The 1950s and 1960s witnessed new waves of migration that had a significant impact on European society. Some postwar migration took place within countries. Many people left the countryside to seek better prospects in cities. In the poorer countries of Spain, Portugal, and Italy, millions moved to more developed regions of their own countries. The process was similar in the East Bloc, where the forced collectivization of agriculture and state subsidies for heavy industry opened opportunities in urban areas.

Many other Europeans moved across national borders seeking work. The general pattern was from south to north. Workers from less developed countries like Italy, Spain, and socialist Yugoslavia moved to the industrialized north, particularly to West Germany, which — having lost 5 million people during the war — was in desperate need of able-bodied workers. In the 1950s and 1960s, West Germany and other prosperous countries implemented guest worker programs designed to recruit much-needed labor for the booming economy. By the early 1970s, there were 2.8 million foreign workers in Germany and another 2.3 million in France, where they made up 11 percent of the workforce.

Most guest workers were young, unskilled single men who labored for low wages in entry-level jobs and sent much of their pay to their families at home. (See “Individuals in Society: Armando Rodrigues.”) According to government plans, these guest workers were supposed to return to their home countries after a specified period. Many built new lives, however, and chose to live permanently in their adoptive countries.

Europe was also changed by postcolonial migration, the movement of people from the former colonies and the developing world into prosperous Europe. In contrast to guest workers, who joined formal recruitment programs, postcolonial migrants could often claim citizenship rights from their former colonizers and moved spontaneously.

These new migration patterns had dramatic results. Immigrant labor helped fuel economic recovery. Growing ethnic diversity changed the face of Europe and enriched the cultural life of the continent. The new residents were not always welcome, however. Adaptation to European lifestyles could be difficult, and immigrants often lived in separate communities. They faced employment and housing discrimination, and the harsh anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies of xenophobic politicians. The tensions surrounding changed migration patterns would pose significant challenges to social integration in the decades to come.