The emigration from Lithuania is one of the highest among the EU countries: the number of emigrants reached 1.66% of the total population in 2011. The share of recorded remittances in national GDP was 4.57% in 2011. This paper argues if international migration contributes to the development in the labour sending country. The basic idea is as follows: using statistical and econometrical methods it is revealed whether international migration causes positive or negative effect to Lithuanian economy and labour market. The results of time series analysis show that remittances had positive impact on GDP and boosted economic growth in Lithuania.

Keywords: emigration, remittance, labour market, economic growth.