Chapter 10: Global Migration
Chapter 10: Global Migration Chapter
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
1. Identify the reasons for the migration of people;
2. Explain why states regulate migration; and
3. Discuss the effects of global migration on the economic well-being of states.
PRE-TEST
What drives Filipinos to migrate in other countries?
CONTENT
This lesson will look at global migration and its impact on both the sending and receiving countries.
Although we will cite numerous challenges relating to migration, migration should not be considered
a "problem." There is nothing moral or immoral about moving from one country to another. Human
beings have always been migratory. It is the result of their movements that areas get populated,
communities experience diversity, and economies prosper. Thus, rather than looking at migration in
terms of a simplistic good vs. bad lens, treat it as a complex social phenomenon that even
predates contemporary globalization.
What is Migration?
There are two types of migration: internal migration, which refers to people moving from one area to
another within
one country; and international migration, in which people cross borders of one country to another.
The latter can be further broken down into five groups. First are those who move permanently to
another country (immigrants). The
second refers to workers who stay in another country for a fixed period (at least 6 months in a year).
Illegal migrants
comprise the third group, while the fourth are migrants whose families have "petitioned" them to
move to the
destination county. The fifth group are refugees (also known as asylum-seekers), i.e., those "unable
or unwilling to return because of a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion,
membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.
Demographers estimate that 247 million people are currently living outside the countries of their birth.
Ninety percent of them moved for economic reasons while the remaining 10 percent were refugees and
asylum-seekers.154 The top three regions of origin are Latin America (18 percent of global total),
followed by Eastern Europe and Central Asia (16 percent), and the Middle East and North Africa (14
percent). On a per country basis, India, Mexico, and China are leading, with the Philippines, together
with Afghanistan, only ranking 6th in the world. The top 10 country destinations of these migrants are
mainly in the West and the Middle East, with the United States topping the list.
Fifty percent of global migrants have moved from the developing countries to the developed zones
of the world and contribute anywhere from 40 to 80 percent of their labor force. Their growth has
outstripped the population growth in the developed countries (3 percent versus only 0.6 percent),
such that today, according to the think-tank McKinsey Global Institute, "first-generation immigrants
constitute 13 percent of the population in Western Europe, 15 percent in North America, and 48 percent
in the GCC countries." The majority of migrants remain in the cities. The percentages of migrants in
cities are 92 percent in the United States, 95 percent in the United Kingdom, and 99 percent
in Australia. Once settled, they contribute enormously to raising the productivity of their host countries.
The migrant influx has led to a debate in destination countries over the issue of whether migrants
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are assets or
liabilities to national development. Anti-immigrant groups and nationalists argue that governments must
control legal immigration and put a stop to illegal entry of foreigners. Many of these anti-immigrant
groups are gaining influence through political leaders who share their beliefs. Examples include US
President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Theresa May, who have been reversing the existing
pro-immigration and refugee-sympathetic policies of their states. Most recently, Trump attempted
to ban travel into the United States of people from majority-Muslim
countries, even those with proper documentation. He also continues to speak about his election promise
of building a
wall between the United States and Mexico.
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The wisdom of these government actions has been consistently belied by the data. A 2011 Harvard
Business School survey on the impact of immigration concluded that the "likelihood and magnitude of
adverse labor market effects for native from immigration are substantially weaker than often
perceived." The fiscal impact of immigration on social welfare was noted to be "very small."
Furthermore, the 2013 report on government welfare spending by Organization for Economic Co-
operation and Development (OECD) clearly shows that native-born citizens still receive higher
support compared to immigrants.
The massive inflow of refugees from Syria and Iraq has raised alarm bells once again, but has not
proved to be as
damaging as expected. The International Monetary Fund predicted that the flow of refugees fleeing
the war in Syria and Iraq would actually grow Europe's GDP, albeit "modestly." In Germany, the
inflow of refugees from the Middle East has not affected social welfare programs, and had very
little impact on wages and employment. In fact, they have brought much-needed labor to the
economy instead.
Benefits and Detriments for the Sending Countries
Even if 90 percent of the value generated by migrant workers remains in their host countries, they
have sent billions back to their home countries (in 2014, their remittances totaled $580
billion).164 In 2014, India held the highest
recorded remittance ($70 billion), followed by China ($62 billion), the Philippines ($28 billion), and Mexico
($25 billion).
