no doubt that western European economies have benefited
directly from the influx of foreign workers.
In a few cases immigration has actually become an economic necessity. One example is Switzerland, where immigrants make up a greater
proportion of the economically active population than anywhere else
in the world. In some other countries the majority of the persons
admitted have been workers intending to enter certain key sectors
(such as agriculture, mining, metallurgy and public works) in which,
especially during the years immediately following the Second World
War, it was essential to increase production rapidly in order to clear
1

See above, Chapter VII.

382

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

bottlenecks in the economy, combat inflationary pressures and improve
the balance-of-payments situation.
The benefits derived from immigration have been all the more
remarkable as most of the occupational branches which the immigrants
entered achieved striking advances in productivity, while wages—at least
as far as one can tell from current statistics on wage trends—rose at a
rate which, generally speaking, seems to have been commensurate with the
general trend. Even where this has not been the case, e.g. in the building
industry, where wages have nearly everywhere lagged behind the general
index, their slowness to rise cannot really be ascribed to an excessive
influx of foreign workers. The low wages paid in this industry were in
fact a cause far more than an effect of immigration, which they helped
to develop—at least in Switzerland and France—by creating a chronic
labour shortage ori the domestic market. In any case, in none of the
countries under consideration did immigration ever achieve such proportions as to have a depressing effect on wages. The question only arose
in the case of Switzerland, where the proportion of national income
represented by profits has been increasing slightly at the expense of that
represented by wages, whereas in most countries the tendency has been
for the ratio between the two to remain stable.1 However, it has yet to
be proved that immigration has been in any way responsible for this trend.
The price paid for these benefits seems small indeed by comparison.
The direct cost—i.e. that of organising and assisting movements—has
certainly been very small. Similarly, the inflationary pressure to which
the immigrants have given rise in consumer goods industries has not
been serious, for most of them save as much as they can; this is particularly true of housing, with respect to which the requirements of the
overwhelming majority of immigrants are comparatively simple. The
only debit item has been the transfer of savings—often representing a
considerable proportion of the immigrants' earnings—to other countries.
It is, however, extremely difficult to ascertain the effect of such transfers
on the balance of payments in most countries.2 Switzerland is certainly
1
United Nations: Economic Survey of Europe, 1956 (New York, 1957),
Chapter VIII.
2
In Belgium remittances of this kind have been more than offset by similar
transfers from Belgian emigrants working in foreign countries, particularly in North
America and in France. In the case of France the item " private donations " in the
balance of payments does not disclose any definite trend, at least since 1950 (the
first year in which it was published separately), and on the basis of the rather small
amounts shown, it is impossible to reach any conclusion concerning the size of such
transfers. In the case of Sweden, the item " private donations " has consistently
shown a deficit which, moreover, has been increasing in recent years, probably owing
to an increase in the amounts transferred abroad by immigrants. However, this item
also contains other elements—including, among others, money transferred into the
country. There is no " private donations " item in Switzerland's balance of payments;
transfers are effected through unofficial channels.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EFFECTS

383

the country in which it has been most marked owing to the considerable
volume of immigration in recent years, the fact that most of it has been
temporary in character, and the absence of exchange control in any form.
Even though these transfers have to some extent offset the benefits
of immigration, they are of small consequence compared with the
favourable effects which it has had on productivity—both directly,
by clearing production bottlenecks, and indirectly, by stimulating
investment in general and, more specifically, by making possible larger
profits, part of which could be devoted to increasing productivity. A
particularly strong case could be made out for immigration if it could
be proved, in addition, that the immigration countries of Europe are
well below their optimum population level, having regard to their
present degree of economic development. This may not be true of the
United Kingdom, Belgium or Switzerland, but it is probably true of
Sweden (which since 1954 has removed all restrictions on the employment of nationals of the other Scandinavian countries) and of France.
UNITED STATES AND CANADA

In the United States and Canada permanent immigration, with a
highly varied occupational composition, has continued to predominate.
However, its scale has been proportionately much larger, and its influence
on development consequently much greater, in Canada than in the
United States.
In the United States permanent immigration has affected all branches
of the economy to some extent, but has never been on a sufficient scale
to cause disturbance in any one of them. On the other hand, the advantage which the country has reaped from immigration has probably
been fairly small, even though a considerable number of the immigrants
were workers with a high level of skill; thus immigration not only
increased the population but also added some extremely valuable elements to it. On the other hand, immigration by Mexican seasonal
workers has not been so beneficial—not because the immigrants were
not needed, but because during the period when the movement was not
adequately controlled it rose to a level where it considerably exceeded
the demand. Thus it gave rise to cut-throat competition and forced down
agricultural wages sharply in all the regions into which the immigrants
came, with the result that a considerable proportion of the local labour
force moved to other areas. Moreover, the law of supply and demand
operated against the immigrants themselves, for they were often forced
to work on extremely unfavourable terms. The situation has been
improved by the stricter controls over movements of Mexicans which

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have now been in force for some years, but wages have not yet risen to
their former levels.
The part played by immigration in the economic development of
Canada since the end of the war has been of a completely different
order. During that period immigration was at a high level, but the
absorption of the immigrants never gave rise to any serious difficulty.
The beneficial effects which immigration has had on development are
proved beyond dispute by the spectacular rise in the over-all productivity
of the Canadian economy during the same period.
Not enough detailed information is available to give a clear-cut
picture of the manner in which immigration has stimulated development.
The only information available on the occupations of the immigrants
is to be found in the immigration statistics, which only mention the
types of job which they intend to take up, and the census, which now
dates from several years back (1951). It must often have happened
that immigrants accepted jobs other than those they intended to take
up, and cases of persons subsequently changing employment must have
been even more frequent; thus it is practically impossible to ascertain
the nature of the contribution of immigration to the labour force in
recent years from the immigration statistics. The 1951 census gives a
much clearer picture and, by the same token, an indication of the degree
of occupational mobility during the years preceding 1951.1 But the
greater part of the immigrants who entered Canada during the period
reviewed arrived after 1951, and it is doubtful whether the conclusions
that can be drawn from the census figures are fully applicable to the
years following it.
In spite of these reservations, some information can be obtained
from the figures available. The first is that immigration made a much
greater contribution to the active than to the inactive population and
consequently had a favourable effect on the ratio of the labour force to
the total population, which otherwise would have fallen more than it
actually did. Immigration has thus reinforced the Canadian economy
at one of its weakest points ; for not only is there a continual shortage
of labour but in addition the labour force is too small in comparison
with the size of the population. It appears, moreover, that immigration has provided larger numbers of workers for the basic sectors
of the economy than for the others; in particular, it has provided
manual labour essential to agriculture, forestry, mining, metallurgy and
building. Lastly, highly skilled workers entered the country in relatively
1
It appears, for instance, that displaced persons, who made up a considerable
proportion of the total amount of immigration before 1951, proved particularly
unstable in employment.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EFFECTS

385

large numbers, especially during the second half of the period considered,
arriving at a particularly opportune moment to fill the places of workers
of comparable skills who had emigrated to the United States. There is
thus a good deal to suggest that immigration has during recent years
been of vital importance to the Canadian economy. In addition, although
most of the immigrants settled in the most densely populated areas
(and particularly in Ontario) it helped to solve the labour problems
arising from the opening up of natural resources in new and hitherto
untouched areas.
Nor can there be any question that immigration has been an essential
factor making for increases not only in production but also in productivity. The country is far from having reached its optimum population level, and the recent spurt of development seems to have postponed
still further the day when that level will be reached. In other words,
Canada affords a typical example of an economy of rapidly increasing
returns, in which there are sufficient material resources and capital
available to enable the productivity of labour to increase rapidly; thus
the entry of additional workers into the labour force cannot but have
made a direct contribution to this trend. It has also made an indirect
contribution, first by increasing the size of the home market and thus
making some activities economically more viable, and secondly by
enabling the burden of certain relatively constant overhead expenses
to be spread over a considerably larger labour force. Under such ideal
conditions the potentially stimulating effect of all immigration movements on investment was bound to make itself fully felt. It may be
added that by helping to make certain activities profitable which had
previously not been so because the home market was too small, immigration has made a contribution to one of the most encouraging aspects of
recent developments in the Canadian economy, namely its diversification.
Indeed, immigration provided not only a market but part of the labour
force for the new industries.
Thus, even if due allowance is made for such items of financial
outlay as selection and assistance expenses paid abroad and transfers
of savings out of the country 1 , there can be no doubt that immigration
has been a factor making for a rise in average real income. Necessarily
imperfect synchronisation between the arrival rate of immigrants and
variations in the level of employment does not seem to have increased
the level of unemployment to any great extent, although at certain
1

Transfers of savings out of Canada were largely offset by inward movements
of capital from the United States. There was no substantial deficit under this head
until 1951, and in subsequent years it steadily increased—without, however, representing more than an extremely small proportion of total outgoings in the balance
of payments.

