In the late 1950s a number of European countries decided on a migration policy know as the Buffer theory. Owing to rapid economic recovery in the post WWII period (aided by the American Marshall aid program) there were many more job vacancies than people who were available or becoming available in the workforce to fill them. To resolve this situation they decided to "import" workers from the southern Mediterranean basin on a temporary capacity to fill this labour shortfall.

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  • In the late 1950s a number of European countries decided on a migration policy know as the Buffer theory. Owing to rapid economic recovery in the post WWII period (aided by the American Marshall aid program) there were many more job vacancies than people who were available or becoming available in the workforce to fill them. To resolve this situation they decided to "import" workers from the southern Mediterranean basin on a temporary capacity to fill this labour shortfall. These workers were invitees of the governments and came to Europe initially on the understanding that they could at any point in time in the future be repatriated if and when economic circumstances changed. These Gastarbeiter as they became known in Germany were mainly young unskilled males who very often left their families behind in their country of origin and migrated alone as 'Economic Migrant'. They worked predominantly in certain areas of the economy where working conditions were poorer than those of indigenous Germans and where the rates of pay were considerabily lower. Ultimately they came to predominate in low raid service rated employment. The situation remained unchanged until the 1970s economic recession. Jobs were being lost in manufacturing and industry in particular but not necessarily in the occupational types in which the migrants worked. In 1974 the then West German government imposed a ban restricting any future economic migrants and offered the possibility of returning back to their countryy of origin to many others, few migrants took up the offer and stayed at their jobs or began to receive unemployment assistance from the state. This led to increased tensions and feeling of resentment from many German people.
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  • In the late 1950s a number of European countries decided on a migration policy know as the Buffer theory. Owing to rapid economic recovery in the post WWII period (aided by the American Marshall aid program) there were many more job vacancies than people who were available or becoming available in the workforce to fill them. To resolve this situation they decided to "import" workers from the southern Mediterranean basin on a temporary capacity to fill this labour shortfall.
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  • Buffer Theory
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