PHILIPPINES: Harvard prof: PH emigration to slowdown in 30-40 years

Harvard professor Dr. Jeffrey Williamson talked to Business Nightly on Wednesday to talk about 

emigration trends.

He said that every emigrant-sending country has gone through the following stages: rising, leveling, then descending. "I don't expect Philippines to be any different," he said during the interview.

Key driving forces for the eventual easing off include demography and improving job choices at home.

He explained that as young adults emigrate, the number of young adults at home as a share of  the population will be less. "The exit rate will tend to ease off," he said. Read more.

Nepal urges IOM to channel remittances towards development interests of LDCs

Ambassador Dr. Dinesh Bhattarai, Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations and other International Organisations, on Tuesday described the migration as the defining feature of the 21st century and effective engine for change.  

As global remittance is expected to reach $325 billion in 2010, which is almost three times higher than the average annual flow of ODA, he called upon the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) - migration agency based in Geneva - to come forward in assessing the ways and means of sustaining the flow of remittances in times of economic crisis, channelling remittances towards productive investment and advancing trade and development interests of least developed countries (LDCs). 
Read more

Remittances buoy small Pacific economies

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Pacific Scoop, Oct. 14, 2010) – University researchers and Pacific Island people alike are claiming that not all Pacific Islands are as vulnerable as they may seem.

Geoff Bertram, senior economics lecturer at Victoria University and an authority on small Pacific Island societies, says that the situation in the Pacific Islands is not as bad as people seem to think.

"On the whole, the Pacific is in a good state," he says.

This is because of remittances – relatives in other countries supporting their families back home.

Dr. Melani Anae, senior lecturer in Pacific Studies at the University of Auckland, says this system is working well for Pacific nations such as Samoa and Tonga, to keep up the standard of living. Read more

Remittances, Migration and Other Panaceas: The End of Outward-Looking Development Strategies

In a 1965 essay, the great development economist Albert Hirschman bemoaned the tendency of those in his profession to look for the next panacea. Unfortunately, various panaceas have come in and out of fashion since Hirschman wrote.

During three decades of neo-liberalism, development economists and policymakers have celebrated three inter-related strategies: (1) free markets, (2) private ownership, and (3) private international capital flows. The latter refers to several types of flows—loans by foreign banks, foreign direct investment (i.e., the purchase of more than 10% of the assets of a foreign corporation), portfolio investment (i.e., the purchase of foreign financial assets, such as stocks or bonds), and worker remittances (i.e., the funds that migrant workers send home generally to their families, but sometimes also send collectively through "home town associations" to fund infrastructure projects in their towns of origin). Policy in the neo-liberal era sought to maximize all four of these financial flows. Read more

Mexico group brings help, discouragement to migrants to US

NOGALES, Mexico—A letter written by a migrant before he died in the desert is one tool used by a Mexican group which tries to persuade its compatriots to think twice about crossing the border into Arizona.

"My name is Arturo Gomez. The people trafficker tricked us. He said he knew a lot but it wasn't true. There were 14 of us, we can't all endure this. Goodbye," read the crumpled letter found eight years ago near 14 bodies in the scorching desert between Arizona, in the United States, and the Mexican state of Sonora.

The Beta Group also informs migrants of their rights and rescues wounded and lost people on the vast 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) US-Mexico border. Read more

Migration: development on the move

Migration is an unstoppable fact of life in the 21st century and should be based on a sound understanding of migrants’ motivations and real life experiences.

Between 2006 and 2010, the Institute for Public Policy Research and the Global Development Network conducted a major research project on the development impacts of migration. Working in collaboration with local research partners in seven countries – Colombia, Fiji, Georgia, Ghana, Jamaica, Macedonia and Vietnam, the project collected comparable primary data on households with absent and returned migrants from across the world through an in-depth literature review, interviews with key stakeholders and, most importantly, using a new nationally-representative household survey. In total, around 10,000 households were asked about their day-to-day experiences of migration and its material impact on their lives, building a more detailed picture of migration in developing countries than ever compiled before. Read more

Is a US Brain Drain on the Horizon?

BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA: At a recent meeting of young technologists in Silicon Valley, I polled a room full of Indian techies about their future plans. It was an ad hoc exercise but when I asked how many of them planned to return home to India to work in the near future, I was amazed that over 50 percent of the people raised their hands. That dynamic is also playing out on a world stage as the great nations of the world battle for the brains that will spur their economies. During his recent trip to the US Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he welcomed Indians to return home. India also unveiled a policy that would allow Indians to hold multiple citizenships to allow them to access the incentive benefits of Indian nationals without giving up their US citizenship. China, too, has mounted campaigns and offered incentives to bring back business people, technologists and entrepreneurs who were living overseas. Ironically, this trend has been growing at a time when the crisis-hit United States is facing pressure to discourage immigration by foreigners with skills. Read more

700 Million Worldwide Desire to Migrate Permanently

November 2, 2009
700 Million Worldwide Desire to Migrate Permanently
U.S. tops desired destination countries
by Neli Esipova and Julie Ray

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Every day, migrants leave their homelands behind for new lives in other countries. Reflecting this desire, rather than the reality of the numbers that actually migrate, Gallup finds about 16% of the world's adults would like to move to another country permanently if they had the chance. This translates to roughly 700 million worldwide -- more than the entire adult population of North and South America combined. Read more

ITALY: Three MPs call for just immigration policies in Italy

Touadì: Governments must respect human rights of immigrants

3rd January 2009: Three Democratic Party MPs Jean-Leonard Touadì, Ettore Rosato and Massimo Calearo have joined hands in calling for just immigration policies in Italy.

The MPs recently made the call during the official launching of two books focusing on the role of immigrant business people in Italy: "L'immigrazione che nessuno racconta. L'esperienza di Ghanacoop e l'immigrazione che crea sviluppo" (The immigration no one talks about. The experience of Ghanacoop and the immigration that creates development), co-authored by Stephen Ogongo, Enrico Bellavia, Thomas McCarthy and Enrico Messora; and "Non solo nero. Immigrazione straniera e trasformazioni dell'economia italiana" (Not only black. Foreign Immigration and the transformation of the Italian Economy), by Nomisma, an Italian economic research institute.

Read more

Migrant culture

By Juan MercadoInquirerLast updated 00:22am (Mla time) 09/25/2007

THE EYE CLINIC secretary on the line apologized, saying: "Sorry, sir. But we can't set an appointment. Your doctor migrated to the US. And her substitute isn't here yet."
Here was a small sign of the medical system's erosion due to the unstanched exodus of care-givers. Starting in the 1960s, departures included nurses, midwives and specialists in pediatrics, internal medicine to obstetrics and oncology, according to Jaime Galvez Tan, Fernando Sanchez and Virginia Balanon. "A health disaster is impending if nothing drastic is done."

That will take some doing. Eight million Filipinos now live and work in over 190 countries, and about 3,000 leave every day. They have midwifed today's "culture of migration...which permeates Filipino society," Maruja Asis of Scalabrini Migration Center observes. [Read more]

Ghana to have migration policy soon

Cabinet has approved the setting up of a Migration Unit within the Ministry of the Interior to develop a migration policy framework for the country. The proposed policy would, among others, regularise the stay of foreign nationals in the country and collate data on Ghanaians resident abroad.

The Minister of State at the Ministry of the Interior, Nana Obiri Boahen, who made this known, said the proposed unit would co-ordinate the national activities in the area of migration with the view to "addressing the relationship between migration and development".

He was speaking in Accra yesterday at the opening of a four-day African migration workshop on Understanding the Migration Dynamics on the Continent. [Read more]

New Report Lays Out Future of Migration in Europe

Press Release
News > Press Release
For Immediate ReleaseSeptember 12, 2007Contact: Colleen Coffey, 202-266-1910ccoffey@migrationpolicy.org
New Report Lays Out Future of Migration in Europe
A functioning migration system in Europe must treat sending and transit countries as genuine partners, according to a new report lead written by Migration Policy Institute President Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Senior European Policy Fellow Gregory A. Maniatis.
Gaining from Migration: Towards a New Mobility System is the culmination of more than three years of comprehensive research by a group of internationally renowned policy experts. Published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), it will be released tomorrow in Lisbon during the European Union's Ministerial Conference on Legal Migration. The Portuguese government has made a comprehensive approach to migration management a top policy priority for its EU Presidency, and MPI is assisting the Presidency with its work on migration.

The report notes that EU policymakers should forego restrictive rhetoric and instead create more legal channels and flexible options for immigrants’ entry and stay, because doing so will attract workers in industries that most need them. At the same time, and in recognition of the fact that immigration cannot succeed unless immigrants integrate successfully, European countries must become more flexible in giving immigrants access to their labor markets and political systems.

Taking these steps, according to the report, would not only make the European Union more economically competitive in the global marketplace, they would generate public confidence in policymakers’ ability to govern on migration. [Read more]

The price of remittances

RODEL RODIS, Philippine News08/15/2007 04:43 PM

Perhaps the major accomplishment of the current Philippine government is the impressive improvement of the economy which has seen the peso increase in value from 54 to 1 under the previous government to the current 45 pesos to 1 dollar, requiring the government to expend less of its resources to pay off its foreign debt, and leaving more money for infrastructure improvements.By all accounts, this improvement in the economy is owed chiefly to the $15-B in remittances that overseas Filipino workers (OFW) annually send back to the Philippines.

