Deteriorating economic conditions and mass return migration from the former colonies undoubtedly increased migratory pressure in this period; annual average departures, however, fell from 122,000 per year between 1968 and 1975 to 22,000 per year between 1976 and 1988. Economic factors alone cannot explain the contraction in flows in the latter period. Restrictive migratory policies in the traditional recipient countries and the lack of sizable migratory networks functioning in other destinations left potential migrants temporarily without alternatives. Portuguese scholars wrote the obituary for Portuguese emigration to Europe in 1985 at an international meeting called “Portugal and Europe: The End of a Migratory Cycle.” [27] It was too soon, however. Indeed, Portuguese emigration to Europe is, once again, a significant phenomenon. In fact, a new European migratory cycle, this time mainly directed to Switzerland, took off during the 80’s. Just between 1986 and 1993 more than 117,000 Portuguese permanent immigrants entered that country. [28] It should come as no surprise if in some years’ time, we see the Portuguese landscape enriched with a new set of houses, perhaps labeled Swiss houses. When they appear, they will once again give evidence of Portugal’s most constant modern historical phenomenon: emigration.
TABLE 10.6 Portuguese Emigration by Destination, 1950-1988
| Brazil | USA | Canada | TotalOverseas | France | Germany | Other Europe | Total Europe | Total | % | |
| 1950 | 14,143 | 938 | – | 21,491 | 319 | 1 | 81 | 401 | 21,892 | 1.83 |
| 1951 | 28,104 | 676 | – | 33,341 | 418 | 2 | 254 | 674 | 34,015 | 1.98 |
| 1952 | 41,518 | 582 | – | 46,544 | 650 | 4 | 209 | 863 | 47,407 | 1.82 |
| 1953 | 32,159 | 1,455 | – | 39,026 | 690 | – | 246 | 936 | 39,962 | 2.34 |
| 1954 | 29,943 | 1,918 | – | 40,234 | 747 | 4 | 205 | 956 | 41,190 | 2.32 |
| 1955 | 18,486 | 1,328 | – | 28,690 | 1,336 | – | 121 | 1,457 | 30,147 | 4.83 |
| 1956 | 16,814 | 1,503 | 1,612 | 26,072 | 1,851 | 6 | 167 | 2,024 | 28,096 | 7.20 |
| 1957 | 19,931 | 1,628 | 4.158 | 32,150 | 4,640 | 5 | 99 | 4,744 | 36,894 | l2.86 |
| 1958 | 19,829 | 1,596 | 1,619 | 29,207 | 6,264 | 2 | l27 | 6,393 | 35,600 | 17.96 |
| 1959 | 16,400 | 4,569 | 3,961 | 29,780 | 4,838 | 6 | 130 | 4,974 | 34,754 | 14.31 |
| 1960 | 12,451 | 5,679 | 4,895 | 28,513 | 6,434 | 54 | 158 | 6,646 | 35,159 | 18.90 |
| 1961 | 16,073 | 3,370 | 2,635 | 27,499 | 10,492 | 277 | 304 | 11,073 | 38,572 | 28.71 |
| 1962 | 13,555 | 2,425 | 2,739 | 24,376 | 16,798 | 1,393 | 435 | 18,626 | 43,002 | 43.31 |
| 1963 | 11,281 | 2,922 | 3,424 | 22,420 | 29,843 | 2,118 | 837 | 32,798 | 55,218 | 59.40 |
| 1964 | 4,929 | 1,601 | 4,770 | 17,232 | 51,668 | 4,771 | 1,905 | 58,344 | 75,576 | 77.20 |
| 1965 | 3,051 | 1,852 | 5,197 | 17,557 | 60,267 | 12,197 | 1,467 | 73,931 | 91,488 | 80.81 |
| 1966 | 2,607 | 13,357 | 6,795 | 33,266 | 63,611 | 11,250 | 3,868 | 78,729 | 111,995 | 70.30 |
| 1967 | 3,271 | 11,516 | 6,615 | 28,584 | 59,597 | 4,070 | 2,461 | 66,128 | 94,712 | 69.82 |
| 1968 | 3,512 | 10,841 | 6,833 | 27,014 | 58,741 | 8,435 | 2,037 | 69,213 | 96,227 | 71.93 |
| 1969 | 2,537 | 13,111 | 6,502 | 27,383 | 110,614 | 15,406 | 2,269 | 128,289 | 155,672 | 82.41 |
| 1970 | 1,669 | 9,726 | 6,529 | 22,659 | 135,667 | 22,915 | 1,964 | 160,546 | 183,205 | 87.63 |
| 1971 | 1,200 | 8,839 | 6,983 | 21,962 | 110,820 | 24,273 | 1,418 | 136,511 | 158,473 | 86.14 |
| 1972 | 1,158 | 7,574 | 6,845 | 20,l22 | 68,692 | 24,946 | 1,785 | 95,423 | 115,545 | 82.59 |
| 1973 | 890 | 8,160 | 7,403 | 22,091 | 63,942 | 38,444 | 5,255 | 107,641 | 129,732 | 82.97 |
| 1974 | 729 | 9,540 | 11,650 | 25,822 | 37,727 | 13,352 | 3,958 | 55,037 | 80,859 | 68.07 |
