Migration and Development

• There exists a close connection between migration and its impact on development.

Migration and Development

• Migration is a key factor to stable social, economic development
• Migration may stem from inequalities in development levels, influencing global migrant flow directions and scales.
• Low development levels can trigger migration, while migration can drive increased development.
• Remittances are transfers from foreign workers to individuals in their home countries, rivaling international aid to developing nations.
• Migrant remittances form a important part of international capital flows, especially for labor-exporting countries.
• Migrant remittances, viewed as private funds from migrants to family, statistically show an element of international migration linked to development.
• Enhancements to the financial frameworks for international money transfers are improving accuracy, but the real figures likely exceed official data.

Human Development Index (HDI)

• The Human Development Index (HDI) ranks nations by 'human development', from 0 (awful) to 1 (perfect).
• HDI calculation includes income, knowledge, and longevity.
• Income is gauged using GDP per capita.
• Knowledge is measured by adult literacy rates and school attendance percentages.
• Longevity is measured by life expectancy at birth.

Impact of Global Migration on Host Nation Stability and Growth

• Global migration boosts stability through decrease in dependency ratio
• An ageing population increases working-age people, income taxes, GDP, and investment in infrastructure.
• Global migration stimulates growth by bridging skills shortages, boosting productivity as migrants work jobs natives do not.
• Migrants contribute diverse skill sets and flexibility.
• Increase in workers boosts low-skill labor, while prompting locals to seek higher qualifications.
• Migrants turn into active consumers, fueling local economies through rent, shopping, and recreation.
• Money continuously circulates in the local economy and multiplies in value, enhancing the multiplier effect.
• Increased income tax revenue from migrants elevates a country's total GDP and boosts government spending on education, law, and infrastructure.
• Youthful migrant workers lead to more balanced age structures and increased working-age populations, reducing dependency ratios.
• Working migrants increase the GDP and tax base while stimulating local economies and new markets.
• Filling labor market gaps and shortages, remittances boost household income, consumption, and local investment, spurring local multiplier effects in migrants' origin countries.

Stability Factors

• Foreign exchange from migrants helps stabilize recipient economies.
• Returning migrants bring new ideas/values such as democracy for peace and conflict resolution.
• Youthful migrant populations balance age structures in aging populations, contribute to population growth.

Development Aspects

• Global migration spreads ideas, info, values, including social remittances like family size, education, marriage, and values like democracy, from one country to another.
• Skills and knowledge acquired by migrants returning home benefit their countries.
• Migrant networks facilitate flows of skills, financial resources, values and ideas through their diaspora links.
• UN 'migration and development' projects engage families, local authorities, plus public/private service providers for effective grassroots development.

Inequalities of International Migration

• Origin countries lose young, vibrant labor force elements, causing economic decline at all scales.
• There's a 'brain drain' loss of educated people and human resources from origin countries.
• Demographic shifts from migration impact birth rates in origin (decline) and destination (growth) countries.
• Economic inequality is further compounded by migrant communities, creating rifts of class within origin countries.

Conflicts

• Social conflict can arise between host communities and ‘newcomers’ due to cultural or ethnic differences.
• Immigrant populations concentrated inspecific areas may pressure education, health, housing in the host country
• International borders become conflict zones for authorities, as well as traffickers, and illegal migrants.

Injustices

• Migrants face human rights violations include forced labor, exploitation (women, children), human trafficking.
• Asylum seekers may endure detention, work bans, meagre support for basics during application processes.
• Refugees face the plight of inadequate shelter, food, water, medicines, safety, plus potential return to dangerous origin countries.

Fortress Europe

• A border was erected which successfully deterred ‘illegal crossings' at the border between greece and turkey
• Between august 2013 and jan 2014, 1,710 people were arrested at the border. In the previous six-month period, this number was 35,258
• Before august 2013, 6000 people were arrested. This number fell to 45 next january after the wall
• During the same period in 2014, the number of arrivals by sea to greece increased by 214% compared to the prev year
• Humanitarian organizations such as Doctors without Borders have issued several reports saying that barriers and closures have not stopped movement. They have simply rerouted people, often through riskier means and with reduced humanitarian protection
• The italian coastguard said it rescued 1,482 migrants off the libyan coast in just two days in march this year.

