Buffer Theory

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. In the late 1950s a number of European countries decided on a migration policy know as the Buffer theory. Owing to rapid economic recovery in the post WWII period there were many more job vacancies than people who were available or becoming available in the workforce to fill them. To resolve this situation they decided to "import" workers from the southern Mediterranean basin on a temporary capacity to fill this labour shortfall. These workers were invitees of the governments and came to Europe initially on the understanding that they could at any point in time in the future be repatriated if and when economic circumstances changed. These Gastarbeiter as they became known in Germany were mainly young unskilled males who very often left their families behind in their country of origin and migrated alone as 'Economic Migrant'. They worked predominantly in certain areas of the economy where working conditions were poorer than those of indigenous Germans and where the rates of pay were considerably lower.