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INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

times immigrants were arriving faster than the economy could absorb
them. Bottlenecks of this kind occurred in 1951-52 and in 1954; a more
serious one occurred in 1957, when large numbers of immigrants arrived
in the country at the beginning of a fairly severe recession. But these
difficulties never lasted very long; and although during the entire period
under consideration unemployment remained relatively high in Canada,
immigration does not seem to have had any substantial influence on the
structural factors responsible for it.
LATIN AMERICA

The four countries on the Atlantic seaboard of South America
(Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela) were also the recipients of
permanent immigration with a highly varied occupational structure.
It is, however, very difficult to decide from the information available
on employment among immigrants whether the movement has always
achieved its purpose, that is to say, whether it has really helped to raise
the general level of productivity and thereby to counteract inflationary
tendencies.
In the case of Argentina there is certainly good reason to doubt
whether this aim has been achieved. During the first half at least of the
period under consideration migrants came into the country in very
large numbers. On balance, the net increase in the labour force due to
immigration was relatively small, and relatively few of the immigrants
were skilled workers. Moreover, the rate of capital formation does not
seem to have been sufficiently high to permit the absorption of immigrants—to whom the country's doors had been thrown open indiscriminately—on such a large scale as to have a stimulating over-all effect on
productivity. On the contrary, it is quite probable that immigration
increased the strains from which the Argentine economy has been
suffering since 1949 and which have aggravated inflation. Admittedly,
the immigrants included not only large numbers of workers with low
levels of skill but also needed technicians and skilled workers. Moreover,
consisting as it did largely of workers previously employed in primary
and secondary industry, immigration may have helped to counteract a
widespread tendency for Argentine workers to move into service occupations. 1 However, it is by no means certain that the immigrants always
took up employment in line with their occupational background.
A case in point is that of farm workers from Europe, the majority
1
Between the census of May 1947 and the industrial census of July 1954 the
farm labour force increased by 9.1 per cent., that in the various branches of industry
decreased by 6.9 per cent, and that in the service industries increased by 14.8 per cent.
in the case of commerce and 66 per cent, in the case of other branches.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EFFECTS

387

of whom did not take up agricultural work on arrival. Even if all
immigrants had taken up employment in their previous occupations
this would not be conclusive proof that all of those entering industry
or agriculture were actually needed; even less would it constitute proof
that immigration had a stimulating influence on productivity. The large
number of persons returning to their countries of origin from 1950
onwards suggests, in fact, that this was not the case. The Government,
for its part, realised the drawbacks of allowing large numbers of immigrants to enter the country without first making a proper selection, as
was done during the years 1948-51, and immigration policy has since
become a good deal more restrictive. Its present aim is to prevent
immigration from further increasing the population of congested urban
areas and to use it only as a means of obtaining additional agricultural
workers, skilled industrial workers of particular types and technical
personnel. But there are today far fewer persons seeking to emigrate
to Argentina than there were ten years ago, and the problem now is
not so much one of restricting entries as of providing incentives for
workers in the categories desired.
In Brazil, as in Argentina, the flow of immigrants has included
persons representing all kinds of occupations and many different degrees
of skill, ranging from agricultural workers to technical and supervisory
staff. Immigration of technicians has often been related to foreign
investment, and it has had a stimulating influence on development, out
of all proportion to the small number of persons involved. Immigration
of Dutch, German and Italian rural settlers, in which foreign capital
also played an important part, seems likewise, in spite of certain initial
difficulties, to have given satisfactory results, but only on an experimental
scale. As for the main body of the immigrants, it is difficult to judge
whether they have made a noticeable contribution to the improvement of
productivity. A considerable proportion of them certainly possessed
skills for which there was a demand on the Brazilian employment
market, and, all things taken into account, immigration did introduce
into the labour force certain elements with levels of skill above the
average. It may, however, be wondered whether these workers were
always used to the best possible advantage and whether immigration
would not have brought more substantial benefits with it if a more
selective policy, of the kind which has been followed during recent
years, had been applied from the beginning.
Lastly, in Venezuela immigration increased the labour force much
more, proportionately speaking, than it did in Brazil (where the
increase was actually very small) or even in Argentina. It took place
during a period of particularly rapid economic expansion, which was

388

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

made possible by an abundance of capital unequalled in any other
country of Latin America. The availability of capital on such a scale
is the reason why the very substantial increase which has taken place
in the labour force (particularly since 1950) under the combined influences
of natural growth and immigration has been paralleled by equally
substantial rises in productivity and average income. Immigration,
which brought with it an extremely high proportion of economically
active persons, including many technicians and skilled workers essential
to industrial development, has made a considerable contribution to
this development. It provided many of the technical and supervisory
personnel and skilled workers required by the natural resources industries, both old and new, and by the metallurgical, engineering and chemical industries which have come into being in recent years. It also provided
a majority of the technicians and skilled workers who implemented the
Government's public works and housing programmes and carried out
construction projects for the big companies. Lastly, immigration has
facilitated the implementation of the land settlement schemes of the
Technical Institute for Immigration and Land Settlement, which in
1949 changed its name to the National Agrarian Institute. It should
not be concluded from the foregoing that the workers admitted since
the war on such a large scale and sometimes rather indiscriminately were
all equally necessary. From the Venezuelan workers there have, in fact,
been complaints that too many immigrants entered the country, with
the result that in some industries labour surpluses occurred, at least in
certain areas, particularly the Federal District. Moreover, the difficulty
which some immigrants had in finding jobs may explain why in recent
years large numbers of them returned to their countries of origin. On
the whole, however, absorption of the immigrants does not seem to
have given rise to any serious difficulty. It certainly does not appear
to have had any depressing effect on wages or to have given rise to
inflationary pressures on prices. On the contrary, the disturbances it has
caused on the employment market have probably been very small and
fully offset by the stimulating effect of immigration in other sectors.
Although experience has shown that more care in the occupational selection of the immigrants is needed, there can be no doubt that the largescale movements which have taken place during recent years have been
of benefit—probably of considerable benefit—to the Venezuelan economy.
AFRICA

During the period under consideration there has been considerable
immigration from Europe into most of the independent and non-

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EFFECTS

389

metropolitan territories of Africa; as in earlier years, many of the immigrants were supervisors and technicians. Concurrently, there has been
an inflow of government and private capital, also from European
countries. The conjunction of these two factors made investment
possible on a large scale and helped to raise the level of employment
among the local populations, often quite substantially. As a result,
production expanded and, notwithstanding the very low levels of productivity which have remained general among African workers, average
incomes rose—often considerably. Moreover, as has already been
seen, development in some territories made it necessary to recruit
additional labour from other territories.
Generally speaking, the statistics available are totally inadequate
as far as an assessment of the precise effect of these various movements
is concerned. In any case, the close relationship existing in most cases
between immigration and the inflow of foreign capital raises aspects
of the problem of the economic effects of migration which are outside
the scope of this study. Only in the Union of South Africa has foreign
investment played a relatively small part in the recent phase of development. Even in the other major African centre of attraction—the Central
African Federation—where domestic capital formation has also risen
to a high level, the inflow of foreign capital has considerably stimulated
the rate of expansion.
In the Union of South Africa the rate of immigration slowed down
considerably after a rush in 1947-48; since then it has done little more
than offset the drain on the labour force caused by emigration to Northern
and Southern Rhodesia. The question therefore arises whether, in
view of this two-way movement, net immigration still suffices to
meet the need for European personnel arising from the rapid rate of
economic expansion. To judge from the acute shortages of technicians
and skilled workers which have occurred in recent years, the answer
would seem to be negative. The experience of recent years has shown
the difficulty of attracting immigrants meeting the more severe
selection criteria now applied without resorting to a policy of active
recruitment.
In the countries of the Central African Federation selection also
gave rise to serious problems for similar reasons, but the proportion
of active elements among the immigrants was higher, and immigration,
which in 12 years more than doubled the European labour force, was
considerable. It provided not only new recruits for technical and supervisory posts in the older, established industries, such as agriculture
and mining, which were in course of expansion, but also the majority
of the technicians and skilled workers who built up the Federation's

