The Employment of Migrant Workers in West Germany and Belgium zy A Comparative Illustration of the Life-cycle of Economic Migration (1960 zy - 1980) zy BY FRANK MOULAERT* and PHILIPPE DERYCKERE** 1. INTRODUCTION The time paths of the wage employment of migrant workers in West Germany and Belgium after World War zyxwvu I1 show fundamental differences. Statistical inspection of these paths reveals the almost purely structural character of the presence of a migrant labour force in the Belgian economy, unlike Germany, where the cyclical pattern of migrant employment cannot be disregarded. A preliminary hypothesis i.e., the difference in time pattern is due to divergences in sectoral dynamics, especially the boom in service employ- ment in Belgium, is rejected (see Section zyxwv 3). The penetration of migrants into Belgian economic activity has no sectoral colouration but is a rather general phenomenon. Sim- ilarly, the relative lack of migration in the German economy during the second half of the seventies bears only a weak sectoral label. A plausible explanation for these divergent time dynamics in both countries can be found in the theory of stages ofeconomic migration, a theory we label here as the ‘life-cycle of economic migration’. The postwar Belgian history of large scale economic immigration is longer than the German history. Family reunification and integration in Belgium was already occurring on a large scale at the end of the sixties, about ten years earlier than in Germany. According to the life-cycle theory, the integration of migrant workers and their families, should now be in full swing in Germany. However, this process is seriously hindered by the economic crisis, which feeds conservative forces favouring the further application of the rotation principle in immigration policy. Normally, the rotation prin- ciple is typical of earlier stages in the cycle and is gradually abandoned as the migration process advances. However, it regains influence as the economic crisis becomes more severe. * Assistant Professor, E.H.L., Belgium. ** Master in Applied Economics. The authors wish to thank K.-D. Rorchardt, zyxwv D. Pieters and G. de Moffarts for their comments on an earlier version o f this paper. 178