Christoph Reinprecht

How to Succeed in a Transnational Labor Market: Job Search and Wages among Hungarian, Slovak, and Czech Commuters in Austria

This paper deals with job search strategies and wages among cross-border commuters residing in the Central European Region (CENTROPE). Our main aim is to investigate the role of social networks as constitutive for job searching and for successful labor market integration. We build upon a theoretical framework developed by Aguilera and Massey, reflecting on the nexus of social networks, job search methods, and related labor market outcomes. Methodologically, we use a new quantitative survey on the employment careers of cross-border commuters residing in the regions of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary bordering on Austria, conducted in the winter/spring of 2012/2013 (N = 2,573). Our results corroborate the hypothesis that human and social capital resources as well as labor market characteristics serve as key factors for job search and labor market integration among cross-border commuters in the CENTROPE transnational labor market.

The economic crisis as a driver of cross-border labour mobility? A multi-method perspective on the case of the Central European Region

ABSTRACT This paper discusses labour mobility from the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia to Austria during the period before and after the economic crisis of 2008/2009. Building up on the TRANSLAB research project, we illustrate various facets of the interregional labour market with a mixed methods approach using regional macro-economic data, national labour market statistics, 20 expert interviews and a longitudinal survey consisting of 1345 cross-border commuters who work in Austria. Empirically we demonstrate that, due to the gradual opening of the Austrian labour market from 2004 to 2011, flows of cross-border commuters have steadily increased. Since 2009 the social composition of cross-border commuters has changed as well. We can observe a growing number of workers seeking employment in Austria who have been most vulnerable during the crisis: the young, the lowly educated and female workers. Moreover, expert interviews show a rising and economically driven demand for employment in Austria.

Cross-Border Commuting and Transformational Dynamics in Europe: What Is the Link?

This chapter discusses cross-border commuting as a form of mobility that is structured by multiple social transformation processes. Cross-border commuting has gained increasing attention in migration research by identifying and explaining new patterns of transnational mobility and its effects on the socio-economic status, well-being or emerging forms of transnational agency and belonging. To address its effects on social transformation, it is crucial to understand commuting practices relative to the changing regional and border dynamics in which cultural, political and economic asymmetries play a significant role. This is particular relevant for east-west circular migration in the intra-European context, often marked by long-lasting regional disparities. The emergence of cross-border governance in the form of Euroregions is a crucial example for the institutionalization of stimulated regional cooperation along the national borders within the EU. The Central European Region is a notable example of this development: Here, increasing cross-border commuting is framed in multiple ways by on-going societal transformations resulting both from European enlargement processes and the significant post-socialist reconfiguration of economic, political and legal institutions. With empirical reference to a current study in the Central European Region, the chapter discusses emerging types, patterns, and sequences of cross-border commuting strategies as crucial for border-overlapping intra-European socially and symbolically integrated transnational labor markets.

Integration and marginalisation — Young people in the Austrian labour market

that is full integration into the labour market can no longer be taken for granted and that the risk of marginalisation has increased. The following article discusses this phenomenon against the background of an empirical study among 350 young adults aged 19 to 25 which was carried out by the authors in Vienna in 1999. We attempt to find out how far this development applies to different groups of young Austrians by looking at their work situation and their social and educational background, in particular with regard to those who find themselves on the margins of the labour market, and by exploring the relationship between employment status and material as well as psychological well-being. In the last decades youth research has presented a new picture of young people’s transitions from school to work (Bynner & Roberts, 1991; Raab, 1996; Furlong & Cartmel, 1997; Heinz, 2000). It is shown, that a considerable number of young people

Migration als Determinante von Lebensqualität: Strukturelle, kulturelle und biografische Aspekte

„Migration ist eine schopferische Tatigkeit, aber auch ein Leiden“, schreibt der tschechisch-brasilianische Philosoph Vilem Flusser (1992: 249), und weiter, sinngemas: Es ist das Leiden, aus dem das Tun emportaucht, ein Tun, das zugleich die Entscheidungen strukturiert, durch die man sich und seinen Lebensentwurf definiert; etwa im Alter, im Kontext der Migration, wenn es darum geht, der nachberuflichen Lebensphase Gestalt zu verleihen, oder zwischen Bleiben oder Ruckkehr abzuwagen.