390

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

social overhead capital and started up the new manufacturing industries.
In addition, it gave impetus to the expansion of the African labour force,
which between 1951 and 1956 increased by more than 35 per cent.
The increase in the European population and in the size of the African
labour force widened the domestic market considerably and facilitated
the development of activities of all kinds. On the other hand, the rate
of immigration was so high that certain branches, such as construction
and utilities, had difficulty in coping with the ever-increasing demand.
Nevertheless, it was immigration which enabled these bottlenecks to be
cleared. Thus the recent phase of development which has been taking
place in the Central African Federation is a striking example of the
chain reaction which may be sparked off by any migratory movement
in the receiving country. Admittedly, in this case the immigrants were
of a particularly high standard and immigration was accompanied by
exceptionally large capital movements.
It is less easy to assess the consequences of the immigration of
African workers into the Union of South Africa or the Central African
Federation. Undoubtedly, it has had a favourable influence on the
general level of productivity by meeting a need for unskilled labour in
certain essential industries. However, this influence has probably been
small, for the output of African workers is still extremely low, and it is
doubtful whether the use of migrant labour, the basic instability of
which is a further obstacle to achieving higher productivity, has directly
helped to improve the situation.

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

Australia and New Zealand also receive large numbers of permanent
immigrants; in fact, immigration has accounted for the greater part of the
substantial increase in the labour force which has taken place in both
countries since the war.
Immigration has had a beneficial effect on the structure of the population, in which the rising proportion of old people, together with a high
birth rate, would have reduced the relative size of the labour force
sharply if there had been no immigration. This applies more to New
Zealand than to Australia, where the immigrants included a higher
proportion of inactive persons.
Immigration has not only made a considerable contribution to the
labour force in the two countries. It has also, thanks to appropriate
selection methods, brought its structure into line with changes in the
economic pattern which have taken place since 1946. Immigration and

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EFFECTS

391

the occupational mobility of the labour force have both contributed to
this process of readjustment, in different but complementary ways; for
immigration has filled the gaps left by labourers, agricultural workers,
domestic servants and less skilled industrial workers moving into other
types of employment. On the other hand, an increasingly large proportion of the immigrants were skilled workers representing many different
trades, e.g. construction, metallurgy, engineering construction and electricity. The immigrants also included a fairly large number of technicians.
Thus in both Australia and New Zealand immigration made a considerable contribution to industrial development, and particularly to that
of the basic industries. Moreover, as in Canada, it seems to have enabled
workers to move away from the main centres into new territory.
Finally, immigration in these two countries, both of which are rich
in opportunity and in which the economic viability of many activities
tends to increase rapidly as the number of consumers increases, has
helped considerably to extend the home market. Again as in Canada,
therefore, immigration into Australia and New Zealand has had the
snowball effects of an investment from which the entire economy has
benefited.
On the other hand, it is doubtful whether immigration has to any
noticeable extent accelerated the rise in real average income, especially
in Australia. In that country immigration was a prerequisite of an
economic policy based on industrialisation. This, however, does not
mean that standards of living could not have been raised more rapidly
if some other policy had been followed. In fact, for various reasons
(fewer natural resources, a smaller home market and fewer outlets
abroad for industrial products) conditions are much less favourable
for industrialisation in Australia than in Canada, and the attractiveness
to foreign capital correspondingly less. This is also one of the reasons
why industrial development and immigration subjected the Australian
economy to greater strains than the Canadian economy, particularly
as the proportionate population increase resulting from migratory
movements was much greater, with a considerably higher proportion
of the immigrants made up of inactive elements.
These difficulties, however, did not give rise to any employment
problems. Apart from a slight and very temporary rise in unemployment
in 1951 and 1952 Australia was, during the whole of the period under
consideration, a country of overfull employment, and there was no
difficulty in absorbing the immigrants into the various branches of the
economy. On the other hand, the rapid extension of the employment
market which enabled the immigrants to be absorbed so easily was for
several years accompanied by fairly severe inflation. Admittedly, this

392

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

had set in before the great rush of immigrants of the years 1949-52.
In fact, immigration actually helped to remedy this situation by providing
the workers needed to clear certain bottlenecks. On the other hand, it
did give rise to considerable inflationary pressure by considerably
increasing the demand for consumer and capital goods and for services,
while large sums had to be raised to cover the cost of assistance to the
immigrants. However, the extent of inflation was limited by the fact
that, in spite of the diminishing trend in exportable surpluses, the terms
of trade were favourable enough to Australia to allow her to import all
she required, at least until 1951. But in 1952 the balance-of-payments
situation became so serious as to force the Government to curtail imports
and to take anti-inflationary measures, one of which was the restriction
of immigration. As a result of these measures—but above all thanks to a
substantial increase in production and to an improvement in the terms
of trade—the inflationary spiral was checked in 1953 and real incomes,
which had remained stationary for some years, resumed their upward
trend. The stability of prices achieved in the years 1953-54, was, however,
short-lived. The return to boom conditions, together with a new wave
of immigration, set prices rising rapidly again, though not so rapidly
as before.
All in all, the disturbances caused by the policy of development and
immigration pursued by Australia since the end of the Second World
War have been relatively minor ones. They have shown that to ensure a
more balanced development in future years Australia needs, not to
restrict immigration, but to increase production in the primary sector
of industry, which provides the bulk of her exports and in which expansion has not been sufficiently rapid to enable her to import on a scale
commensurate with her increasing requirements. However, though the
policy adopted since the end of the war may have meant that average
real incomes have risen less than they might have done if some other
policy had been followed, the price which Australia has had to pay for
the long-term benefit of increasing her population and providing herself
with a more solidly based and more diversified economy has not, all
things considered, been excessive.
Similar conclusions can be reached with regard to New Zealand,
where the policy of development and immigration has had similar
effects, i.e. sharply rising prices and an increasing balance-of-payments
deficit. The situation differs, however, from that in Australia, probably
because immigration pohcy has probably been guided less by purely
demographic considerations, because the effects of immigration have
been less marked and because real average incomes have tended to
rise more rapidly.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EFFECTS

393

Effects on the Migrants
GENERAL

Since the purpose of economic migration is essentially to move
workers to countries where their labour will be more productive and
hence better paid, it is hardly surprising that most of those involved in
recent movements should in fact have found themselves better off as a
result. However, there have been exceptions—modest in scale, it is
true, but exceptions nonetheless. Even where migration has resulted
in a net economic gain for the migrant, other factors must be taken into
account in attempting to determine whether it has been on the whole a
success or a failure. This is particularly important in the case of permanent migrants intending to make their home in a country where legal
or sociological obstacles may impede their adjustment and assimilation
as persons and as workers, particularly by placing them on an unequal
footing by comparison with local workers.
Immigrants are clearly apt to have special difficulty in this respect,
either because of ignorance of the language or because of inadequate
technical or psychological preparation for their job or working environment. Bad living conditions are another problem: the climate may
be unhealthy, or unpleasant, or there may be a housing shortage, with
the result that the newcomers have to pay high prices for substandard
accommodation. Some of these difficulties can no doubt be quickly overcome, but others cannot and are liable to lead to disappointment and
failure. Another important question is how far immigrants of equal
ability enjoy equal treatment as regards employment opportunities, and
whether immigrant workers are not sometimes discriminated against,
either under local laws or regulations or as a result of certain practices
which the law tolerates. The question does not appear to arise as far
as earnings or working conditions are concerned, but it does arise in
other respects. An example of this is stability of employment. Immigrant
workers tend—as long as they have alien status—to be more hable to
dismissal in case of redundancy and are therefore distinctly more exposed
to unemployment. Moreover, the mere fact of being a foreign migrant
worker may be an obstacle to a change of employer or place of work,
to promotion or to entry into another occupation, in other words to any
attempt at individual betterment.
This is not the place to pass judgment on the reasonableness or otherwise of obstacles placed by law or the community in the way of complete
and rapid assimilation of foreign immigrants either as workers or as
individuals. The difficulties encountered vary a good deal from one

