The impact of technological developments on immigrant labor demand: The Europe example

People have migrated for many reasons throughout history. In the early times of history, migration movements were motivated by food and shelter. With the emergence of socialization and state structures, migration activities were shaped within the framework of internal and external motivational patterns. Motivations such as war, trade, and receiving treatment are push factors that represent forced migration. Migrations centered on education, culture and tourism have the status of arbitrary migrations and represent attractive motivational patterns. Another external factor that pushes people to migrate is the expectation of finding a job and being employed. Countries that have successfully completed the industrialization process at the point of production are the target destinations for such migrations. The direction of migration is from countries with low development levels to developed countries. In the first years of industrialization, the abundance of muscle-based business lines created a large employment gap. Thus, developed countries have become the focus of businesscentered migration. Today, technological developments that surround every aspect of life, digitalization and artificial intelligence have catalyzed a catastrophic process of destruction. This situation has started to change the qualifications sought in the qualified workforce needed by the sectors. Automating many business lines eliminates the need for humans, and it has also begun to be preferred by manufacturers due to time saving, energy efficiency and cost advantages. The level of mechanization, especially in the industrial and agricultural sectors, has a great impact on employment. In the service industry, the rate of technological transformation is not as fast as the industrial and agricultural sectors. However, the increasing availability of robotic technology in the near future makes it inevitable for the same process to occur in the service industry. In this study, the impact of technological developments on employment will be discussed specifically in the context of European Union employment policies. In this context, the sample of the study was determined as the Europe due to its closeness to the researcher. Within the scope of the study, the workforce needs of the Europe, a member of the European Union, and the impact of technological developments on this need were examined through secondary data sources and from a qualitative perspective. The results obtained reveal that the immigration policies published by the Dutch Government in the digital age are affected by technological developments.