| 1975 | 1,553 | 8,975 | 5,857 | 19,304 | 23,436 | 8,177 | 1,569 | 33,182 | 52,486 | 63.22 |
| 1976 | 837 | 7,499 | 3,585 | 14,762 | 17,919 | 5,913 | 598 | 24,430 | 39,192 | 62.33 |
| 1977 | 557 | 6,748 | 2,280 | 14,826 | 13,265 | 4,835 | 750 | 18,850 | 33,676 | 55.97 |
| 1978 | 323 | 8,171 | 1,871 | 16,307 | 7,406 | 4,509 | 636 | 12,551 | 28,858 | 43.49 |
| 1979 | 215 | 8,181 | 2,805 | 17,532 | 5,987 | 4,400 | 807 | 11,194 | 28,726 | 38.97 |
| 1980 | 230 | 4,999 | 2,334 | 15,281 | 5,200 | 4,000 | 692 | 9,892 | 25,173 | 39.30 |
| 1981 | 228 | 4,295 | 2,196 | 14,498 | 8,600 | 3,100 | 409 | 12,109 | 26,607 | 45.51 |
| 1982 | 187 | 1,889 | 1,484 | 9,420 | 17,900 | 1,900 | 285 | 20,085 | 29,505 | 68.07 |
| 1983 | 197 | 2,437 | 823 | 6,242 | 6,300 | 1,500 | 166 | 7,966 | 14,208 | 56.07 |
| 1984 | 121 | 2,651 | 764 | 5,747 | 4,600 | 1,400 | 116 | 6,116 | 11,863 | 51.56 |
| 1985 | 136 | 2,783 | 791 | 5,842 | 4,000 | 1,600 | 109 | 5,709 | 11,551 | 49.42 |
| 1986 | 91 | 2,704 | 983 | 5,024 | 1,800 | 3,100 | 280 | 5,180 | 10,204 | 50.76 |
| 1987 | 28 | 2,643 | 3,398 | 7,757 | 400 | 3,100 | 158 | 3,658 | 11,415 | 32.05 |
| 1988 | 21 | 2,112 | 5,646 | 8,934 | 600 | 3,600 | 198 | 4,398 | 13,332 | 32.99 |
[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: Europe’s Integration and the Labor Force;’ Leuven, 1991); “As correntes emigratórias portuguesas no século XX e o seu impacto na economia nacional” in Análise Social, 128 (39), 1994: 959-980; “Principais características e tendências da emigração portuguesa” in Estruturas sociais e desenvolvimento: actas do II Congresso Português de Sociologia (Lisbon: Fragmentos, 1994), 819-35; “The Market, the State, and the Migrants: Portuguese Emigration Under the Corporative Regime” (Paper presented to the ESF Conference “Migration and Development,” Crete, 1994).
[2] France, Office Nationale d’Immigration (ONI) for the given years, in M. L. Marinho Antunes, “A emigração portuguesa desde 1950: dados e comentários,” in Cadernos GIS 7 (Lisbon: GIS, 1973),73,109.
[3] See Luís Miguel Seruya, “Determinantes e características da emigração portuguesa, 1960-1979,” in Perspectivas da emigração portuguesa para a CEE, 1980-1990, ed. Heinz-Michael Stahl et al. (Lisbon: Moraes Editores/I.E.D., 1982), 37-64; Mary M. Kritz, Charles B. Keely, and Silvano M. Tomasi, eds., Global Trends in Migration: Theory and Research on International Population Movement, 3d ed. (Staten Island, N. Y.: Center for Migration Studies, 1983); W. R. Bohning, Studies in International Labour Migration (London: Macmillan, 1984); Jorge P. Branco, A estrutura da comunidade portuguesa em França (Porto: Secretaria de Estado das Comunidades Portuguesas/Centro de Estudos, 1986).
[4] In the early 1980s, for example, the portion of unskilled workers was 45 percent among the Portuguese immigrant labor force in France, similar to other foreign groups but much higher than among natives. The share of unskilled laborers in the French active population was 29 percent. Branco, A estrutura, 70-71.
[5] 5. F. G. Cassola Ribeiro, Emigração portuguesa. Aspectos relevantes relativos às políticas adoptadas no domínio da emigração portuguesa, desde a última guerra mundial. Contribuição para o seu estudo (Porto: Secretaria de Estado das Comunidades Portuguesas/Centro de Estudos, 1986), 41-42.
[6] Proposta de lei sobre política de emigração, in Actas da Câmara Corporativa 142 (February 23, 1973). See also Ribeiro, Emigração portuguesa, 95-110.
[7] The figure does not include the 105,000 special legalizations performed by the Emigration Bureau between 1963 and 1969. See Antunes, “A emigração portuguesa,” 13-15.