394

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

country to another, and they can in any case only hinder assimilation,
rather than prevent it. Moreover, the strictness of the regulations, if
any, may often be tempered by flexible administrative practices as well
as by liberal naturalisation policies. However, the obstacles must be
mentioned because, coupled with the reactions of the local population,
they may be directly responsible for certain failures.
In dealing with this broad problem, one difficulty is to decide what
source material to use in trying to reckon the proportion of successes
and failures and in determining the reasons for the latter. The clues
provided by available statistics are distinctly patchy and not very useful.
It is true that in most cases the failures tend to return home and the
statistics usually show the number of repatriations. But it sometimes
happens that they cannot go back and then a dissatisfied immigrant has
no option but to remain where he is or, if possible, try his luck elsewhere.
Moreover, the repatriation statistics do not make the necessary distinctions,
e.g. between individuals who have failed and others who left with no intention of settling down permanently but made a success of it nevertheless.
Nor do they usually give any information as to the reasons for the
returns or the length of the stay abroad.1 A general idea as to the integration of the immigrants into the labour force can be obtained from censuses
and employment statistics whenever aliens are distinguished from nationals and this material can sometimes be supplemented by the results of
various surveys. But by and large it is impossible in most cases to come
to any hard and fast conclusions. There is also ample material on aspects
other than the quantitative, but this has to be treated with even greater
caution. The following two sections, dealing respectively with the
settlement of the migrants and with their absorption into the labour
force, are therefore tentative at best.
THE PROBLEM OF SETTLEMENT

Statistics on permanent migration show that many migrants do not
settle down in the countries they first go to but leave after some time.
To what extent are these returns due to disappointment or to inability to
settle down? In other words, how far do they represent failure? Some
light can perhaps be cast on this problem by a comparative study of
national statistics.
These lead to a number of conclusions. The first is that there is a
tendency not to settle down when the country of immigration is geo1

The Spanish statistics are an exception, but even they give only vague indications
as to the reasons for returns. The Portuguese statistics have for some years stated
the length of each individual's stay abroad in the case of repatriated emigrants.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EFFECTS

395

graphically close to the home country. The second is that, even where
distances are comparable, this tendency varies appreciably as between
one country of destination and another, and also apparently as from one
occupation to another. The third is that instability is more marked
among immigrants who are not accompanied by their families than
among those who are. But these general conclusions themselves raise a
variety of problems.
The fact that emigration over short distances is often followed by
returns on a relatively large scale (as is shown for example, by the
Swedish and, above all, the Belgian statistics for continental migration)
Can clearly not be interpreted a priori as evidence of failure by the
workers to settle down in their jobs. It merely proves that when only
short distances are involved people are apt to migrate temporarily
without the same determination to make a fresh start as when they
have to travel a long way; also, perhaps, they tend to maintain closer
ties with their countries of origin, and this, too, encourages them to
return home. This is at least one of the reasons why many short-distance
movements tend to involve a constant two-way flow, e.g. between Italy
and Belgium, Italy and Switzerland or Ireland and the United Kingdom,
even if (as in the last two cases) seasonal movements are left out of
account. In Africa, where this phenomenon is even more marked among
African migrant workers, it seems to be due primarily to the close ties
which most of them maintain with their tribal economy and which
official migration regulations aim at preserving.
But while distance is a factor which tends to affect the stability of
migrants by making it more or less easy for them to return home, or
temporary migration a more or less practicable proposition, it is by no
means decisive. Instability is not always found among short-distance
emigrants, any more than those who journey far afield invariably tend
to settle down. For example, a higher proportion of immigrants from
continental Europe than from Great Britain tend to settle down in
Commonwealth countries. Similarly, proportionately more Italian
immigrants tend to settle down in France than in Belgium1—even though
distance in this case hardly enters into the picture—and in the Commonwealth countries than in Latin America. These observations suggest a
1
Despite the inadequacy of French statistics on this point, France does seem to
have kept a higher proportion of post-war Italian immigrants than Belgium (threequarters instead of one-half). Italian statistics show that for the years 1946-56 these
proportions were respectively 90 and 73 per cent, but these figures are clearly too
•high, owing to an underestimate of the number of returns. The proportion assumed
in the case of Belgium is based on Belgian statistics and in the case of France on a
comparison between the 1946 and 1954 censuses; this latter estimate, however, may
be somewhat overoptimistic.

396

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

variety of explanations, the first of which is based on the type of occupation involved.
Emigration of managerial personnel to the underdeveloped countries,
for instance, is still very often only temporary, and quite apart from the
fact that the " normal " return movement has sometimes been swollen
by mass repatriations due to political circumstances, this type of emigration, by and large, does not lead to permanent settlement. On top of the
traditional reasons for this instability, such as the climate, homesickness,
and rotation of staff by government departments and private concerns,
recent political trends in the underdeveloped countries have introduced a
new factor—the tendency to restrict the employment of foreigners.
However, the failure of European or North American managerial
personnel to settle down (which has been the rule in south-east Asia
and the Middle East) has not been universal in Africa and Latin America.
In Africa, the Central African Federation is engaged in the experiment
of importing both executives and settlers, while Portugal is trying to
colonise Angola and Mozambique with settlers from the home country;
and until quite recently European settlement continued to expand in
Morocco. In Latin America foreign managerial staffs do tend to settle
permanently in some countries, although few of them are British or
North American, the bulk being immigrants from continental Europe.
Movements of managerial personnel to the underdeveloped countries,
however, are not the only form of typically temporary movement. Italian
immigration into Belgium illustrates a very different type of shortterm migration. The overwhelming majority of Italian workers allowed
into Belgium are recruited for work in the mines, which is well paid but
unpleasant. Some of the Italians have difficulty in getting used to the
job and in any case most of them have no intention of remaining in it
for any length of time, but only of working long enough to save something
out of their wages. Thus the Italian labour force shares the general
instability of mineworkers, which is particularly marked in Belgium.
And since it is fairly difficult in that country for immigrants to change
their occupation, it often happens that Italian workers who give up
mining for one reason or another go back home. This probably helps to
account for the difference between the stability of Italian workers in
Belgium and in France, where the range of occupations open to immigrants is a good deal wider and where it appears to be easier for them
to change occupations and even, after some years, to leave the more
unpopular occupations altogether. Apart from mining there are several
types of job in which immigrant labour is usually fairly unstable, e.g.
domestic service, a largely female occupation where there is a constant
turnover in the United Kingdom and Switzerland. This also apphes to

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397

some extent to construction, largely because of the vicissitudes of the
industry itself.
These points help in distinguishing between normal and abnormal
repatriations, or in other words in singling out the causes of failure.
The best way to go about this task is to analyse the statistics of returns
as carefully as possible and to note any fluctuations. But non-statistical
information is the only way of picking out the possible causes of repatriations which are found on statistical examination to be abnormal in scale.
Repatriations may be due to causes of three types. The first group
are related to the job itself—unstable conditions within the industry,
inability to settle down in the job and restrictions on mobility; the second
are due to material circumstances, e.g. inadequate purchasing power or
uncomfortable living conditions; and the third are personal in character—
separation or homesickness. Bearing these points in mind, some attempt
can be made to assess the proportion of successes and failures in the main
migratory movements and decide on the reasons for the failures.
In western Europe the position has tended to vary somewhat from
one country to another. Thus migration from various sources to Sweden
has been accompanied by large-scale movements in the reverse direction,
at least as far as Denmark and Norway are concerned. But these movements, which comprise a good many returns as well as a flow of Swedish
emigrants, merely bear witness to the normal mobility of labour between
these countries which had achieved a common employment market in
fact well before it was established by treaty. Much higher proportions
of Finns, Germans and refugees of Baltic or Polish origin have settled
down in Sweden. A segment of them, however, have preferred to reemigrate overseas but this was probably not because of any particular
difficulty in settling down. The fairly liberal legislation exempting
foreigners from the need to obtain a labour permit afterfiveyears' residence
and the persistently buoyant state of the employment market, which
have made it easy to move from one occupation to another, have all
helped the immigrants to fit into the labour force. The figures show,
nevertheless, that fluctuations in employment, though not serious, did
have some effect on returns ; these jumped fairly sharply during the spell
of increased unemployment which occurred in 1953.
In the United Kingdom immigrants have come from many different
areas and propensity to settle down has varied widely from one group to
another. It has been very slight among immigrants entering the country
with individual labour permits (most of them women recruited for
domestic service), who usually come only to work temporarily. Settlement has been much more widespread among workers recruited in
groups, particularly among the displaced persons but also among the

