The Devil Is in the Detail: Measuring Intra-EU Labour Migration 51 that decided to not impose labour market restrictions (the 2-3-2 rule) on the new member states from the 2004 EU round of enlargement. Figure 3.1: Western European labour migration as a percentage of the labour force, average 2004-2016 Source: own elaboration based on EU-LFS data Note: countries displayed in a colour not included in the legend indicate no data available Figures 3.3 and 3.4 present the percentage point change in the two labour migration indicators, for EU15 & EFTA and CEE mobile citizens respectively, from 2005 to 2016. The year 2005 was used because Ireland and Italy do not have the correct data available in the EU-LFS for the year 2004. Thus, for consistency, I have chosen to present the change between 2005 and 2016. When comparing the two figures, it becomes evident how CEE labour migration has increased more rapidly over time than Western European migration. This could be for a few reasons, such as because they were mostly new member states in 2004 (some even later) they are just starting to exercise their rights as EU citizens. Perhaps if we compared the increase in migration of the EU-15 from the point of joining we would see something similar. Also, there are differences in levels of unemployment, wealth, and development which may also play a role in driving push-pull migration.
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