Photo Gallery Iberian Brain Drain in Reverse
Raúl Gil of Spain has made it his mission to make it easier for young Spaniards to return to their homeland. His organization, Volvemos, offers information events and counseling. Because the economic situation on the Iberian Peninsula has improved, many young people who once left are now coming back: In 2018, more Spaniards moved back to the country than left -- a first since the height of the economic crisis.
First the global financial crisis, then the sovereign debt crisis and the euro crisis hit Spain and Portugal hard. In many places, the economy came to a standstill. Projects were left abandoned, like this one in Ciudad Valdeluz near Madrid. Although it was planned for 30,000 people, at that point, only about 700 people had moved into the new town.
In April of 2012, job-seekers standing in line at a jobs agency in Madrid. In the first quarter of 2012, the unemployment rate in Spain had risen to 24 percent, the worst in two decades. Many young, well-educated Spaniards left the country to try their luck in London, Paris or Berlin.
The situation was similar in Portugal. In July of 2014, demonstrators protest in front of the Portuguese parliament in Lisbon against the government's austerity measures. It had announced cuts in pensions and salaries.
José Cardoso had left Portugal in 2011, in order to find a job in Hamburg, first in construction, then with BMW. He returned to his homeland eight years later and found a job within two weeks thanks to the experience he had earned in Germany. He is pictured here in front of the Cais das Colunas in Lisbon, the former wharf on the Tejo River. This is where the first ships embarked carrying Portuguese on exploration trips around the world.
Cardoso says the atmosphere in the country has dramatically improved: "One notices that the Portuguese are optimistic again, there is work." He himself recently was promoted to team leader at his new job, a company that specializes in floor coverings. He earns much less than in Germany, only 60 euros for an eight-hour workday. "But the money gets me further here."
Tiago Loureiro also returned to Portugal in 2018. The 36-year-old nurse previously worked in a hospital in Northern Ireland, where one of his brothers had previously also found work.
In Northern Ireland, Loureiro earned almost three times as much as he does at his new job in Portugal. But he only pays 360 euros per month for the apartment in the small town of Santiago do Cacém, where he lives with his girlfriend -- the view over the hilly landscape, included.
In his kitchen corner, Loureiro can prepare his own meals. He says he struggled with the food in the United Kingdom, and with the weather. He also had problems getting connected to Northern Irish society, and says he always wanted to return home.
Loureiro drives his own car to the hospital in Santiago do Cacém, where he works in the hospice in the oncology ward. Although his return to Portugal has involved some financial cutbacks, he says he needs less money here and that the high quality of life is also a positive.
Irene Sánchez, from Spain, has also returned to her home country. She came to Germany as part of the Erasmus student exchange program, and remained because of the high availability of jobs. She worked in Daimler's marketing department in Stuttgart, her dream job. But when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, it became clear that she wanted to return to Spain. "The sickness was only the trigger for my decision, not the reason," she says. She says she didn't want to life far from her family on the long term.
Now Sánchez lives back in Madrid. She loves the country, in which people are no longer as worn down as they were during the economic crisis. Madrid is one again pulsating with life, shown here during this past July's gay pride parade. She found a new job with her old employer: Daimler, but this time at an office in the Spanish capital.
Sánchez does not regret her decision to return home. She still reads German books, and is happy about any chance she has to speak German. The illness has changed her life, but not dampened her energy. She is now aggressively taking on her MS diagnosis, for example by doing yoga before she drives to work in her small Ford Focus.