These remittances make significant contributions to the development of small- and medium-term
industries that help
generate jobs.166 Remittances likewise change the economic and social standing of migrants, as shown
by new or renovated homes and their relatives' access to new consumer goods. The purchasing
power of a migrant's family doubles and makes it possible for children to start or continue their
schooling.
Yet, there remain serious concerns about the economic sustainability of those reliant on migrant monies.
The Asian
Development Bank (ADB) observes that in countries like the Philippines, remittances "do not have a.
significant
influence on other key items of consumption or investment such as spending on education and
health care."
Remittances, therefore, may help in lifting "households out of poverty.. .but not in rebalancing growth,
"especially in
the long run.
More importantly, global migration is "siphoning... qualified personnel, [and] removing dynamic young
workers. This
process has often been referred to as "brain drain." According again to the McKinsey Global Institute,
countries in
sub-Saharan Africa and Asia have lost one-third of their college graduates. Sixty percent of those
who moved to OECD destinations were college graduates, compared to just 9 percent of the overall
population in the country. Fifty-
two percent of Filipinos who leave for work in the developed world have tertiary education, which is more
than double
the 23 percent of the overall Filipino population. Furthermore, the loss of professionals in certain key
roles, such as
doctors, has been detrimental to the migrants' home countries. In 2006, some 15 percent of
locally trained doctors from 21 sub-Saharan African countries had emigrated to the United States
or Canada; the losses were particularly steep in Liberia (where 43 percent of doctors left), Ghana
(30 percent), and Uganda (20 percent).
Governments are aware of this long-term handicap, but have no choice but to continue promoting
migrant work as
part of state policy because of the remittances' impact on GDP. They are equally "concerned with
generating jobs for an under-utilized workforce and in getting the maximum possible inflow of
worker remittances." Governments are thus actively involved in the recruitment and deployment of
works, some of them setting up special departments like the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and
Training in Bangladesh; •the Office of the Protector of Emigrants within the Indian Labor Ministry;
and the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA). The sustainability of migrant- dependent
economies will partially depend on the strength of these institutions.
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OFWs in Hong Kong for their weekly picnic
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The Problem of Human Trafficking
On top of the issue of brain drain, sending states must likewise protect migrant workers. The United
States Federal Bureau of Investigation lists human trafficking as the third largest criminal activity
worldwide.1?2 In 2012, the
International Labour Organization (ILO) identified 21 million men, women, and children as victims of "forced
labor," an appalling three out every 1,000 persons worldwide. Ninety percent of the victims (18.7
million) are exploited by
private enterprises and entrepreneurs; 22 percent (4.5 million) are sexually abused; and 68 percent
(14.2 million)
work under compulsion in agricultural, manufacturing, infrastructure, and domestic activities.173
Human trafficking
has been very profitable, earning syndicates, smugglers, and corrupt state officials profits of as high as
$150 billion a
year in 2014. Governments, the private sector, and civil society groups have worked together to
combat human trafficking, yet the results remain uneven.
A campaign sign against human trafficking Integration
A final issue relates to how migrants interact with their new home countries. They may contribute
significantly to a host nation's GDP, but their access to housing, health care, and education is
not easy. There is, of course, considerable variation in the economic integration of migrants. Migrants
from China, India, and Western Europe often have more success, while those from the Middle East,
North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa face greater challenges in securing jobs. In the United States
and Singapore, there are blue-collar as well as white-collar Filipino workers (doctors, engineers, even
corporate executives), and it is the professional, white-collar workers that have oftentimes been easier
to integrate.
Democratic states assimilate immigrants and their children by granting them citizenship and the rights
that go with it
(especially public education). However, without a solid support from their citizens, switching citizenship
may just be a formality. Linguistic difficulties, customs from the "old country," and, of late, differing
religions may create cleavages between migrants and citizens of receiving countries, particularly in
the West. The latter accuse migrants of bringing in the culture from their home countries and
amplifying differences in linguistic and ethnic customs. Crucially, the lack of integration gives
xenophobic and anti-immigrant groups more ammunition to argue that these "new citizens are
often not nationals (in the sense of sharing the dominant
Migrants unwittingly reinforce the tension by "keeping among themselves." The first-time migrant's
anxiety at coming into a new and often "strange" place is mitigated by "local networks of fellow
citizens" that serve as the migrant's safety net from the dislocation of uprooting oneself. For instance,
the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association of California provides initial support for new Chinese
migrants, guiding them in finding work or in setting up their small businesses (restaurants and
laundromats) in the state and elsewhere.180 The drawback of these networks is that instead of
facilitating integration, they exacerbate differences and discrimination.
