Laszlo Szemelyi - Bratislava/Vienna Research draft

Laszlo Szemelyi
Peter Pazmany Catholic University
Piliscsaba, Hungary

Introduction
When we analyze countries in practically any aspect – from economic growth opportunities through crime and living standards to environment protection and sustainable utility system –, it turns out that the number and proportion of skilled workers is a crucial success factor to the country. Not surprisingly we can take this to the level of cities, the relation between success and skilled workers remains the same, for in any country most skilled workers are employed in big cities.
While the emigration of highly qualified people is a problem more or less all across Europe, it is worth noting that there are two important differences between Eastern and Western countries. Western Europe has long been challenged by the threat of their professionals moving to the USA as the latter is often considered by them offer an almost unmatched mix of money, research personnel concentration and meritocracy. However if we look at Eastern Europe and in this case Slovakia, apparently not only the USA seems to have this kind of pulling attractiveness but also some Western European countries, predominately the Benelux states, UK, Germany and Austria.
Secondly, most Western European countries trying to fill holes in skilled labor force can rely to some extent on historically related countries providing immigrants with proper skills as a heritage of colonialism. In Eastern Europe this source of brain gain is practically absent. Very few skilled immigrants could be described as coming from a country which has been historically dependent on the country of the immigrant’s destination. An example of this kind of immigration source can be the Hungarian diaspora in the neighboring countries. Another example could be the case of Poland, the borders of which having been changed so many times in history.

Research goals
Having touched upon the special circumstances in Eastern Europe under which its skilled migration situation is forming, we should note the fact that the emotional side of migration is at least so important as the economical. Though when we ask skilled migrants about their motivation, income perspectives is by far the most important factor, if we turn to those who decided not to relocate from their home country mention mostly personal reasons like family, friends and culture. No surprise that in case of an emigration in the country of destination the alien environment and the language problems often make the emigrants seek the company of their fellow countrymen.
The question is: are skilled migrants an exception? Is ethnicity, if we define it as forming national migrant communities separated to a large extent from communities of the majority as well as from other national migrant communities, absolutely typical amongst them? And if not, can we note any relation between their ‘skilled nature’ (more educated, having good fix job and consequently higher living standards, possibly more open to higher culture) and their openness to other communities or the openness of the majority to them?
Due to the nature of the problem it is wise not trying to do a survey and decide about skilled migrant ethnicity upon quantitative results. It is much worthwhile doing interviews with them to be able to grasp the shades of community membership, activities and openness to other communities. I plan to talk to skilled immigrants in Bratislava about their view of the communities in the city and their participation in them. I also try to find out how important they think this part of migrant life is and how crucial this aspect was in their decision to relocate to Bratislava.

Research impact
If a city or a country wants to be successful, it has to solve the problem of keeping existing skilled workers, educating more and possibly attracting more from abroad. It is impossible to reach this goal without knowing the motivation of these people affecting their decisions on staying or moving, learning or not, choosing one city or another. My research will help city leaders understand how skilled immigrants view their public relations and what is the possible effect of this on their future location. In addition, this research will show if any ethnic problems are related to the skilled immigrants and what is their opinion about it.