In The News

Will the Crisis Reverse Global Migration?

Jayati Ghosh July 14, 2009
The current global financial crisis has led many an analyst to predict a reversal of recent growth trends in migration and a dramatic fall in remittances. While some data may confirm such predictions, it may not turn out that way in the end. As economist Jayati Ghosh argues, remittances may not decline as much due to gender issues and demographic factors and migration may be stickier than...

Economic Downturn Fuels Human Trafficking

Howard LaFranchi June 22, 2009
The global economic recession has resulted in a rise in human trafficking, according to a US State Department report. The report, issued annually and covering 2008, cites 52 countries and territories for failing to combat human trafficking, up from 40 the previous year. While the rise was caused in part by an increase in the number of countries included in the report and the higher standards by...

The Great U-Turn

Patrick Barta, Joel Millman June 18, 2009
Over the past century, individuals seeking to better their lives have seen the US as the land of opportunity. But the recent economic recession has apparently changed this view, as some immigrants are deciding to return home, for good. But it is not just the US that faces this new trend. This year, many developed countries have seen double digit year-over-year drops in immigration rates from...

Japan Pays Foreign Workers to Go Home

Hiroko Tabuchi April 24, 2009
After allowing low-skilled laborers of Japanese descent from South America to work there for years, Japan is offering them pay packages and incentives to return to their home country with only one condition: don’t come back. The policy – meant to stem rising unemployment – is related to the slump in Japanese manufacturing that has been exacerbated by the global financial crisis. Many academics...

For Russia's Migrants, Economic Despair Douses Flickers of Hope

Michael Schwirtz February 16, 2009
Russia has the second largest immigrant population the world, after the US, once inviting workers from former Soviet republics to construct luxury hotels, office buildings and homes amid a decade-long oil boom. A drop in world oil prices hit the emerging economy of Russia, striking its migrant workers particularly hard. Employers withhold wages, and the government sets quotas on jobs for...

Exporting People

Joseph Chamie January 21, 2009
In coming decades, a population rise in developing nations is projected to greatly surpass expected population declines among developed countries. Some developing nations that lack industry and ample jobs forestalled poverty by devising policies that encourage citizens to work abroad. That strategy has helped reduce poverty by bolstering domestic employment, individual skills and foreign exchange...

Huddled Classes

November 21, 2008
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development released results of a 2006 study on how migrant children fare in host countries, based on performance in language, math and science. One conclusion is that “almost everywhere immigrant students fare worse than locals,” largely because of difficulties with language, yet first-generation immigrant children tend to have more motivation than...