Portuguese Emigration After World War II

1 / 19 Portuguese Emigration After World War II MARIA IOANNIS B. BAGANHA The northern Portuguese landscape is dotted with old houses that are architecturally exotic, with plenty of small, picturesque towers and in numerable decorative elements. One also finds new houses, architecturally reminiscent of northern European cottages, with black roofs and large windows. Then there are expensive suburban houses, which their owners have covered with colorful tiles. A significant number of these are cur- rently being b uilt or enlarged. These are the houses of former or present-day emigrants. The older ones are known as Brazilian houses and the more recent as French houses. Seemingly out of context, they dot the traditional landscape and constitute the most obvious material evidence that emigration has been a constant feature of modern Portuguese life. Although Portuguese migrated to the United States, Venezuela, Germany, and Lux- embourg (to name just a few of the countries where sizable Portuguese immigrant communities have settled historically), the labeling of these houses is rooted in the countrys migratory experience. Up to the 1950s, Brazil received more than 80 percent of Portuguese migratory flows, and France approximately half from that period on. The objective of this chapter is to present a general overview of the Portuguese mi- gratory experience from World War II to the 1980s. It is, however, important to empha- size that Portuguese migration has been a significant historical process for centuries, one that has changed not only the countrys landscape but also its way of life and its peoples me ntality. The analysis presented here is based on the assumption that Portuguese emigration is essentially an international labor flow, which has changed according to the demand for labor in the international market of the macro geographical system to which the country belongs. Its evolution has depended not only on the potential migrants as- 2 / 19 sessment of available rewards for labor abroad, but also on the political sanctioning of the recipient nations and the strength of the migrant network active at both ends of the trajectory. Migration Policies: The Legal Framework The Marshall Plan gave Western Europe the means with which to launch its post- war economic recovery. 1 Southern Europe and other peripheral regions covered the initial labor shortages resulting from war casualties, and later substituted native labor in the so-called dirty and low-paid jobs. Thus, between 1958 and 1973, the six countries of the European Economic Community issued eight million first work permits to facilitate a mass transfer of labor from the peripheral south to the industrialized north of Europe. It was only from the 1960s on that Portugal began to participate substantially in this intra-European transfer of labor. This can be shown with an analysis of foreign arrivals in France between 1950 and 1974. France was a major destination for migration in this period and the preferred destination for Portuguese emigrants. Between 1950 and 1959, Italians represented more than half of the total foreign inflow. In 1960, Spaniards equaled the number of Italians entering France, with each of these nationalities contrib- uting 30,000 migrants to a total of 72,600 arrivals. The Spaniards replaced the Italians as Frances main suppliers of foreign labor from 1961 to 1965, and were in turn re- placed by the Portuguese from 1966 to 1972. From 1962 on, Portugals share grew co n- stantly. In 1970 and 1971, Portuguese migration peaked. In an overall total of 255,000 arrivals in 1970 and 218,000 in 1971, the Portuguese contribution repre sented 53 per- cent (136,000) and 51 percent (111,000 migrants) respectively. 2 1 The following discussion draws heavily on four publications by Maria I. B. Baganha: Portuguese Emigration: Current Characteristics and Trends (Portuguese Report to COST A2 conference Migration: Europes Integration and the Labor Force; Leuven, 1991); As
correntes emigrat

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