What drives Senegalese migration to Europe? The role of economic restructuring, labor demand and the multiplier effect of networks

Abstract

International migration from Sub-Saharan Africa to Europe is poorly/nunderstood. Furthermore, existing studies pay insufficient attention to/nthe links between the micro-level factors and political, social and/neconomic processes in both origin and destination areas. Here we/nintegrate insights from institutional approaches in migration and/ndevelopment research with perspectives that highlight the role of labor/nmarket and social capital./nWe analyze the contextual and individual level determinants of/nmigration from Senegal to France, Italy and Spain since the mid-1970s./nWe examine the following hypotheses: (a) In Senegal, the deterioration/nof living conditions, heightened economic insecurity and the widening/nof social inequalities, have created the conditions for increasing outmigration/npropensities. (b) In Europe, labor market restructuring has/nincreased job opportunities in particular places and job niches. (c) In/nfacilitating access of Senegalese migrants to jobs in Europe, social/nnetworks have linked these two processes./nWe use event history models to analyze life course data from the/nMigrations between Africa and Europe survey (2008)./nOur results support institutional perspectives emphasizing the role of/nmigration as a household strategy to diversify resources and counter/ndownward social mobility. Furthermore, our analyses show that the/navailability of personal networks in Europe creates a boosting effect on/nindividual migration probabilities during periods of strong labor/ndemand. The initiation and expansion of migration between Senegal/nand Europe stem from the interplay between historically changing/nsocial and political factors at origin and destination, as well as the/nmutually reinforcing process of social capital formation and changing/nlabor market conditions.