Lesson Two International Migration of Labour(国际经贸高级英语复旦大学)解读

Lesson Two International Migration of Labour
for more permanent workers, migrant labour in many countries is treated as a temporary workforce. This has created friction and hardship. The movement of migrant workers involves human beings, and its social aspects have understandably made it a sensitive and visible issue. At present there are about 20 million migrant workers in the world, about 12 million of them from developing countries. An estimated 6 million are in the United States, most of them coming from Mexico -- many illegally. Western Europe's share went up from about 2 million in the early 1960s to 6 million in the 1970s but fell by one million with the post-1973 recession. More than a million of the migrant workers in Europe come from developing countries, mainly Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia,
Lesson Two International Migration of Labour
United States, Canada and Britain, others to the rest Western Europe, Australia and the Middle East. Like migration in general, this kind of movement has had a long history-dating back at least as far as the drain of Greek brains to Alexandria around 300 BC. But never before has it been so extensive, nor based so largely on economic incentives. The brain drain has occurred in part because many students and professionals trained in developed countries have chosen not to return home. Migration has given benefits to all parties. The sending countries have gained from the jobs provided to their nationals and often from the training and skills acquired by workers who later return. They have also benefited from the money sent back by migrants, currently about $7 billion annually from Western Europe
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Lesson Two International Migration of Labour
and about $7 billion from the Middle East. These remittances have become a big foreign exchange earner for many developing countries where they sometimes match or surpass export earnings from commodities and manufactures. Receiving countries have also derived many benefits from migrant labour which has contributed to their domestic product, made their manufacturing industries more competitive and held down costs in construction industries and service sectors. Skilled migrants have been particularly valuable as they have saved their host countries substantial costs in education and training. On the other hand, the status of migrant workers is often unsatisfactory and precarious. And while countries of immigration have been able to control migrant
Lesson Two International Migration of Labour
has become an important question. In Western Europe, the situation of migrant workers and their families and their housing, schooling, and political status have attracted much public attention and caused lively debate. Uncertainties surround the future pattern and permanence of migration in the Middle East. The apartheid system in South Africa, which is a source of outrage in itself, is inflicted on workers who migrate there from neighbouring countries. A second and very different stream of migration is the "brain drain". In the early 1960s and 1970s well over 400,000 physicians and surgeons, engineers, scientists and other skilled people have moved from developing countries to more developed ones. The principal sending countries have been India, Pakistan, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. Most of the migrants have gone to the
Lesson Two International Migration of Labour
TEXT
The movement of labour across national boundaries has assumed very large proportions in the last decade. The large-scale migration of unskilled and semi-skilled labour, and of professional manpower, which has taken place in the last two decades has been a reflection of imbalances in the income and employment opportunities and, to some extent, of constraints on the international flow of capital and trade. The rich countries which have imported workers have controlled the number and character of the manpower and the duration of its stay; most of the movement has been temporary. Much of the demand has been structural, coming from industries which cannot keep or attract national workers. And although there has been a demand
Lesson Two International Migration of Labour
flows to suit their needs, countries of emigration have been buffeted by fluctuations in the demand for migrant labour and in remittances, and they have lost skilled and semi-skilled manpower which they badly need. National and international migration policies should protect and promote the interests of the migrant workers themselves, as well as those of their home and host countries. Receiving countries differ widely in their treatment of migrants. Some admit them to citizenship in due course and allow them in the meantime some of the rights that go with it. Many others treat them as temporary workers, ineligible for many social security benefits and economic and political rights. Within the European Community, workers from other member countries enjoy the same rights as domestic workers. Some tending countries, for their part, only allow their citizens to migrate