Labour migration and extended networks

From the 1960s onwards, some European countries, including the Federal Republic of Germany, recruited workers from Morocco in order to benefit from their lower wages. The intention was mainly circular labour migration, i.e. the workers, who were mostly male at the time, earned money abroad temporarily and – according to the plan of the European governments – were then supposed to return to their home regions. The result, however, was a strong cultural imprint of European cities through labour migration. Since people from one place of origin often worked in the same European cities, close migration networks developed. These networks were also used for trade with Morocco. Melilla and Nador developed into the most important economic centre in north-eastern Morocco during this period.