article of interest regarding international migration

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Workers of the world migrate: IOM report says mobile populations boost global economy

by the RN Internet desk, 22 June 2005

The world’s estimated 185-192 million migrants are good for the global economy. That’s one of the findings of a new report from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

Although the research found that numbers of migrants – who make up 2.9 percent of the world’s population - have gone up from 2000’s 175 million, and have doubled in comparison with the 1970-1990 period, IOM spokeswoman Jemini Pandya says that overall, numbers are very small and in many cases actually declining:

“If you look at the figures for migration all across the world […] they only represent just under three percent of the global population. In the past 30 years, in terms of percentage […] migrant figures have actually dropped in all the regions of the world, except for North America and the former Soviet Union. Europe is included in one of the regions of the world where migration has actually dropped in real terms.”

Taking skills from the developed worldThe report says that the movement of workers around the world boosts economies in both the new adoptive homelands and migrants’ native countries. The report admits that ‘brain drains’ have an adverse effect on poorer countries. Around 400,000 scientists and engineers, for example, have taken their skills out of the developing world and into industrialised countries. But the IOM also points out that migrant workers are often an important source of income for those countries, sending home around 82 billion euros from their host countries; in the Philippines, for example, nearly ten percent of GDP comes from money sent home. In some cases, the contribution made by workers is actually larger than the amounts given in aid.

Misplaced fearsIn part, the report is aimed at allaying the concerns of some Western governments, many of whom play upon the fear of migrants ‘stealing’ plum jobs and hiking-up taxes. Ms Pandya says these fears are misplaced:

”Migrants are very highly visible in developed countries. [They] tend to occupy jobs at both ends of the scale – highly skilled and low-skilled areas. There have also been other issues about social integration: those are some of the reasons why migration has been such a topic of debate within Western Europe.”

The IOM’s report emphasises the role of well-managed migration in helping the economy and points out that, despite western fears of migration, foreign workers play a important role in plugging the gaps left by falling birth-rates. It also points out that competition between immigrant and local workers for the same jobs is, in fact, seldom seen. Foreign workers usually cluster around the top and bottom ends of the job market, filling roles which the local labour market is unable to meet. “We are living in an increasingly globalised world that can no longer depend on domestic labour markets alone,” said the IOM’s Director General Brunson McKinley.

Countries receiving migrant workers

Country

Migrants

Population

USA

35 million

295 million

Russia

13.3 million

141.5 million

Germany

7.3 million

82.5 million

France

6.3 million

60.7 million

India

6.3 million

1.1 billion

Only governments can decideThe IOM is keen to point out, though, that the matter of migration-management can only be dealt with by individual countries themselves:“Governments have to decide for themselves how they want to manage migration, what their economies need, and how they want to be able to take measures to integrate migrants into their communities.”

Making the best of itThe IOM, however, is involved in schemes to help migrants, the communities that receive them and their governments to get the best from the situation:

Brain drain: there are more Ethiopian doctors working in Chicago than there are in Ethiopa. “We’ve got programmes in Italy where we’re working together with the Italian government in a particular sector of the economy where there is a [need] for family care assistance. There is work underway to help migrants – particularly Sri Lankans – who have come to Italy and who’ve been given training in the Italian language and given job skills as well, so that they can better fit the needs of both the Italian economy and Italian society.”

Countries sending migrant workers

Country

Migrants

Population

China

35 million

1.3 billion

India

20 million

1.1 billion

Philippines

7 million

82.8 million The way forward, according to the International Organisation for Migration, is for countries to recognise the key areas in the economy and job market which need attention, and to attract workers from abroad to fill in those gaps:

“Governments will know by their economies which areas need a greater labour force. For example, a few years ago in Germany, they identified that they had a shortfall of 20,000 IT specialists and they needed to fill those 20,000 posts in order to keep the German economy developing at a pace. They took measures to actually get qualified IT professionals into the country and into the jobs they needed.”

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