eurostat: remittances 2009

Remittances from the EU down for the first time in 2009, flows to non-EU countries more resilient




Eurostat has recently started to collect and
disseminate data related to the flows of
household income generated by the permanent
or temporary movement of people to other
countries. This paper highlights the main
characteristics of the newly disseminated data
set, which includes data on workers` remittances
and compensation of employees. While workers`
remittances are mainly related to migrants who
come from outside the EU and tend to stay for a
long time, compensation of employees is mainly
related to cross-border and seasonal workers
who usually come from neighbouring countries.
Outflows of compensation of employees reached
€41.6 billion in 2009, while outflows of workers`
remittances reached €29.6 billion - making a
total of €71.2 billion. However, this figure
represents a fall of 4% compared to 2008 and
the first decline after a long period of
continuous growth