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INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

Italians. The proportion of Poles of the expeditionary corps who settled
in the country has also been high. These facts seem to show that most
of these classes of immigrants made a fairly good adjustment, having
come originally to the United Kingdom with the intention of staying
there for some length of time, and in many cases for good. The liberal
practice concerning the employment of aliens, who are normally exempted
from the need to obtain a permit after four years' residence and allowed
thereafter to change jobs as and when they like, has also probably been an
important factor. It is true that during the early years the immigrants
from eastern Europe had some trouble in settling down owing to a
variety of factors such as poor housing, homesickness, unstable employment and, in many cases, the need to accept a lower-grade occupation.
Nor could they solve their problem by giving up and going home,
although to some extent they had the option of emigrating overseas.
A fairly large number in fact availed themselves of this possibility,
including, it may be presumed, some who had already made a successful
adjustment in the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, the fact that the
rise in unemployment of 1951-52 coincided with a sharp increase in
emigration of this kind does suggest that the feeling of insecurity caused
by the former had a good deal to do with the latter. Irish immigration
is in many respects an internal, rather than an international, movement
and the Irish workers seem to have had no difficulty in settling down.
While Irish labour tends to be somewhat unstable, with a heavy turnover,
this is probably due to a large extent to the nature of the occupations
concerned. Despite everything, however, the net immigration figures
show that there is quite a strong tendency to settle down. The influx
of coloured immigrants from various Commonwealth countries is too
recent for it to be possible to judge whether it will lead to any permanent
settlement or whether, like the movement of Algerian Moslems to
France, it will prove to be mainly temporary. Whether or not this
happens will probably depend on such factors as the presence of families,
which have hitherto tended to stay behind in the country of origin, and
above all on the arrival of more women than previously. It will also depend
on the continuation of a level of employment such as will enable the
immigrants—who have the same rights as British workers—to fit in
without arousing opposition.
In Belgium immigrants have come from various countries but by
far the most important flow has consisted of Italians, most of them
recruited for work in the mines. The migration statistics, which show a
very high proportion (around 50 per cent.) of returns to Italy, suggest
at first sight that the number of failures must have been very high.
In point of fact it has not been as high as might be thought because

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EFFECTS

399

many of the workers went to Belgium without any intention of staying
there. The fact remains, nevertheless, that, whatever their original
intention, many of them failed to settle down and despite all the material
incentives offered (such as high wages, cheap hostel accommodation and
holidays), gave up either for reasons of health or because they could not
get used to an arduous and, to them, totally new job or else because
they felt homesick. Owing to the regulations governing the employment
of aliens and the general state of the employment market these individuals
usually had no option but to go home before their time. On the other hand
those who have been able to settle down have good opportunities of
promotion with turnover so heavy and constant, and this probably
helps to explain why so many Italian miners have stayed despite the
unpleasant features of the work.
Far less information is available concerning the immigrants who
entered France after 1946. This is due to lack of adequate statistics and
of any surveys similar to those carried out in Belgium. A large proportion of the Germans recruited in the immediate post-war years appear
to have gone home as the rapid recovery of the Federal Republic got
under way. The displaced persons, for their part, do not appear in the
main to have been satisfied with the earnings and housing provided for
them in agriculture (for which most of them were recruited) and usually
they moved on to other jobs. Many of them in fact re-emigrated from
France, as they did from Belgium, despite the relatively privileged
treatment they were given with respect to employment in both countries.
This was true not only of displaced persons, but of other refugees as well.
The Italian immigrants seem to have settled down better and to have
made their homes in France in fairly large numbers even though not
all of them remained in the same occupation; it would seem, in this
connection, that although controls on occupational mobility are theoretically very strict, workers have in practice been allowed a good deal of
freedom in changing jobs, at least after a certain length of time.
The efforts of the Government to encourage family immigration and the
liberal naturalisation arrangements have perhaps helped the process,
apart altogether from the fact that Italians and Spaniards have traditionally had little trouble in settling down in France.
In Switzerland, despite a constant increase in the number of foreign
workers, turnover has been fairly heavy, even in occupations for which
permanent labour permits are issued. This instability is encouraged by
the proximity of Austria, Germany and Italy, from which Switzerland
draws most of its foreign labour; its basic cause, however, lies in the
types of occupations for which immigrants are chiefly recruited, namely
farming and, above all, domestic service and the hotel trade, which do

400

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

not normally keep their workers for long periods. Another reason is
the fact that a high proportion of the workers are women. Manufacturing
industry (which has relied far more heavily on foreigners during the second
half of the period than during the first) appears to have been more successful in keeping them. As in France and Belgium, the employment
situation—which has been generally favourable except in 1949-50 when
some labour permits were not renewed because of the slight increase in
unemployment—has accounted to only a minor extent for instability
among foreign workers. Such instability, by and large, has been a
voluntary phenomenon and should not be interpreted as indicating
abnormal difficulties of adjustment.
The proportion of immigrants settling down in North America
has been particularly high. In the United States permanent departures
of foreign residents have barely exceeded 10 per cent, of the total number
of immigrants; and in a number of these cases, subsequent re-immigration remains a possibility. There are no figures for Canada, which
does not compile emigration statistics, but the statistics of European
emigration countries show on the whole a very small return movement
from Canada. The United Kingdom seems the only exception and it
is also one of the few countries with a substantial return movement from
the United States. Needless to say, this is not due to greater inability on
the part of British immigrants to settle down in Canada or the United
States. It is simply part of a normal and traditional two-way movement
between countries with close economic and cultural links. The return
movement mainly involves persons with occupational qualifications of a
high order, students, and women not gainfully employed. Generally
speaking, therefore, it can be said that Canada and the United States
have kept almost all of their post-war immigrants. Absorption into
the labour force has been helped by the rapid and almost constant
increase in the volume of employment and by the fact that immigrants
in both countries enjoy almost complete freedom as regards the choice
of an occupation. In Canada vocational selection by the authorities
has also been important as have the very efficient reception and placing
arrangements—essential in a country where, unlike in Europe, admission
is not conditional on the existence of a specific job vacancy. In the
United States, where there is no machinery of this kind, private initiative,
sponsors, voluntary organisations and a number of international organisations have to some extent filled the gap. The high level of wages in
Canada, and even more so in the United States, has naturally been a
powerful factor of stability.
This does not mean, however, that the integration of the immigrants
into the labour force has raised no problems at all. Minor fluctuations

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EFFECTS

401

in the level of employment have made it difficult at times to find work for
them. This seems to have been especially true of Canada, where immigration has been on a particularly large scale. But both in Canada and in
the United States immigrants have sometimes found it hard, technically
or psychologically, to settle down in jobs for which they were unfitted
by previous experience or to accustom themselves to different working
methods. In the United States, for instance, it has often proved impossible to absorb displaced persons in agriculture, even if they had a farming
background, because they could not get used to methods completely
different from those to which they were accustomed. A further point
is that the refugees, here as elsewhere, have often had to start off at a lower
level in the occupational scale and they have not always been able to
make up the lost ground.
The position has been somewhat different in Latin America, where
repatriations have been on a far bigger scale, bearing witness to an
above-average rate of failures. In the case of Argentina, the statistics
show that the general proportion of returns to Europe has been of the
order of 30 per cent, and it would appear (leaving out the return of
temporary migrants) that the worsening of the economic position after
1949 led to a good many unplanned departures. How exactly did this
worsening of the economic position affect the immigrants personally ?
The information available on this point is extremely vague. Probably
a number of factors were involved: the fall in industrial employment 1 ;
the decline in the workers' purchasing power owing to inflation; restrictions on the transfer of savings ; and the housing shortage in the towns,
particularly Buenos Aires, which made it difficult for the immigrants'
families to join them. A high proportion of the returning workers were
either single or unaccompanied by their dependants, so that, despite
adverse economic conditions, family immigration clearly had a stabilising
effect. This helps to explain why a relatively higher proportion of
Italian immigrants (who were given special facilities for bringing over
their families under assistance schemes sponsored by the Argentine
Government and by I.C.E.M.) remained in the country. Even so,
large numbers of them returned or left for other destinations. On
balance, departures by workers through repatriation or re-emigration
amounted to nearly 40 per cent of the incoming total, and it does seem
that the overoptimistic and insufficiently selective immigration policy
pursued by the Argentine Government was largely responsible for the
abnormally high proportion of failures.
1
From 1,827,000 at the 1947 census to 1,701,000 at the 1954 census. Industrial
employment reached its peak in 1948 and fell to its lowest point in 1953, when
the index reached 88 (1948 = 100). It subsequently rose slightly.

