Returned emigrants earn more than those who 
stayed in Ireland, but new research shows that older returnees are more susceptible to social isolation and alcoholism. The psychological and social impact of emigration should not be ignored, writes Alan Barrett (ESRI and TCD).
The re-emergence of emigration as a feature of Irish life has re-ignited a debate on the extent to which Irish people chose to move as opposed to being compelled to move. The idea that choice dominates compulsion seems to be based on the idea that emigration has desirable outcomes for individuals when compared to the option of staying put.
Over many years, economists and sociologists have undertaken research on the impacts of emigration on individuals. One of the goals of this research has been to provide evidence on this choice/compulsion debate. If the outcomes for individuals are good, this provides support for the choice view and the opposite holds if the outcomes are bad.
On Friday, I will present some new research results based on the experiences of earlier waves of Irish emigrants who are now aged over 50. But before talking about the new research, let me talk about some earlier research on migration which I undertook with colleagues. The earlier research contains some good news so I guess it is a good idea to start with it. The bad news can be found in the newer research but more about that below.
My colleagues and I first looked at the effects of emigration on Irish people using data collected in 1998. The data provided us with information on two groups of people who had graduated in 1992. One group had worked in Ireland since graduation but the other group had worked outside of Ireland for at least six months.
When we compared the earnings of the two groups, we found that the returned migrants earned more than the “stayers”. For men who said they had emigrated for job-related reasons, the wage advantage was as high as 15%. We did not find a wage advantage for people who said they emigrated “for reasons of adventure”.
We re-did this work using data from a much broader survey in 2006. This time we could look at all types of employees, not just graduates. Again, we found a wage advantage for those who had worked outside of Ireland. The advantage was typically about 7%.
That research seemed to show that foreign experience was valued in Ireland and so a period of emigration could be of value.
In our most recent research, we use data from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA). This is a survey of over 8,000 people aged 50 and above and living in Ireland.
Ireland’s older population (by which I mean 50 and over) are a very unusual group by international standards because about a quarter of them have lived outside of their country of birth for at least a year. And of that group, about a half lived away for 10 years or more. Given that we have a large population of returned migrants, we can compare them to people who never left to get a sense of some of the impacts of immigration.
This is an older group who experienced emigration before Skype and low-cost airlines. However, I think there is value in seeing if the older generation of Irish emigrants can tell us something about the possible experiences of the young generation.
In our research, we have tried to explore if there is evidence of emigration having placed greater psychological pressures on people. Homesickness, dislocation and similar difficulties are often written about but we wanted to see if there was evidence of their existence among the older emigrants who were now back in Ireland.
We used rates of alcohol dependence over peoples’ lives as an indicator of psychological pressure. Some clear patterns emerged. Men who had lived outside of Ireland typically had rates of alcohol dependence that were about twice those of men who had stayed in Ireland.
For women, the pattern was a bit more complicated. Women who had lived outside of Ireland for between one and ten years were more likely to have had an alcohol dependence compared to women who had stayed in Ireland. However, for women who had lived away for more than ten years, the rates of alcohol dependence were lower.
We interpret these results as saying that for many emigrants, life away brought challenges. However, for one group (the women who stayed away for longer), being away may have brought a lifestyle that was preferable to remaining in Ireland.
In addition to looking at the impact of emigration over their lives, we were also interested in exploring how the return part of their emigration and return impacted upon them. On this, the results were more consistent across groups. All groups of returned migrants are more socially isolated than the people who never lived outside of Ireland. We measure social isolation using a mix of questions on how close people are to family and friends and how well-integrated they are into their communities through membership of groups and societies.
Curiously, while we found the returned migrants to be more socially isolated, they did not report higher levels of loneliness. This finding got us to wonder if emigrants establish coping mechanisms but we need to discuss this in greater detail with our psychology colleagues.
The evidence gathered from earlier waves of Irish emigrants points to the positives and negatives of emigration. Hence, there are probably elements of both choice and compulsion in the current wave of emigration. From a labour market perspective, there seems to be advantages. However, psychological and social impacts should not be ignored or downplayed, by ministers or anyone else.
Alan Barrett and his colleague Irene Mosca will present a paper titled “The Costs of Emigration to the Individual” at the UCD/UL Conference on Irish Economic Policy tomorrow at Croke Park. The presentation will be available on www.irisheconomy.ie after the conference.
Interesting findings, I noticed that some of the older generation males who emigrated to London would be partial to alcohol and whilst they missed their lives back home – those who did return home often found themselves not fitting in. And as such, returned over here. This is my personal experience of those I talked to – and some were understandably bitter about it – but I wouldn’t wish to generalise.
Are returning immigrants more or less likely to have families than those remaining at home?
My thoughts are that they are less likely. Relocation is easier for single people than couples even without young children. Both partners have to give up jobs etc. Adding schoolgoing children to the mix complicates it further.
