Economics

The Virus Sent Millions of European Workers Home, Some Forever

Years of labor flowing into EU’s rich west being reversed
Officials in Bucharest, Kyiv, Belgrade want returnees to stay

Seasonal foreign farm workers harvest asparagus at a farm in Hurcott, U.K.Photographer: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg

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By Andra Timu

May 12, 2020 at 4:00 AM UTC

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After Covid-19 killed the elderly woman Mihaela Danaila had been taking care of for nine years in northern Italy, she joined a rush of about 1.3 million Romanians working abroad and headed home.

The 37-year-old had been part of a steady exodus west after the continent’s ex-communist contingent joined the European Union. Open borders allowed doctors, engineers and builders to garner higher salaries elsewhere, escaping corruption and poor health care in the process. The shift helped richer countries struggling with aging populations but left the workers’ homelands scrambling to fill jobs.