Are Black Women Wealthier in Europe's Socialist Economies?

According to Christina Almuñecar, “the plan was to work less hours. I was a salaried employee before I left, but had to become an hourly independent contractor for this all to work.”

By “this” Christina meant her move from Atlanta, GA to Malaga, Spain, where she’s working as a virtual assistant for an American law firm. For her, “it's definitely a shock to the system to not have paid holidays or PTO, but it is worth it…While my rent in Spain is comparable to my light mortgage in Atlanta, I now live across the street from the coastline and have a beautiful sea view from my balcony!  That would have been extremely hard if at all, to obtain in the U.S.”

Is moving abroad the fastest way for Black women to escape poverty, or improve their standard of living?

Comparing how successful Black women are in socialist economies (like Spain) versus developed yet capitalistic economies (like America) may answer these questions. 

Black women are sharing their reasons for moving abroad, or their “Blaxit”, on social media platforms like TikTok. (Video credit: @nicolalexandria.)

The research on this included investigating Black women's salaries before and after leaving their home country, data on how easy (or difficult) it is to get hired as an expat in socialist economies, and collecting stories about the Black women who made their move.

Salaries Abroad vs. At Home

Since 2023, average wages have decreased for Black American women with doctoral degrees, and they are earning two cents less than they would with just a bachelor’s degree. This is despite data that shows Americans with doctoral degrees usually earn 51% more weekly than those without advanced degrees.

Before moving to Spain, Christina said her “financial situation was basically middle class, if that's even a thing now.” She added, “I had a low mortgage on my home, my car was paid off, [and] I had savings in the bank.”

Based on the statistics, Christina and other Black women considered middle class in America would have earned roughly $49,000 annually between 2020 and 2022 (see graph below). But for the average White woman in the States, that salary is at least $70,600 a year.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor.

Since Cambridge University and Policy Press (University of Bristol) confirmed that some of Europe’s most successful countries run a social democratic government, this would be an ideal place to investigate how Black women’s lives change when moving to socialist economies. 

Investopedia found that American expats earning a salary in USD will “experience a higher standard of living in countries such as Spain, France, and Germany”—all three countries that practice some form of social democracy (or implement socialist economic practices). That means they offer easily accessible social welfare programs heavily subsidized by the government.

Finding Work Abroad

This also means Black women earning an annual middle-class income would see their dollar stretch further in these countries (and in Europe, generally) than they would if they remained in the States. The catch, though, is they first need a way to make moving abroad feasible.

Christina was able to keep her job at her Atlanta-based company and negotiate not just a remote role, but one allowing her to move internationally. “It was quite a request as I was the first employee of thousands…to make such a request,” she shared. “I was extremely blessed that my managing partner had my back. He trusted me and knew that I would still be a very productive part of the team, no matter where I was located.”

Work visa acceptance rates in Europe vary. Most countries with social protections built into their economy reject the highest number of work visa permits. Finland rejects only 1.7% of work visa applicants. Other countries like Norway, Portugal, and Sweden are ranked among the top 12 best socialist economies to live in but reject eight to 11 percent of work visa applications. 

So it may be as challenging for Black women to find a job abroad as it is to secure a remote agreement with their U.S. employer.

At least 1 million people from Sub-Saharan Africa moved to Europe as economic migrants since 2010. By 2017 over 4 million African women lived on the continent. 

Women migrating from Africa to Europe also saw their annual wages increase significantly, earning “11% more than African men after migrating to Europe.” However, organizations like the ILO found these women earned less than EU nationals and usually worked in the informal sector (i.e. off the books), leaving them economically vulnerable.

Black Women and the Blaxit Movement

On TikTok, the hashtag #BLAXIT has over 37 million followers, and in the videos, Black women give different reasons for wanting to move abroad.

There’s no official study explaining why Black women are migrating out of America. Most evidence is anecdotal, with women telling their TikTok followers or different publications that they’re leaving for a higher quality and affordable life, better and affordable healthcare, and a life with less (or no) racism. 

For now, it’s very hard to do an apples-to-apples comparison of Black American and African women's experiences in their home countries versus where they live after moving abroad. That’s because data across all the sources available on this topic are not collected uniformly.

Nevertheless, lower health and wealth outcomes for Black women in high-income countries like America suggest that the #Blaxit phenomenon may be connected to a growing negative view of hypercapitalism, and is worth a deep dive.