But what is the price that OFWs have to pay for these Philippine economy-saving remittances? Two reports about the Philippines, which appeared this past week in the mainstream media, provide us with the answer.
[Read more]

RP expected to benefit from 'reverse migration'

y Doris DumlaoInquirer
Last updated 03:49pm (Mla time) 08/19/2007

THE CHIEF economist of Deutsche Bank has cited the Philippines' potential to benefit from the same phenomenon of reverse migration that bailed Ireland out of the poverty trap three decades ago.
In a briefing last week, visiting Deutsche Bank chief economist Norbert Walter said he was upbeat on the Philippines and its ability to catch up with Asia's fast-growing economies.

"In our analysis, the rating has improved for this very country. I've never seen such good economic and political weather in the Philippines," he said.
[Read more]

Philippines: Losing the workforce

The Philippine StarWhile the nation suffers from an acute lack of schoolteachers and deteriorating English proficiency, Thai students are learning English – from thousands of Filipino teachers.

A recent report said about 3,000 Filipinos are currently teaching in Thailand, receiving salaries ranging from the equivalent of P17,000 to P43,000 a month. That’s higher than the basic monthly pay of government doctors in this country - enough incentive for Filipinos to move to a neighboring country that was once at the same development stage as the Philippines, but which has since inched ahead. [Read more]

Kenya: Is It a Brain Drain Or Forex Source?

Business Daily (Nairobi)
OPINION10 August 2007Posted to the web 10 August 2007
Prof Makinda

In the past few weeks, several reports have raised important questions about the effects of Kenyans abroad on the national economy.
Two recent reports published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) attribute different types of impact to the Kenyan diaspora. The UNCTAD report highlights the loss of human resources through emigration or the brain drain.

The idea of a brain drain is not new and is predicated on the wrong assumption that Kenyans who live and work abroad are a loss to the country. [Read more]

Bangladesh: 'Dhaka needs to seek new destinations'

Saturday, August 04,2007

DHAKA: Sustaining the remittance growth has become a major challenge for Bangladesh as the development dynamics in the Middle East has been changing fast, adopting latest technologies and requiring highly skilled workers in almost all sectors.

The country needs to progressively change the country mix and increase skill level of its migrant workers to sustain its remittance growth, said Professor Imtiaz Ahmed of Dhaka University.

Since fiscal year 1999–2000, Bangladesh has received around 85 per cent of its remittance from only five countries — Saudi Arabia, the United States, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait. In the last fiscal year, these five countries accounted for more than $5 billion of the total remittance inflow of $5.98 billion.
But, recently the development dynamics in the three Middle East countries has been changing rapidly, posing a threat to Bangladesh’s manpower exports. [Read more]

Pakistan: Migrant Workers: Slaves Of

By Abdol Moghset Bani Kamal

03 August, 2007
Countercurrents.org

As soon as Murad Bux arrived, his 13-year-old son and 17-year-old daughter were introduced to him. He hugged them and wept. He was a servant of an Arab Shaikh in Qatar and his master had allowed him to visit his family after 12 years for a duration of two months. When he was asked how his life had gone in Qatar. His reply was: “For me, each day has been as long as a year. As if the time was hanged and the globe had stopped revolving around the sun”. [Read more]

Bangladesh: Manhandling manpower

Between a lack of regulation on the part of the government, and unscrupulous and often criminal practices in the thriving underworld of unregulated labour export, Bangladeshi migrant workers are left quite unprotected.

By : Saad Hammadi

His organisation sends Bangladeshis out of the country by utilising fake passports, Hasan Fakir, a core member of a Dhaka-based manpower-trafficking syndicate, recently confessed. Fakir, who runs a labour-recruitment agency, was arrested by the authorities on 3 June. He was accused of illegally sending one Basir Uddin to Malaysia, and later demanding ransom from Basir’s family in exchange for his release from the syndicate’s custody. [Read more]

The case for opening Europe’s borders wide to migrant workers

by Philippe Legrain

Efforts to tighten immigration controls and even bring them into line across Europe are short-sighted and unworkable, argues Philippe Legrain. He explains why the EU's growing hunger for even unskilled labour means they are also economically flawed

It's time Europe's politicians came clear about immigration with voters and with themselves. Governments cannot stop people moving across borders, and even if Europe became a police state its borders would still be permeable. Over a million foreigners illegally swell Europe's population every year; some enter covertly but most just overstay their visas and then work illicitly. Draconian policies can make migration harder and curb it somewhat, but mostly they drive it underground and thus create huge problems elsewhere.

Far from protecting society from the perceived threat of immigration, Europe's border controls actually undermine law and order, just as Prohibition did more damage to America than drinking ever has. Surely, then, European governments would do better to legalise and regulate migration instead? [Read more]