Governments and private businesses have made policy changes to address integration problems, like
using multiple languages in state documents (in the case of the United States, Spanish and
English). Training programs complemented with counseling have also helped migrant integration in
Hamburg, Germany, while retail merchants in Barcelona have brought in migrant shopkeepers to break
down language barriers while introducing Chinese culture to citizens. Whether these initiatives will
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succeed or not remains an open question.
Conclusion
Global migration entails the globalization of people. And like the broader globalization process, it is
uneven. Some migrants experience their movement as a liberating process. A highly educated
professional may find moving to another country financially rewarding. At the other end, a victim of
sex trafficking may view the process of migration as dislocating and disempowering.
Like globalization, moreover, migration produces different and often contradictory responses. On the one
hand, many richer states know that migrant labor will be beneficial for their economies. With their
aging populations, Japan and
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Germany will need workers from demographically young countries like the Philippines.
Similarly, as working populations in countries like the United States move to more skilled careers, their
economies will require migrants to work jobs that their local workers are beginning to reject. And yet,
despite these benefits, developed countries continue to excessively limit and restrict migrant
labor. They do so for numerous factors already mentioned. Some want to preserve what they
perceive as local culture by shielding it from newcomers. Other states use migrants as scapegoats,
blaming them for economic woes that are, in reality, caused by government policy and not by foreigners.
Yet, despite these various contradictions, it is clear that different forms of global interdependence
will ensure that global migration will continue to be one of the major issues in the contemporary
world. Countries whose economies have become entirely dependent on globalization and rely on
foreign labor to continue growing (e.g., Singapore, Saudi Arabia, and even protectionist Japan) will
actively court foreign workers. Likewise, countries like the Philippines with an abundance of labor and a
need for remittances will continue to send these workers.
Hence, it is inevitable that countries will have to open up again to prevent their economies from
stagnating or even collapsing. The various responses to these movements—xenophobia and
extreme nationalism in the receiving countries; dependency in the sending countries—will continue
to be pressing issues.
LEARNING ACTIVITY
Learning Activity: OFW
Survey
Do a survey in your neighborhood and ask families about their relatives (parents, children, uncles,
aunts, cousins, etc.) via call, messenger or any platforms of social media who had migrated or
worked abroad. List down who they are, where they migrated or are working, and for how long they
have been there.
Your goal is to map your neighborhood and determine how much of the families there are reliant
on relatives living and/or working abroad. After finishing your census, do a second survey to
determine how different homes are supported by immigrants/ migrant workers. Check the architecture
of the homes, the way your neighbors dress, their vehicles, etc. At least 2 OFWs.
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:
a. What has changed in our communities because of global migration?
b. How are people coping with the visit or return of the immigrants?
c. What changed among the immigrants/overseas workers when they went back (or visited) home?
50 points
ASSESSMENT
Answer the following questions. (10 points each)
1. Why are migrants mostly beneficial for receiving countries?
2. What are the benefits and detriments of economies dependent on migrant remittances?
3. Why is migrant integration a challenging issue for states?
4. How do migrants prompt xenophobia and racism in receiving countries?
RUBRICS
Criteria 10 8 5 1
Exceeds Expectation Meets expectation Needs improvement Inadequate
Quality of Piece was written in Piece was written in Piece had little style Piece had no style or
Writing an extraordinary an interesting style or voice voice
style and voice and voice
Gives some new Gives no new
Very informative Somewhat informative information but information and very
and well- and organized poorly organized poorly organized
organized
Grammar, Virtually no Few spelling and A number of So many spelling,
Usage & spelling, punctuation errors, spelling, punctuation and
Mechanics punctuation or minor grammatical punctuation or grammatical errors
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grammatical errors grammatical that
errors errors it interferes with the
meaning
REFERENCE
Claudio, L.E., & Abinales, P.N. (2018). The Contemporary World. C&E Publishing, Inc. Quezon City
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