Population’s Mobility Under Pandemic Conditions. Evidence from Ukraine (Lviv Region)

Abstract

High level of population’s international mobility has become an important feature of the modern globalized world. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected the intensity, course and direction of global migration processes, but it did not stop them completely. But do the pandemic-related restrictions have any impact on potential mobility? This article provides the comparative analysis of labor and potential territorial population’s mobility before and during the pandemic. It is based on the results of the sociological panel survey of the unemployed population in Lviv (2013–2016, 2018–2021). Our findings show that the COVID-19 pandemic has not only reduced the share of those who had real plans to international migration but also has influenced potential territorial mobility generally. At the same time, changes in labor mobility were not statistically significant, because they were detected only in one parameter and related to the first year of the pandemic. Conducting such study in other regions or population groups would give an interesting comparative analysis. Monitoring potential mobility can be a good base for developing effective measures of migration policy.