The European Commission has published the 2023 annual report on intra-EU labour mobility.

The report identifies trends in free movement of workers and their family members, based on the latest available date (2022/2021). It includes an analysis of the mobility of European citizens after their employment and the volume of exported pensions.

Main findings

The number of working age EU citizens living in another Member State remains stable, counting around 10 million persons of 20-64 years. The number of persons moving to another country (859 000) or returning to their country of nationality (656 000), however, has rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, thus underpinning that European mobility is often circular mobility.

This preference to return to the country of nationality is underpinned by the slight upward trend for cross-border commuting (+8% up to 1.8 million) and the increase of postings to pre-pandemic levels (4.6 million).

The labour market performance of mobile workers surpassed with an employment rate of 77% the employment rate for nationals (75%) and the employment rate of third country nationals (62%).

The report demonstrates that there are much less seniors outside their country of nationality than working age citizens and that exported pensions mostly go to movers who retired in their country of nationality.