Albanian Return Migration in Times of Economic Hardship: The Role of Migratory Intentions

Not all migrants manage to return to the country of origin after some time living abroad. However, this is a highly complex phenomenon that helps to address the reasons which led to migration itself in both individual and household levels, and to highlight issues related to the country of origin and to the destination. In this sense, the context becomes extremely important, and it is likely to expect that the dynamics of return migration change when facing economic hardship. The central aim of this article is to unravel the decision‐making process leading Albanian migrants to return in times of crisis by analyzing returnees’ intentions to remigrate or stay in Albania after having returned. We analyze the influence of economic conditions (objective and subjective in three moments: before migrating, while living in the host country and after their return) on returnees’ migration intentions based on data drawn from the 2013 Survey on Return Migration and Reintegration in Albania (INSTAT-IOM). Our results show that both objective and subjective economic conditions play an important role on returnees’ remigration intentions. More specifically, unemployment and inactivity have a negative influence on remigration plans if experienced while living at the host country, but their influence becomes positive if experienced after returning to Albania. We also found that persistent unemployment is one of the main reasons of returnees’ intentions to remigrate.