Marie Vial

What To Do After Retirement? Elderly Migrants and the Question of Return

This paper analyses in general terms the ‘return question’ or, to be more precise, the intentions of older Italian and Spanish migrants living in Switzerland as to their place of residence after retirement, and the criteria governing their decision. Survey data reveal that the majority of respondents either planned to stay in Switzerland, or to live part of the year in Switzerland and part of the year in their home country; the return option was less popular. The literature on migration has already pointed to the existence of the ‘third option’, namely dividing the residence between two countries. In particular, studies on northern European retirees in southern European areas have shown evidence of this form of living arrangement. But the extent of the phenomenon among former guestworkers who came from southern countries to a northern country seems surprising. Moreover, this option, a manifestation of the ‘circulation of migrants’, is adopted as a project not only by people of high but also low socio-economic status. This option is popular because it is related to the development through time of a way of life defined by dual preference, namely to maintain cultural, symbolic, concrete and affective ties with both countries.

Older labour migrants' well being in Europe: the case of Switzerland

This paper examines several aspects of the social situation of the older immigrant population in Switzerland. It reviews their demographic history and characteristics and provides profiles of their health and well being, their material standard of life and access to social security and related benefits. It reports selected findings from an original survey of older Italian and Spanish citizens who are resident in the country, which show relatively high rates of disadvantage and poverty. The determination of a large proportion of the immigrant population to remain in Switzerland after they have ceased work demonstrates that the minorities who entered the country as labour migrants will become a permanent element of the Swiss population and its society. Neither the politicians nor the general public in Switzerland have yet accepted the reality of this new diversity. Given the continuation and indeed growth of international labour migration, the paper concludes by discussing the social policy and attitudinal options that face the governments and the population of Switzerland and many other European countries.

Bildungsprozesse und berufliche Integration der „Zweiten Generation“. Die Rolle der intergenerationellen Beziehungen

Im Gegensatz zu einer weit verbreiteten Meinung ist Migration nicht eine rein individuelle Angelegenheit. Der Entscheid, in ein anderes Land auszuwandern, wird nicht in erster Linie von Einzelpersonen, sondern in Familien getroffen. Die Familie ist der Ort, wo die Migration geplant wird, wo der Integrationsprozess am neuen Ort schrittweise stattfindet, und wo spater die Wahl zwischen einer Ruckkehr ins Ursprungsland oder einem definitiven Verbleib im Gastland getroffen wird (Beday-Hauser und Bolzman 1997). Trotz der grosen Bedeutung der Migrationsfamilie sind in der Schweiz nur sehr wenige Studien und Daten in Bezug auf Familienleben und Merkmale der Migration und des Integrationsprozesses verfugbar. Dies ist vermutlich darauf zuruckzufuhren, dass die Migration traditionell als individuelle Entscheidung des „immigrierten Arbeiters“ und nicht als kollektive Strategie wahrgenommen wird. Aus diesem Blickwinkel erscheinen Frauen und Kinder nur als Begleitpersonen des Migranten, die bei der Migration eine untergeordnete Rolle spielen.