402

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

There are no Brazilian emigration statistics, so that figures compiled
by the main emigration countries (Portugal, Italy and Spain) are the
only guide to the proportion of returning workers. There was a much
bigger flow back to Italy (nearly 25 per cent.) than to the other two
countries (under 15 per cent.), assuming that the Portuguese statistics
do not underestimate the number of returns. In addition, it is known
that many immigrants—though it is impossible to say how many—
re-emigrated to Venezuela. These were mainly Italians, among whom
the proportion of failures was particularly high owing to harsh conditions, particularly in agriculture, inadequate wages, and the depreciation
of the currency, which made it a constant struggle for them to keep up
their living standards and above all shrank the value of the savings they
wished to transfer. The number of returns appears to have been particularly large among workers who were either unskilled or lacked the
skills in demand, and were therefore faced with the prospect of accepting
lower-grade jobs. The fact that returns seem to have been less numerous
among Spaniards and Portuguese is probably due to their greater
readiness to accept poor living conditions.
The proportion of failures appears to have been even higher in
Venezuela, to judge by the size of the return movement to Spain (25 per
cent, according to the Spanish statistics) and above all to Italy (35 per
cent, according to the Italian statistics). The reason for this seems to be
that the high level of wages in Venezuela acted as a powerful attraction,
and far too many foreigners went there without first being sure of
finding stable—and suitable—employment. As in Brazil, those who
had no skill or whose skills were not in demand seem to have been the
least successful, since they had to enter industries where employment is
insecure, or even casual, and where wages are relatively low. They also
seem to have had to compete with local labour, which in turn tried
to safeguard its own position and this again added to the immigrants' troubles in finding employment. Particularly large numbers of
Italians returned home, most of them after a very short time, probably
because they were less willing than the Spaniards and Portuguese to
put up with conditions which were unexpectedly hard and also, by all
accounts, because they were less able to stand the climate. A large
majority of the workers returning were individuals who had emigrated
alone. This high proportion of failures strikingly illustrates the drawbacks of spontaneous immigration when it is not subject to adequate
control: the first to suffer in such cases are the immigrants themselves.
While Latin America, despite the fairly high proportion of failures
among recent immigrants, remains, by and large, a continent of permanent immigration, temporary movements have continued to pre-

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EFFECTS

403

dominate in Africa ; this applies to inter-territorial movements of African
workers as well as to movements by European managerial staff. The
increase in the number of African workers of foreign origin in a number
of countries, particularly Ghana and the Union of South Africa, has
not meant any reduction in the traditionally high turnover among such
workers; it merely shows that the volume of this constantly changing
labour force has risen in step with the growth of the industries in which
it is employed. On the other hand, the generally substantial increase
which has occurred since 1946 in the size of the European population
(at least in some countries) shows a distinct tendency towards permanent
settlement, e.g. in the Portuguese provinces of Angola and Mozambique,
the Central African Federation, and even in British East Africa,
where substantial numbers of Asians have also settled. The success
of these settlements will in all likelihood depend on political circumstances more than anything else. However, a substantial return
movement from Africa to Europe is still a regular phenomenon, even in
the absence of events such as those which occurred in Morocco in 1955
and in Egypt in 1956, causing a sudden and temporary rise in the number
of departures.
It is impossible to ascertain how many of the European immigrants
having entered the Union of South Africa since 1946 settled there
permanently. Movements in the reverse direction have been slight,
consisting almost exclusively of persons of British stock, some of them
South Africans going temporarily to Great Britain. But some of the recent
immigrants appear to have re-emigrated to the Rhodesias.
Australia has been particularly successful, by comparison with most
countries, in keeping its post-war immigrants. The only large-scale return
movement from Australia to Europe has involved British subjects, some of
them Australian citizens going to Great Britain temporarily. Of course, the
displaced persons, who represent a considerable proportion of all postwar immigrants, have had no option but to settle in Australia. Still,
the proportion of returns has also been very low among the Greeks
(most of whom, admittedly, are very recent arrivals), quite low among
the Dutch and not much higher among the Italians. It is no exaggeration
to say that Australia has had virtually no repatriation problem. A
number of factors help to explain this. One has been a practically uninterrupted spell of overemployment which has made it possible for the
immigrants to be readily absorbed in the labour force and (except in the
case of temporary restrictions imposed by law on certain classes of
assisted immigrants) to change their jobs without any difficulty. The
country has also reaped the benefit of methodical organisation of
immigration—careful selection, efficient reception and placing, and, in

404

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

some cases, preparatory vocational training given to the immigrants in
their countries of origin. Family immigration, which has been encouraged
in preference to immigration by individual workers, has also been a major
stabilising factor. Mention should be made, too, of the efforts of various
public bodies and welfare organisations to help the immigrants of nonBritish stock in making their adjustment to the Australian way of life.
Lastly, the level of wages, though lower than in the United States or, for
that matter, Canada, has still been sufficiently high for most of the
immigrants to be appreciably and often substantially better off. In short,
the failures seem to have been confined to the inevitable proportion of
individual misfits.
The situation in New Zealand is much the same as in Australia and a
high proportion of the post-war immigrants, including almost all those
of non-British origin, have settled down permanently.

OCCUPATIONAL INTEGRATION OF THE MIGRANTS

The extent to which immigrant workers succeed in fitting into the
local labour force and in acquiring the same legal and social status as
their native-born fellow workers is another important problem which,
as already seen, is partly linked with the general problem of settlement
in the country of destination. Unfortunately, while the legal position
in each case is clear, there is practically nothing to go on in trying to
ascertain the situation in fact.
For example, are immigrant workers (assuming equal seniority and
skill) really less secure in their jobs? No doubt, this is still often the
case, but there is hardly any conclusive evidence to show it. Even where
unemployment statistics distinguish between nationals and foreigners
and disclose a higher rate of unemployment among the latter, this can
be explained simply by the fact that a higher proportion of foreigners
are usually to be found among newly engaged workers, who are traditionally the first to be laid off in case of redundancy, and also
that their distribution among the various occupational sectors is usually
quite different from that of the local workers. The problem also depends
on whether or not the foreigners are required to obtain labour permits.
If they are, they are liable to lose their jobs not only by dismissal
under the " last in, first out " rule, but also as the result of a refusal by
the authorities to extend the permits when they expire. In such a case
they run a severe risk of being eliminated completely from the employment market, since unless they can obtain permits for other occupations
they have no alternative, not being entitled to unemployment compensa-

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EFFECTS

405

tion, but to return home. It follows that in countries such as those of
western Europe, which have a system of labour permits, instability of
employment among immigrants may be higher than among local workers
without necessarily being reflected in a higher rate of unemployment.
In point of fact, during the period under review there have not been
in any of the major immigration countries economic swings of such
size as to represent a genuine threat to employment security for the bulk
of the immigrants. This applies to countries with a labour permit
system as well as to others, probably because such a system forms part
of immigration policies designed to channel workers into chronically
undermanned industries where by definition there is hardly any unemployment, and also because of the precautions taken by governments
before issuing permits. In western Europe, at any rate, instances of
refusal to extend labour permits because of a worsening of the employment situation appear to have been few and far between (although this
does not necessarily mean that the contracts themselves were renewed
in all cases). The few known cases of discrimination against foreign
workers in connection with dismissals or hirings have occurred in countries where immigrants enjoy extensive rights but where the local workers,
through their trade unions, have taken what they regard as justifiable
steps to protect their own interests.
The problem of occupational mobility is more complex. It covers
not only the worker's right to change his employer, but also his ability
to better himself, either by promotion within his occupation or by
changing to another occupation—in other words, to follow the career
best suited to his bent and aptitudes. The question is how far and
how soon opportunities which are open without restriction to local
workers are made available to the immigrants and to what extent they
are used ; for even though the immigrant worker is fully integrated in the
labour force and enjoys the same stability of employment as local
workers the process of assimilation cannot be considered complete as
long as legal or practical obstacles denying him full equality of opportunity have not been eliminated. This process tends to be a fairly slow one
depending on the size of the obstacles and the immigrant's own skills
and character. Moreover, it is sometimes delayed by the downgrading
in the occupational scale which the integration of immigrant workers
often involves in the initial stages. It is by no means uncommon for
immigrants (especially when they come from countries which are overpopulated or where wages are far lower) to be forced to accept less
skilled occupations than they are fitted for. This is not only
true of countries which, in order to allow their own workers to
move up, only allow foreigners to enter on condition that they take jobs

