Economic Reasons for Migrating

Most people migrate for economic reasons. People often emigrate from places that have few job opportunities and immigrate to places where jobs seem to be available. Because of economic restructuring, job prospects often vary from one country to another and within regions of the same country.

Economic Migration: Developing Countries

People unable to migrate permanently to a new country for employment opportunities may be allowed to migrate temporarily. Examples of temporary work are found in Asia (discussed here) and in Europe (discussed later in this chapter). Asia is both a major source and a major destination for migrants in search of work.

Migration To and From India, 2017

Countries with at least 500,000 migrants in 2017.

South and East Asia

The world’s largest sources of migrants in search of work emigrate from South and East Asia. More than 2 million people annually emigrate from India, Bangladesh, China, and Pakistan. An estimated 50 million Chinese and 27 million Indians live in other countries. The United States is a leading receiving country, although most have emigrated to other countries in Asia. The largest numbers of Chinese emigrants are in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Myanmar as well as the United States. Chinese people comprise one-half of the population of Singapore, one-fourth of Malaysia, and one-sixth of Thailand. The largest numbers of Indian emigrants are in Nepal, Myanmar, and Malaysia as well as the United States.

Southwest Asia

The wealthy oil-producing countries of Southwest Asia have been major destinations for people from the South Asian countries of India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan as well as the Philippines, Thailand, and other countries in Southeast Asia. In addition, citizens of poorer countries in Southwest Asia have emigrated to the region’s wealthier countries. Immigrants comprise 84 percent of the population of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), 74 percent of Qatar, 60 percent of Kuwait, and 55 percent of Bahrain. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have the largest numbers of immigrants in the region.

Immigrants To Saudi Arabia From India

Working conditions for immigrants have been considered poor in some of these countries. The Philippine government determined in 2011 that only two countries in Southwest Asia—Israel and Oman—were “safe” for their Filipino migrants, and the others lacked adequate protection for workers’ rights. For their part, oil-producing countries fear that the increasing numbers of immigrants will spark political unrest and abandonment of traditional Islamic customs.

Economic Migration: Developed Countries

The United States and Canada have been especially prominent destinations for economic migrants. Many European immigrants to North America in the nineteenth century truly expected to find streets paved with gold. While not literally so gilded, the United States and Canada did offer Europeans prospects for economic advancement. This same perception of economic plenty now lures people to the United States and Canada from Latin America and Asia.

The relative attractiveness of a region can shift with economic change. Ireland was a place of net out-migration through most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Dire economic conditions produced net out-migration in excess of 200,000 a year during the 1850s. The pattern reversed during the 1990s, as economic prosperity made Ireland a destination for immigrants, especially from Eastern Europe. The collapse of Ireland’s economy as part of the severe global recession in 2008—09 brought a return to net out-migration. However, an improving economy has brought net in-migration in recent years.

Migration To and From Ireland

With few job prospects, Ireland had net out-migration until the 1990s. The severe recession of the early twenty-first century brought net out-migration back to Ireland for several years.

It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between migrants seeking economic opportunities and refugees fleeing government persecution. The distinction between economic migrants and refugees is important because the United States, Canada, and European countries treat the two groups differently. Economic migrants are generally not admitted unless they possess special skills or have a close relative already there, and even then they must compete with similar applicants from other countries. However, refugees sometimes receive special priority in admission to other countries.

Remittances

Migrants who find work in another country frequently send a portion of the wages they have earned to relatives back home. The transfer of money by workers to people in the country from which they emigrated is a remittance.

The total amount of remittances worldwide was $613 billion in 2017. The figure has been increasing by nearly 10 percent annually. Remittances are a significant portion of basic income for people in developing countries, especially following cutbacks in official assistance from foreign governments and international aid agencies.

People in India received the most remittances in 2017 ($69 billion), followed by people in China ($64 billion). Nearly one-half of the GDP of Tajikistan and one-third of Kyrgyzstan comprised remittances, primarily from emigrants living in Russia.

Flow of Remittances, 2016

The United States and Saudi Arabia are the leading sources of remittances. Corridors with at least $5 billion in remittances are named.

The cost of transferring money is high in many places. Banks and firms such as Western Union that specialize in money transfers charge high fees for the service, an average of 9 percent worldwide. To transfer $200 from the United States, it costs an average of $6 to Mexico and $12 to Haiti; it costs around $20 to transfer $200 between many African countries.

Pause & Reflect 3.3.3

How would you expect a country with high remittances to differ from a country with low remittances with regard to GDP and net migration?