[8] The estimate includes 975,000 arrivals to France and 212,000 arrivals to Germany, respectively.
[9] Some 777,000 arrivals to France and Germany are not accounted for in the Portuguese official statistics. More specifically, comparing the French and Portuguese sources indicates that for the period 1960-69, 48 percent of emigration to France went unregistered by Portuguese sources, and 81 percent for 1970-79. For Germany, the Portuguese migratory flow is unregistered by 27 percent for 1962-69 and by 42 percent in 1970-79 (see Table 10.6). Previous works considered only illegal emigration to France. The totals are therefore different from the ones presented in this paper. See, e.g., J. C. Ferreira de Almeida, “A emigração portuguesa para a França: alguns aspectos quantitativos,” Análise Social 2: 7/8 (1964), 599-622; M. L. Marinho Antunes, “Migrações, mobilidade social e identidade cultural: factos e hipóteses sobre o caso português,” ibid. 19: 65 ( 1981 ), 17-37; Stahl, Perspectivas da emigração.
[10] The last annual Boletim available from the Secretaria de Estado das Comunidades Portuguesas is for 1988.
[11] See William S. Bernard, “History of U.S. Immigration Policy,” in Immigration, by R. Easterlin et al. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1982), 103.
[12] France, Office Nationale d’Immigration, quoted by Seruya, “Determinantes e características,” 52; and OECD, SOPEMI Reports, 1985, 1988, and 1990 (Paris: OECD).
[13] Caroline Brettell, Men Who Migrate, Women Who Wait: Population and History in a Portuguese Parish (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986).
[14] Ibid., 68.
[15] The most relevant works are Manuela Silva et al., Retorno, emigração e desenvolvimento regional em Portugal (Lisbon: Instituto de Estudos para o Desenvolvimento, 1984); Eduardo S. Ferreira, Reintegração dos emigrantes portugueses: integração na CEE e desenvolvimento económico (Lisbon: CEDEP/AE ISE), 1984; Amadeu Paiva, Portugal e a Europa. O fim de um ciclo migratório (Lisbon: IED-CEDEP, 1985); Michel Poinard, “Emigrantes portugueses: o regresso,” Análise Social 19:75 (1983), 29-56.
[16] After the mid-1980s, the information available points to a decrease in the level of returns. At the end of the decade, returns were between 25,000 and 26,000.
[17] Poinard’s study, “Emigrantes portugueses: o regresso,” based on 3,792 documents and files on Portuguese processes for aid return presented to French authorities in 1978, gives a slightly different portrait of the migrants returning from France. The mean duration of the stay in France was 9.5 years.
[18] Employment was quite different in France and Germany. In France, 49 percent of the returnees worked in construction and 25 percent in manufacturing; in Germany, 13 percent worked in construction and 60 percent in manufacturing.
[19] The most frequent reasons for return were missing the family and native land and concern with the children’s education, 35 percent; and health, retirement, and labor accidents, 26 percent.
[20] See SECP, Boletim anual 1988: 83. For returns see Silva, Retorno, emigração e desenvolvimento, 49-52; Stahl, Perspectivas da emigrção, 17.
[21] Alfredo M. Pereira, “Trade-Off Between Emigration and Remittances in the Portuguese Economy,” Faculdade de Economia – Universidade Nova de Lisboa Working Paper 129, 1989.
[22] A. Sedas Nunes, “Portugal: sociedade dualista em evolução,” Análise Social 2: 7/8 (1964), 407-62; Carlos Almeida and António Barreto, Capitalismo e emigração em Portugal, 3d ed. (Lisbon: Prelo, 1976); Joel Serrão, A emigração portuguesa: sondagem histórica, 3d ed. (Lisbon: Livros Horizonte, 1977; Vitorino Magalhães Godinho, A estrutura da antiga sociedade portuguesa (Lisbon: Arcádia, 1978).
[23] Eduardo S. Ferreira, Origens e formas da emigração (Lisbon: Iniciativas Editoriais, 1976); José P. Barosa and Pedro T. Pereira, “Economic Integration and Labour Flows: The European Single Act and Its Consequences”’ FE-UNL Working Paper 123, 1988; A. M. Pereira, “Trade-Off Between Emigration and Remittances.”
[24] Barosa and Pereira, “Economic Integration and Labour Flows,” 8.
[25] Stahl, Perspectivas da emigração; I. J. Seccombe and R. J. Lawless, “Some New Trends in Mediterranean Labour Migration: The Middle East Connection” International Migration 23:1 (1985), 123-48; Barosa and Pereira, “Economic Integration and Labour Flows.”
[26] Barosa and Pereira, “Economic Integration and Labour Flows,” 13.
[27] Amadeu Paiva, Portugal e a Europa. O fim de um ciclo migratório (Lisbon: IED-CEDEP, 1985).
[28] See the publications by Baganha cited in note I; and Baganha and João Peixoto, “Trends in the ‘90s: The Portuguese Migratory Experience” in, Immigration in Southern Europe Maria I. Baganha (ed.), Oieras, Celta, 1997:15-40.