406

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

at the lower end of the scale, but also in some instances of other countries, either because the immigrants do not know the language sufficiently
well to perform certain trades or because their skills have not been
tested or do not meet local standards, or again because—in the case of
the self-employed—they do not possess the necessary capital.
Displaced persons have suffered very generally in this way; many
of them are professional workers who have had to accept manual jobs,
or self-employed persons who have had to become wage earners. Nor
are these the only examples : for instance, a large segment of the Italians
recruited for employment as labourers in the Belgian coal mines and
iron and steel industry were skilled or semi-skilled workers in other
trades and even handicraftsmen, businessmen or smallholders. Similarly,
in Canada and Australia industrial workers seem to have been taken
on in lower-grade jobs than they might have expected and sometimes
even in other trades; still more commonly, men who once had farms
of their own have had to take jobs as farm labourers. A further point,
however, is that this process has varied according to nationality ; for
example, in the Commonwealth countries British subjects do not appear
to have been affected at all.
But whether owing to unavoidable circumstances (which they usually
accepted quite willingly) immigrant workers were at first forced down the
scale or whether they succeeded in avoiding this altogether is of comparatively small interest: what really matters is how far they tried to
improve their lot, and how far they succeeded. Unfortunately, in most
cases very little information is available on this point. In many immigration countries, there is definite evidence of shifts by immigrant workers
from one occupation or sector to another. It is the general experience,
for instance, that workers placed in employment as farm labourers do
not normally remain there. This has been the case in the United Kingdom, where only a small proportion of the foreigners recruited for this
purpose have stayed on the land, and in France, where demand for
foreign labour in agriculture continues unabated as even the recently
recruited foreigners join the general drift from the land and have to be
replaced. A similar process appears to have taken place in Canada and
Australia. In both countries, a high proportion of the refugees admitted
since 1947 have left the industries which they originally entered, often
even before their contracts expired.1
The question arises whether these changes should be considered as
the start of an improvement in the immigrants' status, or simply as a
sign of failure in the initial occupation. The former interpretation
1

In Canada, according to a survey conducted in 1951, this proportion amounted to
58 per cent, in mining, 72 per cent, in the paper industry and 93 per cent, in construction.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EFFECTS

407

seems to be the right one in the frequent cases where the occupations
abandoned by the immigrants are those in which wages or working
conditions are worst, or employment least secure, and which are least
attractive to immigrant and local workers alike. Examples of this are
agriculture, construction (at least in countries where employment is
subject to sharp seasonal fluctuations) and mining. In at least one country
—Australia—there is statistical evidence of an improvement in the
immigrants' status. This is provided by a comparison between the
information regarding the occupations of immigrants collected on
arrival in Australia and in the 1954 census, on the one hand, and
corresponding figures for the local population on the other.1 It appears
that, while the immigrants mainly entered manufacturing and construction,
where they are still proportionately more numerous than workers of
Australian origin, they are now fairly widely distributed among the
other branches of the economy, particularly commerce. This is true
not only of British immigrants, whose occupational distribution, through
its similarity to that of the Australians by origin, testifies to their complete assimilation, but also of the other major groups, i.e. Polish, Dutch
and Italian immigrants. As regards their employment status, a markedly
higher proportion of immigrants are wage earners, but a substantial
proportion of them have become employers or self-employed. It is true
that among the Italians, if not among the Dutch and the eastern Europeans, most of these probably entered before 1946.
Unfortunately there is no information of equal accuracy available
for the other major countries of immigration. In Canada it is known
that many Dutch immigrants who at first took jobs as farm labourers
became farm managers after some years. It was also clear as far
back as the 1951 census that the immigrants who entered in the immediate post-war years had subsequently become dispersed throughout the
active population in a way which suggests conclusions similar to those
that can be drawn from the Australian statistics. A further point is the
degree of skill and the grade and rate of pay of immigrants as compared
with those of longer-established workers in the same occupation, but
there is no definite information on this subject in respect of either Canada
or Australia. Nevertheless, if standards of housing are taken as a reliable
guide to earnings, immigrants in either country are not appreciably
worse off, by and large, than the rest of the population.
Summing up, therefore, it is easier to infer than to prove the tendency
for immigrants to rise higher in the occupational scale. The resulting
1
See W. D . BORRIE and J. ZUBRZYCKI: " Employment of Post-War Immigrants
in Australia ", in International Labour Review (Geneva, I.L.O.), Vol. LXXVII, No. 3 ,
Mar. 1958, pp. 239-253.

408

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, 1945-1957

process of assimilation is more rapid and complete in countries which
accept immigration for settlement and set out to give the newcomers
full equality of opportunity by leaving them free to change jobs or by
restricting such freedom only for a short time. On the other hand, it
would be a mistake to underestimate the obstacles created for immigrants in some of these countries by legal proficiency standards or
trade union rules. Moreover, even in countries where the labour permit
system tends to confine immigrants to certain occupations they are at
least, like the foreign miners in Belgium, given the opportunity of
rising within their particular occupation. Very often, too, thanks to
extended periods of full employment, administrative practice as regards
the granting of permits has often been more liberal than the letter of the
regulations might suggest.

Bibliographical References
The works listed below relate only to the third section of the chapter,
entitled " Effects on the Migrants ". The source material for the remainder of
the chapter is included among the references listed at the end of Chapter VIII.
UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION:

The Positive Contribution by Immigrants (Paris, 1955).
The D. P. Story ; The Final Report of the United States Displaced Persons
Commission (Washington, D.C., 1952).
H. B. M. MURPHY: " The Assimilation of Refugee Immigrants in Australia ",
in Population Studies (Cambridge, The University Press), Vol. 5, No. 3,
Mar. 1952, pp. 179-206.
J.

STADULIS:

"The Resettlement of Displaced Persons in the United Kingdom ", in Population Studies, op. cit., pp. 207-237.

GIRARD

and J. STOETZEL: Français et immigrés (Vol. I: V attitude française ;
radaptation des Italiens et des Polonais ; and Vol. II : Nouveaux documents
sur l'adaptation), Institut national d'études démographiques, Travaux et
documents, Nos. 19 and 20 (Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 1953
and 1954).

W. D. BORRIE: Italians and Germans in Australia (Melbourne, F. W. Cheshire,
1954).
C.

and D. MANLEY : A Report on Jamaican Migration to Great Britain
(Kingston, Jamaica, Government Printer, 1955).

SENIOR

R. T. APPLEYARD: " The Economie Absorption of Dutch and Italian Immigrants into Western Australia, 1947 to 1955 ", in R.E.M.P. Bulletin
(The Hague, Research Group on European Migration Problems), Vol. 4,
No. 3, July-Sep. 1956, pp. 45-55; and No. 4, Oct.-Dec. 1956, pp. 87-101.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL EFFECTS

I N S T I T U T D E SOCIOLOGIE D E L A F A C U L T É D E D R O I T D E L I È G E : Migrations

409

pro-

voquées et problèmes de mobilité ouvrière, E t u d e exécutée p o u r l a C o m m u n a u t é e u r o p é e n n e d u C h a r b o n e t de l'Acier (Liège, H . Vaillant-Carmanne,
1956).
J. Z U B R Z Y C K I : Polish Immigrants in Britain. A Study of Adjustment,
in Social Life I I I (The H a g u e , M a r t i n u s Nijhoff, 1956).

Studies

W . D . BORRIE a n d J. Z U B R Z Y C K I : " E m p l o y m e n t of P o s t - W a r Immigrants in
Australia " , in International Labour Review (Geneva, I.L.O.), Vol. L X X V I I ,
N o . 3, M a r . 1958, p p . 239-253.

