Forced labour and migration to the UK

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No. 23: Labour Migration Trends and Policies in Southern Africa

Since 1990, there have been major changes to longstanding patterns of intra-regional labour migration within the Southern African Development Community (SADC). At the same time, new channels of migration to and from the region have opened. Labour migration is now more voluminous, dynamic and complex than it has ever been. This presents policy-makers with considerable opportunities and challenges. In order to understand the exact nature of these challenges, it is important to have a good grasp of current labour migration characteristics and trends. Unfortunately, reliable, accurate and comprehensive data on labour migration is not available. The quality and currency of data varies considerably from country to country. A regional labour migration observatory would make the future writing of an overview of migration trends a much easier task. The primary objectives of this overview of labour migration trends and policy implications is fourfold: (a) to review recent characteristics and trends in labour migration within and from the SADC region. Official statistics as well as recent survey data are drawn on to generate an overall picture of current characteristics and trends in the region; (b) to highlight some of the critical and urgent issues pertaining to labour migration in the region; (c) to discuss the main features of labour migration strategies and policies and legislative and regulatory frameworks in countries covered by the Southern African Development Community (SADC); and (d) to review the prospects for the freer circulation of migrant labour in the Southern African region. This brief focuses primarily on the period since 1990 and restructuring of labour migration in the wake of the collapse of apartheid, new global migration forces, the end of the wars in Mozambique and Angola and the current economic and political situation in Zimbabwe. Although the brief provides an overview of the region as a whole, the report concentrates on the major labour migration channels in the region (from countries such as Lesotho, Swaziland, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe to South Africa). The report also considers the nature and implications of new migrant movements to and from SADC

Migrant Labour in the Russian Economy: a Burden or a Blessing?

The article discusses the potential threats and benefits of external labour migration for the Russian economy through establishing cause-effect relations between the migration processes and the current economic situation. The analysis of statistical data on the development of Russian regions and on the demographic, migration, and financial trends in the country allows us to assess the potential risks of using the labour of external migrants. External migration may damage the Russian economy: it may result in depreciation of the Russian rouble; a growing de cit in the balance of payments; and in an increasing loads on the country’s pension system. We should not forget, however, that external migration can also bring a number of benefits: it can rejuvenate the population and supply human resources to those Russian regions which experience the shortages of the workforce for blue-collar jobs. Moreover, migrants make contributions to the federal budget by paying fees for work patents. The state government may use the results of this research to improve its migration and labour policy and to develop a state program to stimulate external and internal migrants to find employment in workforce shortage areas. This research shows the connection between labour migration and economic activity of local population; reveals the factors of external labour migration; and analyzes the effect migration has on the host country

Migration, Restrictions and the Impact on Labour Market

Migration is now at the forefront of European and national policy agendas. Therefore, it is important to remark that cultural and institutional barriers exist in migration between developed countries and the different regime of labour functioning proves that. This paper provides evidence for the role of quantitative and qualitative restrictions, presents a driving model of growth through migration channels and their impact on labour market and, most important, brings out an empirical analysis of migration within the OECD countries and Romanian migration to Canada. Following a simple decomposition of income growth, migration can impact on growth through labour supply, productivity and changes in transfers.migration, restrictions, labour market, migration model

Regional Labour Market Adjustment and the Movements of People: A Review

This review paper examines the link between internal migration and regional labour market adjustment. It outlines the motivation and scope of our enquiry, discusses the three key questions that we plan to pursue, reviews relevant international and New Zealand literature, and outlines proposals for future research. The first key question examines whether migration helps regional labour market adjustment. The second question investigates how important migration is as a regional labour market adjustment mechanism. The final question looks at who is moving and whether it matters for regional labour market adjustment.regional labour market; internal migration; regional labour market adjustment

Effects of Immigration on Labour Markets and Government Budgets - An Overview

The paper provides an overview on recent trends of immigration in OECD countries and on the possible effects of immigration on labour markets and government budgets. It also discusses migration policies from an economic point of view. By bringing together a bulk of international literature on labour market and fiscal effects of migration in a systematic way it provides a framework for assessing the economic effects of migration and improving the knowledge base for migration policies.migration, labour markets, fiscal effects of migration

Regional disparities in employment of high-skilled foreigners: Determinants and options for migration policy in Germany

We investigate the regional disparities in high-skilled foreign employment in Germany. The importance of different factors which attract highly qualified migrants to specific regions and the role of labour-migration policy is analysed. Our results show that labour-market variables as well as the supply of tertiary education are important for the location choice. Based on these empirical results we discuss options of decentralized migration policy in Germany. --Migration,regional disparities,labour-migration policy,Germany

Modern condition of labor migration from Ukraine to the EU and the prospects for its regulation

The analysis of state and development dynamics of labour migration from Ukraine to the EU made in the context of: gender, age, level of education, country of destination, sector of employment and so on. Special attention is paid to the migration to Poland as the host country of the highest, among EU countries, of labour migrants from Ukraine. It also evaluated individual aspects of migration of Ukrainian youth in the EU countries with the aim of obtaining higher education. The obtained results can be used as an information base for the development of a system of measures of state poliks in the field of labour migration

Agricultural labour adjustment and the impact of Institutions

The economic transformation in countries of Central and Eastern Europe as well as Asia resulted in a diverse picture of change in agricultural labour use. Based on a measure of sectoral labour adjustment, the paper explores the determinants of occupational labour flows paying special attention to the impact of institutions. Annual rates of occupational migration between agriculture and non-agriculture over the period 1978-2005 are calculated for a panel of 30 transition countries. Annual migration from agriculture ranges from outflows of nearly 8 percent of the agricultural labour force to immigration into agriculture about 9 percent on average. Fixed-effects panel models are used to explain the annual intersectoral labour flow. The most important determinants of the migration rate are the relative income differences between non-agricultural and agricultural sectors, the relative magnitude of agricultural labour, the development of terms of trade and the level of unemployment. Furthermore, the speed of economic reforms and the way of land privatization affect occupational migration significantly. An increasing intersectoral income difference points to still existing mobility restrictions for agricultural labour in some of the countries analyzed

Survey-based Indicators of Regional Labour Markets and Interregional Migration in Norway

A rich set of regional labour market variables is utilised to explain interregional migration in Norway. In particular, regional indicators of labour market pressure are computed from survey data in which respondents are asked to evaluate local job prospects in their resident municipality and the surroundings. Mean satisfaction with local job prospects reported by respondents in a region and related survey-based indicators have a positive and significant impact on net in-migration to the region, also when controlling for traditional measures of regional labour market conditions, such as regional unemployment and wage differentials. Our results suggest that surveys may provide useful information about regional labour markets.Interregional migration; regional labour markets; survey data