The Jungle- Calais

• Calais is a tent community housing around 7,307 migrants, with nearly 50 new arrivals daily.
• Increased border security between Turkey, the EU, and authorities attempted dissuasion techniques that failed.
• There are now 761 minors living in the camp, with 80% unaccompanied by adults. The youngest child is 4 months old, and the youngest unaccompanied is 8 years old
• Unaccompanied children have lived in the Calais jungle for an average of 5.4 months
• 36% of migrants are Afghan, and 32% are Sudanese
• Only 25% of adults and 30% of minors have been moved to the promised government accomodation – the rest are in tents or temporary placements

Forced Labor Definition and Indicators

• Forced labor definition (ILO): work done under threat of penalty and any form of coercion.
• Contains eleven indicators: abuse of vulnerabilities (economic, emotional, social), deception, movement restrictions, isolation, violence (physical/sexual), intimidation, document retention, wage withholding, debt bondage, abusive conditions, overtime.

Forced Labor and Exploitation

• Forced labor commonly impacts asylum seekers or other migrants who are not documented
• Severe labor abuse is common for forced migrants in the UK, as some employers pressure asylum seekers to work illegally by imposing tough working conditions.
• Undocumented workers are often underpaid in comparison to others with regular status employment

Human Traffickers

• 96000 unaccompanied children sought asylum in Europe in 2015, which accounts for 20% of total child refugees.
• 10000+ unaccompanied kids vanish from authorities' radar
• Organized crime groups traffic kids for their ease of recruitment/replacement; easy discretion and control over victims.
• EU law mandates 30+ days of care (accommodation, medical, legal) for trafficking victims.
• Ongoing migration crisis worsens trafficking; children at risk of being doubly victimized/treated as perpetrators.

Migration and Interdependence

• Migrant corridors create interdependence between countries.
• Case Studies focus on one EDC to illustrate:
  • Immigration/emigration patterns
  • Changes in immigration/emigration over time
  • Interdependence with countries
  • Impact on EDC's economy

Brazil (EDC Case Study)

• Brazil, an EDC Case Study, displays the influence of migration on development, stability, equality.
• The Socioeconomic facts show it ranks as the 9th largest economy (2022) with GDP per capita increasing from $4874 (2007) to $9000 (2023).
• Brazil has historically had an immigrant presence since its founding in 1500 by Portuguese colonists.
• Net migration loss indicates immigration slowing in fifteen years though.
• Increased migration occurs between Brazil, neighboring nations, though the USA contains Brazil's largest population.
• Emigration trends show (2000) from 0.98 million and (2013) 1.77 million residents abroad
• There is a decline in low-skilled economic migrants leaving for the USA
• A total of 243,193 migrants registering in Brazil (2022), with Venezuelans topping the list at 144,576 registrations .
• 65% of Rio's growth for the past 150 years has accounted for migration.

Migrant Origins and Patterns

• Initially, most immigrants came from Portugal exclusively until the 1800s
• Later, Middle East migrants (Syria, Lebanon) came seeking political/economic stability.
• Large numbers fled from Germany and Japan to Rio in the 20th century to fill a coffee plantation labor shortage.
• Brazil now attracts skilled migrants from USA/UK (21st century), as well as job seekers from South Korea, the Philippines, and China.

Motivations for Migration in Rio

• Internal migrants from rural Brazil constitute for most of the shift to Rio nowadays,
• 2/3 of the population shows internal migration in Rio
• Due to this internal shift, Rio demonstrates a racially mixed population with roughly 55% of European decent, 31% of African decent, and 14% of indigenous decent
• Rio's population demonstrates that there is an overall younger population by a 2010 US survey.
• Young migrants causes a increase in low deaths and increase in birth and a healthier and reduction in infant mortality

US Border Policies

• USA is trying to prevent all refugee travels
• They have built many barriers which strand thousands of people at the borders
• Immigration has been declared a national emergency
• They are trying to redefine birthright citizenship
• Deportation – court challenges
• Fortifying border has been implemented and 4000 troops patrol the borders
• There is a halted process of asylum
• The ‘remain in mexico’ policy has been reinstated
• Migrant appointments are being cancelled
• A law has been removed that prevented ICE raids in schools, churches, and hospitaks
• Tent city built on border called Cuidad Suarez. This includes:
  • 1800 beds
  • 8 others
  • 5 million mexicans
  • Mexico embraces you – beds, shelter
  • Mass over-population

