Ebook The global economic crisis and migrant workers: Impact and response
The global financial and economic crisis has hit hard the world of work. According to the ILO’s 2009 Global Employment Trends report (GET) there could be a dramatic increase in the number of people joining the ranks of the unemployed, working poor and those in vulnerable employment. Depending on the timeliness and effectiveness of recovery efforts, the GET envisages an increase in global unemployment in 2009 compared to 2007 by a range of 18 million to 30 million workers, and more than 50 million if the situation continues to deteriorate.This bleak labour market situation affects certain groups disproportionately notably women, migrant workers and youth.
The objective of this paper is to analyse the impact of the global financial and economic crisis on international migrant workers. “Workers employed in countries other than their own”, in words of the ILO Constitution, are especially vulnerable to economic and labour market turbulences. International labour law provides for equality of opportunity and non discrimination at work for all workers, including migrant workers. However, in the international state system, citizenship confers exclusive rights to nationals of each State. Deprived of these rights and alien to different extents to societies and cultures in their countries of employment, migrant workers are at a disadvantage.
The actual and potential impact on migrant workers can be assessed in terms of four issue areas. First are the employment and migration opportunities available to migrant workers, including changes in demand for migrant labour and possible return to countries of origin. Second is the volume of financial remittances sent by migrant workers to their families. Remittances are the most tangible and evident benefit of labour migration for workers and their countries of origin. The third set of issues covers discrimination and xenophobia to which migrant workers may be subjected, their conditions of work and those under which their employment may be terminated. Fourth are the policies that both countries of destination and origin have put in place to deal with the impact of the crisis.
The linkages between the above four sets of issues are evident. Consequences observed in each issue area reinforce each other. Reduced overall demand for labour is bound to affect employment and migration opportunities. This in turn has repercussions on migrant workers’ earnings and the remittances they send home. But reduced overall demand for labour may also lead to resentment and possible discrimination and xenophobia against migrant workers. Countries of destination may put in place policies primarily aimed at preserving available jobs for national workers. Policies of countries of origin may seek to protect their workers and provide them with alternative employment opportunities at home.
Economic performance and labour market situations are the major determinants of the impact of the global crisis on migrant workers. But there are other subsidiary factors that affect the overall impact. The most important is the situation in sectors which employ migrant workers predominantly. A combined destination country and sectoral approach is therefore useful in analyzing the impact of the crisis on the employment and migration opportunities available for migrant workers. In other words, the assumption in the paper that the impact will be different according to regions and countries where migrant workers are employed as well as to their sectors of employment. The different impact is because regional and national economies have not slowed down to the same extent, and some may have not slowed down at all, at least up to now. Additionally, the degree of slowdown has markedly differed between sectors, with some registering growth within a general context of contraction. Migrant workers are represented in varying degrees in the concerned sectors in different countries. This increases the complexity of the impact, and should caution against blanket or sweeping generalizations. The analytical framework for assessing the impact of the crisis sketched out here will be elaborated upon in the following sections. Comments will be made on other subsidiary factors pertaining to each issue area.
In the light of the above considerations, this paper starts by reviewing the impact of the crisis on the employment and migration opportunities of migrant workers in selected countries in major regions of destination. The resulting consequences for countries of origin will also be addressed. It will examine the overall impact and also undertake a sectoral analysis. The next two sections will focus on the impact in terms of migrant workers’ remittances to countries of origin and of discrimination, xenophobia and conditions of work. A review of the differential impact of the crisis from a gender perspective will then be undertaken. In the final section policies adopted by countries of destination and origin to deal with the impact of the crisis will be examined. The conclusions will include suggested policy measures to protect migrant workers consistent with the interests of both countries of origin and destination.
The paper does not mean to be exhaustive given the lack of systematic and solid data on the issues reviewed. In using the available information, the objective is to validate its analytical approach. The ILO hopes that this approach will be useful in refining the analysis when more and better data become available. It is meant as a contribution to the valuable efforts undertaken by a number of researchers, institutions and international organizations to analyze the consequences of the crisis on labour migration. The ultimate objective of the paper is for its assessment to prove useful for ILO constituents in drawing up policy responses to the impact of the global crisis on migrant workers.
The paper draws upon a variety of sources: official government sources, ILO sources, including both headquarters and field office material, press and media reports, reports and papers of other agencies, and academic research.
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
Executive Summary
1. Introduction
2. Economic performance, employment and migration opportunities
- 2.1 The Developed Economies and the European Union (EU)
2.2 Central and Eastern Europe (non-EU) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
2.3 Sub-Saharan Africa
2.4 The Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
2.5 East Asia
2.6 South-East Asia
2.7 South Asia
2.8 Latin America and the Caribbean
3. Remittances of migrant workers
4. Cases of discrimination, violence and xenophobia against migrant workers
5. The crisis in a gender perspective
6. Policies of countries of destination
7. Policies of countries of origin
8. Conclusions and suggested policy measures
Bibliography
Download
PDF Ebook The global economic crisis and migrant workers: Impact and response
Posted in :
