Meera Warrier

Development Research Centre on Migration, Globalisation

and Poverty

University of Sussex

m.warrier@sussex.ac.uk

Presentation Outline

• Overview• Key Issues• Migration Flows Over History• Perceptions of Labour Migration• Skilled Migration• Student Migration• Emerging Landscapes

Overview

• 200 mn international migrants, 3% of world population

• 60% in worlds most developed countries

• Principle forces driving migration– development, demography and democracy (GCIM)

Key Issues

• Working within the paradigm of the nation state

• Outer Face: Labour Needs/ Humanitarian Considerations/Development

• Internal Face: Marrying various interests – citizens/trade unions/private enterprises/individuals

Note: Internal and External not exclusive of each other

Major Migration Flows Over History

• 1500-1800 mercantile period

• 1800-1925 industrial period

• 1925-1950s – limited migration

• 1950s onwards – post industrial migration

1500-1850: The Mercantile Period

1850-1925The Industrial Period

1950s Onwards:Post-Industrial Migration

Perceptions of Labour Migration

• Concerns with immigration mainly related to permanent settlement and its consequences for integration and race relations

• Little on the internationalisation of education and the movements of students

• Little on forms of immigrant entrepreneurship

Skilled Migration

• Global integration of the highly skilled – pool of substitutable labour with English as lingua franca, common skills, internationalised values and professional networks that cut across national borders

Student Migration

• Internationalisation of higher education. Numbers substantial and increasing

• Major business today and multi-million dollar industry – both directly through fees received and indirectly through establishment of links with other countries

• Studies on economics of labour – education positively influences the probability and speed of absorption in the labour market

Emerging Landscapes

• Labour shortages

• Development imperatives

• Demographic pressures

• Changes in policy

Dependency Ratios

Dependency ratios

40

50

60

70

80

Over

60s

pop

. divi

ded

by w

orkin

g ag

e po

p.

Western Europe

Canada

Australia

UK

USA

Changes in Policy

• Shift in discourse from humanitarian towards demand for skills

• Shift to increasing highly skilled migration, and wariness of semi-unskilled migration

• Shift from permanent to temporary immigration policies