USA and Global Influence on Migration

• The USA has a strong influence on global migration.
• Estimates of 51 million immigrants lived in the USA (13.6% of the total population) in 2024.
• In 2013, there were 41.3 million, 15.6% of total population.
• The USA has several pull factors that immigrants seek.
• Employments opportunties are available for high to low skilled workers
• There is a higher demand for lower-skilled labour, with almost 7 million of the people employed in the construction and manufacturing sectors in the USA being immigrants.
• 140,00 visas are available for highly skilled workers.
• Positive immigration policies allow for green cards to be obtained

Patterns of Immigration and Emigration

• There were approximately 44.7 living in the USA as immigrants in 2018.
• Mexico was that largest contributor with over 25%
• India contributed for up to 6%
• In 2018, approximately 38.5 million mexicans lived in the USA and 738,000 americans lived in mexico

Immigration Visa Types (USA)

• Family-based immigration visas have two forms:
  • Immediate relative: close family of U.S. citizen, unlimited number of immigrants per year and limited types of U.S. citizens
  • Family preference: distant family with U.S. citizen, limited immigrants each year, and stricter relationship types
• Employment-based visas are grouped into categories of preference:
  • First: extraordinary ability, professor, and outstanding researcher as well as multinational managers of other kinds of businesses
  • Second: professionals and degrees as well as abilities
  • Third: unskilled, skilled, and other kinds of workers.
  • Fourth preference: religion, Panama canal, ministers, company workers.
• Diversity Visa: Visas are awarded for countries with historically low immigration rates to increase cultural diversity
• S is the scale of interdependence
• T represents the time-frame needed for change

Interdependence

• Interdependence demonstrates the mutually beneficial relationship that countries rely on each other to fill in for each other
• agriculture, construction, and the US economy is more efficient as there is more skilled labor
• Mexicans may make much more the wages than in the US, and remittances can often go up to 6 times higher.
  • The border countries between the US an dexicos also increased trade
  • USA is the biggest importer of Mexican goods , and cars USA is the biggest importer of cars and car parts made in Mexico
• US financiers have invested heavily in Mexican aerospace industry, allowing this sector of the economy to grow in Mexico

US and Mexico Coordination

• Mexico and the US has starting to increase coordination in common sectors, and this included:
  • Drug tracking
• The merida initiative shows the task of combating drug trafficking and money laundering with US and mexico
• US and mexico are also cooperating between the usage of water across crossing borders.

Obama DACA Program

• Obama-era programme –
  • Deferred action fo Childhood arrivals or DACA
  • Allowed Immigrants to be accepted to the USA

Challenges of the Border

• Approximately 10.9% of Illegal immigrants reside in the USA, and about 50% of them are from mexico
• The costs for border security has increased
• Both Legal and Illegal immigrants often concentrate in urban areas
• High concentrations in southern california, new york, miami, and in areas close to the border e.g. texas
• Immigrants may move to areas where there are migrant populations with shared language/culture that are welcoming
• They provide economic benefits by paying taxes which can be used by the government to fund services

Migration in Laos PDR

• Immigration in Laos PDR has a limited influence restricted ability to change within the global migration system
• Landlocked LIDC of 7.69 million or Laos, is located in southeast asia, with a GDP per capita of $2,599
• 73% are employed under agriculture – primary sector
  • Manufacturing is often added with a high amount of products and exports while the flour sector becomes low.
  • High net migration loss accounts for low amounts of people.

Migration Data

• There accounts for Negative net migration – more people leaving than arriving
• 2015 = migrants were 0.327% of Laos population
• 2023 = -10,303 (but in 2011 it was -30,000)
• In 2013, 1.29 million laos-born emigrants lived abroad, and only 20000 foreign-born immigrants, mainly Vietnamese, lived in Laos
  • The surrounding countries for Laos demonstrates Laos-thailand migration corridor dominated numerically by the outward flow of unskilled Laotians to work in Thailand.
• Their contribution to the Thai economy is in construction, agriculture, fisheries, and factory work
  • The migrants send remittances for assist with Lao's development.
• The completed The latest Friendship Bridge accounts for communication and trade for Laos and thailand, and Laos' s access to the sea.

Economic Reasons for Migrating Thailand: -Low of educational opportunities suited unskilled

• The average daily wage is more lucrative in Thailand, as it is approximately 4x
• Thai culture and language also makes it easier for laos migrant to access employment better employment opportunities"

Migration policies - Laos

• Government programs such as the national plan for human trafficking, aims to protect victims by providing shelter, and by tracking trafficking network to keep borders officials more secure."
• The bilateral relation is important to refugees that return back to their families
• Political stability inprove the borders - Laos PDR is set to allow vietman to buy more wind power"