User:Dr Gangrene/Immigration to Luxembourg

Before about 1870, Luxembourg was a poor country, lacking any significant industry, and with agriculture that produced low yields. The growing rural population found an exit valve in the form of emigration, mostly towards the United States and France. This movement started in the late 1820s and lasted approximately until World War I, with the years 1841-1891 being the focal point. Over a half-century, about 72,000 Luxembourgers left their country; for context, Luxembourg's population in 1843 was 170,000, and 211,000 in 1890. Their primary destinations in the United States were Chicago, Wisconsin and Iowa. In France, they headed for Lorraine and the Paris suburbs.

The first major wave of immigration to Luxembourg consisted of Germans, and started around 1868-1870, in order to provide labour for the steel industry. In addition to managers and technical staff (engineers, foremen, ...) this consisted of labourers. Until World War II, Germans represented the largest group of foreigners in Luxembourg. The number of Germans in Luxembourg evolved as follows: Faced with the increasing number of Germans in the country, Luxembourgers began to fear a Germanisation of their country around the turn of the century. The numbers also reflected Luxembourg's close relationship with, and dependence on, the German Empire; they also illustrated the dependence of the steel industry on immigrants. On the eve of World War I, 59% of steel industry workers in Luxembourg were foreigners.
 * 3,497 in 1875
 * 12,296 in 1890
 * 21,762 in 1900
 * 23,576 in 1930
 * 7,525 in 1947

There was a second, Italian, wave of immigration, from 1892 until the 1960s. Italians formed the largest group of foreigners from 1945 to 1978. This was then followed by a wave of Portuguese immigration, starting about 1963.

These waves of immigration were not always of an identical nature: German immigration comprised white-collar workers as well as manual labourers. The Germans were fairly well integrated, due to geographical and cultural proximity, as they came from the Western parts of Germany, and often brought their families with them. The Italian wave of immigration consisted only of manual workers, and generally of unmarried men.

After World War II, in 1947, foreigners formed 10% of the population, the lowest proportion since the 19th century. The next few years saw high level of economic growth. Several sectors, such as construction, steel, and services, had to resort to foreign labour, especially Italian.