International migration from Sub-Saharan Africa to Europe is poorly understood. Furthermore, existing studies pay insufficient attention to the links between the micro-level factors and political, social and economic processes in both origin and destination areas. Here we integrate insights from institutional approaches in migration and development research with perspectives that highlight the role of labor market and social capital. We analyze the contextual and individual level determinants of migration from Senegal to France, Italy and Spain since the mid-1970s. We examine the following hypotheses: (a) In Senegal, the deterioration of living conditions, heightened economic insecurity and the widening of social inequalities, have created the conditions for increasing out migration propensities. (b) In Europe, labor market restructuring has increased job opportunities in particular places and job niches. (c) In facilitating access of Senegalese migrants to jobs in Europe, social networks have linked these two processes. We use event history models to analyze life course data from the Migrations between Africa and Europe survey (2008). Our results support institutional perspectives emphasizing the role of migration as a household strategy to diversify resources and counter downward social mobility. Furthermore, our analyses show that the availability of personal networks in Europe creates a boosting effect on individual migration probabilities during periods of strong labor demand. The initiation and expansion of migration between Senegal and Europe stem from the interplay between historically changing social and political factors at origin and destination, as well as the mutually reinforcing process of social capital formation and changing labor market conditions.