CONCLUSIONS
Whereas the political migration movements of the immediate postwar years in some parts of the world have been on an unprecedented
scale and have, in some countries, raised a difficult problem of integration, economic migration currents from 1945 to 1957 have, by and large,
remained within relatively narrow bounds and, except in a few countries,
have not had a major impact on economic development. They have
certainly been smaller than those of earlier periods, including the years
before the First World War, and even those immediately following it.
This is not because the traditional sources of emigration (with the
exception of eastern Europe) have tended to dry up. Nor is it because
the rate of natural growth of the labour force in most of the major
immigration countries has been rising (actually, it has fallen in a number
of cases). The main reason is that these countries have, generally speaking, raised their productivity substantially and this has often enabled
them to expand at an even faster rate than during the most remarkable
periods of growth of the past without having to expand their labour
force to anything like the same extent. Another point is that they have
usually striven more consistently to maintain the highest possible level
of employment among their own workers and, at the same time, been at
greater pains to safeguard them against the danger of competition from
immigrants. As a result, many economic migration currents are on a
far smaller scale than they were 30 years ago and some of them, especially
in south-east Asia, have ceased completely.
It should be added, however, that as immigration countries have
adopted more cautious and selective policies of admission, one of the
salient features of earlier migratory movements—namely their wide
fluctuations in both directions—has tended to disappear (helped, it is
true, by greater economic stability). Where instability does occur
among migrants it seems to be increasingly due to movements which
were never intended to be other than temporary. In short, fewer immigrants have been admitted than would have been the case formerly,
but on the whole a higher proportion of them have settled down, and
this has been to the benefit of all concerned, first and foremost their own.
On the other hand, it cannot be said that immigration policies have
always been completely satisfactory. Some of them have probably been
too restrictive, while others have not been selective enough. Regulating
immigration in a country's best interests is certainly no easy task for

CONCLUSIONS

411

any government, particularly when there are cultural considerations to
complicate the purely economic issues. The fact is that in order to derive a
clear and rapid benefit from heavy immigration, a country must be in a
position to cope with the economic and social problems involved, i.e.
it must have a sufficiently sound economic base to support the investments required, combined with adequate administrative machinery. If
this structure is too weak, the effects of the investment that immigration
itself can be expected to generate will be problematical, while there will
be a distinct danger of disturbances in the shape of unemployment,
lower wages and inflation.
The example of Western Germany, where the influx of refugees at
first burdened the economy but later gave added impetus to expansion,
does not by itself constitute proof that it is always a good thing for
immigration to be considerably in excess of an economy's immediate
capacity to absorb it. The case of Israel is even less conclusive since the
immigrants were only absorbed at the cost of even greater strain and
—above all—with the help of large-scale aid from abroad. The longterm benefits of immigration depend in effect on the strength of the
economy and for quite a long time the price which has to be paid for
them may appear unduly heavy. This makes it hard for governments,
for the sake of distant and possibly uncertain benefits, deliberately to
court the risk of short-term and all too certain upheavals. Few countries
in fact have been able to derive the full benefit from large-scale immigration during the last 12 years without suffering serious strain in the
process. Canada and Australia have managed to do so, but even
they may at times have overstepped the limit, particularly Australia.
Most of the Latin American countries, on the other hand, do not possess
an adequate economic foundation or the administrative machinery
needed to handle immigration on a comparable scale, so that there is a
wide gap between their actual and potential absorption capacity.
In these circumstances, most of the countries suffering from overpopulation can hardly count on emigration as a way out of their difficulties and it seems unlikely that the position will improve very much,
at least in the near future. This is unfortunate for the overpopulated
countries, because the departure of unproductive workers naturally
relieves painful economic pressures. On the other hand, the selective
approach of the immigration countries and the fact that they are in a
position to pick and choose, lead them not only to skim off the cream
of the unproductive workers in the countries of emigration, but sometimes to offer inducements strong enough to attract even workers badly
needed for the development of their own country. In other words,
even though the workers mainly affected by emigration are not imme-

412

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diately useful to the economy, their potential usefulness may be considerable and this may prove awkward in the event of a phase of economic
expansion entailing a fall in unemployment. Observation also shows
that while international migration always leads to a rise in general
productivity, it does not always help to close the gap between levels of
development in the countries affected. Migration by managerial staffs
to the underdeveloped countries does have this effect, especially when
accompanied (as is usually the case) by capital movements to the same
countries. But this does not apply to mass migration, which raises
productivity in the countries of immigration more than in those of
emigration and which, even allowing for the indirect benefit accruing to
the latter in the form of a more favourable balance of payments, has on
the whole much more favourable effects on the former. Thus, while
mass migration may help to solve the problem of overpopulation, it
has a number of potential drawbacks and cannot in any event, given the
circumstances in which it takes place today, help to eliminate disparities
in levels of productivity and rates of growth. This is why emigration
countries have tried, with varying success, to deal with overpopulation
in other ways, e.g. by raising the employment level, increasing productivity and, generally speaking, making better use of their domestic manpower
resources.
In addition to the economic argument against mass migration of
the type which has taken place recently—i.e. insufficient economic
advantage for the emigration countries—there is also a psychological
and social argument. Emigration necessarily uproots people and
thereby involves many drawbacks for those who are driven to it by
necessity alone. From the standpoint of the overpopulated countries,
it would therefore be better to find other ways of raising productivity
and the level of employment, particularly by making more efficient
use of existing labour resources.
This, however, is a somewhat theoretical approach, since freedom
to choose between one course or another may be limited by the lack of
production facilities, so that in fact emigration may be the only answer,
or one among several, all inescapable. This being the case, the only way
in which migration can help to equalise standards of development is to
bring greater benefits to the emigration countries in the form of a return
flow of capital or improved commercial facilities. It would then become
an item in a balanced exchange of development factors instead of representing, as it now does, a partly or wholly one-sided loss of human
resources.
This, however, assumes that the countries with plenty of capital and
a shortage of labour will show a deeper understanding of the long-

CONCLUSIONS

413

term interests of those where the situation is the reverse, or, to put it
another way, that they will look beyond their own immediate interests
and perceive the benefits to be obtained by encouraging greater equality
of production conditions.
This prospect is not quite as fanciful as might appear at first sight.
The idea of associating countries at different levels of development to
form regional or interregional groups with a gradual pooling of resources
and a harmonisation of living conditions has already been put forward, and
with the establishment of the European Economic Community has even
begun to take concrete shape. In associations of this kind, migration could
take on a new significance as part of a concerted effort to equalise levels
of productivity, and international action in the migration field could
develop along entirely new lines. But, at the same time, it would cease to
be a specific operation with a limited scope and would form part of a far
broader levelling-out process than hitherto.
These, from the economic standpoint at least, are the conclusions
to be drawn from a study of international migration during the years
following the Second World War. But the phenomenon cannot be
expressed in purely economic terms, and it is impossible to overlook some
of its political and social aspects, which unquestionably represent a net
gain. For one thing, recent international migration movements have
(apart from occasional difficulties that may have occurred in negotiating
bilateral or multilateral agreements) helped to strengthen the links
forged between countries by the great migratory currents of past years.
There can be no doubt that the relations between certain European and
overseas countries have been influenced by the presence in the latter of
sizeable groups of immigrants brought in by traditional currents. Socially,
emigration is often fraught with difficulties, but for many people it has
been and still is the only way out of the dead end created in some
countries by persistent underemployment.
Thus, even assuming that international migration will continue to be
curtailed by the same conditions which hitherto have limited its volume
as well as its economic effectiveness, international action in this field
continues to be justified. The experience of the past 12 years has amply
demonstrated its value. It has been dovetailed into the schemes of
governments and of many voluntary organisations ; as a result greater
care has been taken of the migrants and their rights more effectively
safeguarded. For this, some of the credit must go to the international
organisations, which have taken a number of valuable measures. But
more remains to be done by way of protecting and assisting the migrants.
The international instruments on the subject should be extended, particularly as regards social security. Even more urgent than the establish-

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ment of new standards is the need to ensure that those already in existence are more widely enforced. International participation in organising
and carrying out migration schemes continues to meet a real need even
though, other conditions remaining equal, numerically impressive
results should not be expected. This work should continue along the
lines pursued hitherto, i.e. in the form of technical assistance to emigration and immigration countries which do not possess all the facilities
needed to carry out the schemes that could benefit them. In order to be
fully effective, however, such assistance should form part of a general
effort covering all the objectives of national economic policy and extending to all of the relevant manpower problems. Its effectiveness will
be enhanced if it draws on the experience and technical resources of all
the organisations concerned and blends them into a co-ordinated joint
effort.