ABSTRACT
Since the enlargement of the European Union, which began in 2004, large numbers of international labour migrants have arrived and settled in Norway. Also, many rural areas, previously unfamiliar with international migration, have received many labour migrants. These migrants, who are mainly low-skilled workers from eastern Europe, are now overrepresented in many rural industries, such as agriculture, fish processing and the hospitality industries. The large body of literature discussing the impact of international migration on native-born workers is mostly focused on wages, employment, and other outcomes related to social mobility. This chapter examines effect on geographic mobility, which has been paid less attention to in the literature. Some studies suggest that immigration reduces natives’ net migration, however overall research provides conflicting results. Using Norwegian panel data regression with municipal-level register data from 2005 to 2015, I analyse whether international labour migration to rural areas has had any effect on the mobility patterns of Norwegian-born people in rural Norway. The results show a weak and not significant effect of international labour migration on Norwegian-born workers’ mobility patterns. Labour migrants appears to expand the labour market rather than displace Norwegian-born workers. Since labour migrants are adding to the population, without affecting the mobility of Norwegian-born people, they can be regarded as much needed ‘demographic refill’ for rural areas previously struggling with depopulation.