Likewise non emigrants have access to family support networks and generally live more settled lives, increasing the tendency towards starting families.
If we accept that there are barriers to emigrant families returning and hence a higher propotion of singletons in the returning emigrant group, this impacts the study on a few key ways:
1. Those families who do return may tend to be highly employable (with less financial risk in relocationg and higher earning)
2. Single, flexible, people are more likely to attract higher wages by moving jobs, more free time to work unsociable hours etc.
3. A higher proportion of single people in the returning group may promote exclusion and alcohol use among the group.
Alan,
A good article on emigration, and on the relatively neglected reverse emigration, that can be even more troublesome than the outward bound process. I look forward to reading your paper.
Using alcohol dependence over peoples’ lives as an indicator of psychological pressure due to emigration seems a very Irish reflex.
Might there not be others that are more telling and less of a blunt weapon – the frequency of recourse electronic means of communication – skype, text, e mail, – or the number of flights home, or adherence to Irish cultural institutions at the expense of learning about those of one’s new home?
Psychological pressure of emigration can lead to positive outcomes. Some indicators of the positive outcomes of emigration might be a new worldview, competency in a new language, new dietary habits, or for example, learning of the ways of the 1st Nations, whether in the Americas, Australia or NZ..
All of these indicators might be signs of the transforming power of the mythic “hero’s journey” from grieving the loss of the old place and accepting a form of rebirth to become a new person.
It isn’t easy to do but it is worth grasping for as a mean to opening the door to some profound personal growth.
I can say the findings are totally accurate. My husband and I returned ‘home’ 18 months ago after 40 and 30 years (respectively) living in London. The social isolation is shocking and unexpected. For example, family members don’t seem to pop in , phone, organise drinks etc. anymore. We have visited everyone at least twice, but when they initiated nothing, then we decided to accept that this isn’t ‘done’ anymore. It’s weird to be living in my husband’s hometown, where he has 5 brothers and sisters, countless neices and nephews, and not one will pop round, or phone. Obviously, now 18 months on, we’ve accepted it, it hurts, but we’ve got to get on with our own lives. We value health, so wouldn’t turn to alcohol, but I can fully understand why anyone would. But it was hard, very depressing to have that dream, that vision you have in your head of how wonderful it’s going to be when we move back home for good, smashed. One learns to cope with living minus a family when in exile ( enforced or otherwise ), and we didn’t have any children, so we’ve adapted. However, we often say that we saw more of my husband’s family when we were in London more than now as they’d stay with us on holidays. But,I think it’s great to be back home, despite the culture shock, the lack of community, the ‘I’ not ‘We’ – I’m delighted to be back – I wouldn’t change it.
Elizabeth
I know exactly what you mean. I went thru the “the return of the native” experience and suffered from the benign neglect by my own large family back in 1987. It was quite traumatic and I ended up returning to my adopted home in Canada.
Fascinating stuff. Well done Alan Barrett – important work.
Pat/Elizabeth – I know some people who moved back to Ireland from Canada and returned to Canada because of some of the circumstances to which you refer. I’m fearful of our eventual return because of those very reasons. There’s a great example in Catherine Dunne’s excellent book – An Unconsidered People – of a couple who moved back to Bluebell in Dublin after decades in England only to rue the day they returned. I know quite a few people who have done a few months’ worth of a trial run and most have decided not to stay in Ireland. I’m beginning to think that the energy wasted on longing for home would be better spent on assimilating in the adopted homeland. Save Ireland for holidays. However, I’ll be the first to admit that it’s easier said than done!
Elizabeth, I hear you- feel exactly the same two years after coming home after being away ten years.
I’d like to support and take one step further what JJ says “I’m beginning to think that the energy wasted on longing for home would be better spent on assimilating in the adopted homeland”
In my case, after much to-ing and fro-ing over the space of 30 years (complicated by the fact that I am from NI), I gave up what is an illusion of choice of Canada versus Ireland. Somehow or another I decided that going home means connecting with the inner me, rather than with a country be it the land of one’s birth or of one’s adoption.
In fact what I am trying to say is that as I got older I seemed to come to an inner place of peace (God this sounds so New Age/Granola), and began to see a place of residence as more of a flag of convenience, a container, or a platform for my own progress through this life.
Sorry if this seems a bit Zen but there you are.
PS to JJ thanks for the reference to: “An Unconsidered People” – I will look it up; a classic is Return of the Native by Hardy and there is also the early 20th century Irish writer Moore (I think the title is “An Unplowed Field”) who talks of the struggle of trying to resettle (from NY) in rural Ireland
Pat – thanks for the recommendations, looking forward to reading them. Don’t apologise for the ‘Zen’ perspective – I think many people (including myself) will ‘get it’. It’s a funny old thing being Irish – good luck!