Coming back without losing out: return migration and subjective well-being among privileged migrants

A significant share of international migrants eventually returns to their home countries. While prior research has often assessed return migration through economic outcomes, less is known about how it relates to subjective well-being (SWB), a broader indicator of individuals’ life situations. We examine changes in SWB before and after return among privileged migrants, drawing on competing expectations from the neoclassical economic (NE) perspective and the new economics of labour migration (NELM). Using fixed-effects panel regressions and probability-based data from the German Emigration and Remigration Panel Study (GERPS), a representative survey of internationally mobile German citizens, we analyse life satisfaction trajectories around the return event. For most returnees, SWB slightly declined prior to return and remained largely stable upon return. Increases in SWB are observed only among a minority who return due to dissatisfaction with life abroad or unfavourable political circumstances. For privileged migrants, the findings suggest the limited value of interpreting return as a story of failure or success, as suggested by the NE and NELM frameworks. Instead, in many cases, return may be more meaningfully understood as a strategic decision to conserve resources and stabilise well-being within the context of broader life-course trajectories.