Trans-national Migration

1. Trans-national Migration International College KhonKaen University 2012 Week 4 – Migration in the 20th Century (2)

2. Modern Migration • The governments of many receiving countries now seek to attract: • Migrants with skills which are needed in their economy • Temporary low-skilled workers • In 2005, 30 countries had policies to promote the inflow of highly skilled workers • Low-skilled worker schemes are often facilitated under bilateral agreements

3. Modern Migration • The governments of countries of origin are now more active in encouraging the return of citizens living abroad • But in general people move to better-off places • More than three quarters of migrants go to countries with a higher HDI than their country of origin

5. Modern Migration • Yet the poorer a person is, or his country is, the harder it is to move on • Fewer than one percent of Africans have moved to Europe • Evidence suggests that development and migration go together – the median emigration rate for countries with a high HDI is 8%, but for countries with a low HDI is just 4%

6. Modern Migration - Refugees • Since 1998, an average of 12 million people qualified for, and received, refugee assistance • Refugees make up a significant proportion of all international migrants in developing countries: • 18% in Africa • 15% in Asia • The decline in the number of refugees, and the large number of repatriations, accounted for the very small increase in the number of migrants in developing countries

7. Modern Migration • Barriers to migration (legal and irregular) are especially high for people with low skills • An estimated 50 million people are living and working abroad with irregular status • Some countries, like Thailand and the US, tolerate large numbers of unauthorized workers

8. Modern Migration • The mass movement of people living abroad has raised many moral issues: • Ethnic balance inside host countries • The meaning of citizenship and sovereignty • The distribution of income and impacts on welfare systems • Xenophobia (hatred or fear of foreigners or strangers) • The impact of multiculturalism • Protection from exploitation and protection of human rights • Brain drain (the loss of the best and brightest)

9. Migration Trends – Asia • There are relatively fewer trans-national migrants in the Asia region than in Europe or North America, because • Most Asian countries are not as “open” to legal migrants, especially low-skilled migrants • In larger countries, internal migration is preferred to international migration • Labour-sending countries send more skilled migrants to destinations outside Asia to improve protections and increase remittances

10. Migration Trends – Asia • As in other parts of the world, the number of Asians “on the move” has increased sharply over the past 40 years: • Around 55 million of the world’s stock of migrants (26%) were born in Asia and continue to live in Asia • The migration of Asians to other Asian countries has grown much faster than the migration of Asians to other parts of the world • The number of Asians in developed countries (OECD member countries) is around 19 million

11. Migration Trends – Asia • Most Asian nations have policies that aim to prevent migrants from settling • They do not want immigrants to change their country’s culture and identity • Only a few countries consider migration important for economic growth • Governments in Asia do not generally accept that labour migration can benefit both the receiving and the sending country, but ASEAN is changing

12. Migration Trends – Asia • The number of Asians migrating to other parts of the world is much larger than the number of non-Asians migrating to Asia • As a result, most Asian nations have negative migration flows • The non-Asian countries with the highest percentage of Asian migrants in their populations are: • Australia • Canada • New Zealand • United States

13. Migration Trends – East Asia

14. Immigration Trends – East Asia • In East Asia the number of migrants doubled in the 30 years between 1975 and 2005 – to 6.5 million • East Asia accounts for less than 15% of Asia’s migrants • Most international migration within East Asia involves workers seeking, or having, temporary employment • At present most of these overseas contract workers return sooner or later to their homeland

15. Immigration Trends – East Asia • But will this continue? • The European and American experience with guest workers is that is that temporary labour migration morphs into permanent settlement • The number of migrants into East Asia from developed countries is also growing, but this is also mostly temporary migration • In Southeast Asia, Singapore has the highest percentage of foreign workers in its workforce, followed by Malaysia and Thailand

16. Immigration Trends – East Asia • At the more highly skilled level, migrants come to work in East Asia because of: • The rapid expansion of investment and MNC activity in many East Asian economies • Skill mismatches – fast-growing economies like Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia are not training sufficient engineers, accountants, technicians and marketing experts • Salary differentials between countries are flattening out in all the more highly skilled occupations

17. Immigration Trends – East Asia • At lower skill levels, it is often the disparity between incomes in different countries which drives labour migration • Governments try to manage the supply of, and demand for, migrant workers in a way which meets market needs and minimizes irregular migration • But irregular migration will continue to increase as long as opportunities for regular migration remain limited

18. Irregularities in Labour Migration

19. Emigration Trends – East Asia • East Asian countries with the highest rates of unemployment - Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and the Philippines – assist workers to obtain work abroad to: • Reduce domestic unemployment • Generate remittances • Accelerate development • Vietnam has been the most active in marketing its workers to foreign employers

20. Emigration Trends – East Asia • All East Asian governments with low-skilled workers overseas are concerned about protecting the rights of their workers • They have therefore established agencies to: • Regulate recruiters (labour/employment agents) • Prepare workers for overseas jobs • Look after migrants while they are overseas • Most governments measure the benefits by the number of migrants working overseas and the amount of their remittances

21. Emigration Trends – East Asia • The major destination for East Asian low and medium-skilled workers is other East Asian countries – Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong and Taiwan • The second most important destination is the Middle East – Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the oil-rich Gulf States • Almost half of the migrant workers from East Asia are women; but for the Philippines and Indonesia the percentage is more than 70%

22. Emigration Trends – East Asia • The jobs which migrant workers are performing overseas are changing – moving up the skill scale • For many years the majority of Asians overseas worked in 3D jobs (dirty, dangerous and difficult) such as construction, fishing boats, oil rigs, factories and domestic helpers • There is now increasing demand in service sector jobs: nursing, orderlies, aged persons care, food service, entertainment

23. Migration in East Asia : Summary • The Asian model of migration and settlement can be summarized as: • Immigration needs to be restricted – it is not generally seen as a good thing • Even in countries which are short of labour or where asylum seekers come for safety, migration is not allowed • Emphasis of migration policy is on constraint, policing and exclusion, rather than management…

24. Migration in East Asia : Summary • In countries where the need for migrant workers, tourists, business people is seen as essential to the economy, entry is allowed only on a temporary basis • Foreigners are not generally allowed to become permanent residents or citizens • Many Asians fear that their national culture and identity could be weakened if too many immigrants are allowed to stay

25. Migration in East Asia : Summary • Some of the consequences of this fear of foreigners is reflected in the restricted rights of migrant workers: • Not allowed to bring family with them • Restricted in the jobs they can hold (and often restricted to one employer) • Can’t travel freely in the country • Don’t have access to basic workers’ rights • Required to undertake compulsory health tests such as HIV testing • Required to report regularly to labour and immigration authorities