“Migration reduces disparities in wealth and development”
Discuss this statement
Migration is defined as the movement of people to a new area or country in order to find job opportunities and/or better living conditions. It can occur on a variety of scales ranging from domestic to international. When migration is within a country we refer to it as domestic.
International migration occurs between countries or even continents. In most cases domestic migration and international migration reduce disparities in wealth and development over an extended period of time. In certain situations, however, migration does not lead to a reduction of these disparities.
Disparities in wealth and development can be seen as the gaps between the wealthy and the poor. The level of wealth and development of countries can be measured in GDP (Gross Domestic Product) per capita health care, education services, social stability and wellbeing.
In the following, first, the effects of domestic migration i.e. from rural to urban areas within a country will be analyzed. In the second part, disparities and in wealth and development due to international migration between countries will be evaluated.
In domestic migrations the people move from poor rural areas to the urban areas that offer opportunities for better work. The migrants that move from rural to urban areas send remittances back home (often to older people).
The money will be spent in the rural environment, which helps stimulate the economy there, thus over time creating jobs as well. An example of domestic migration can be seen in Germany. Many Eastern Germans moved to the West since the 1990’s. Today, while the disparity within Germany has not disappeared, the East has greatly improved its economic and social situation.
When urban areas cannot absorb the great number of domestic migrants the migration does not reduce disparities. There are more people migrating that are looking for job opportunities than exist in the urban community. Therefore, the wages go down but there is not enough work for everyone and migrants may even end up working in the informal sector (e.g. without safety standards or other illegal activities such as drug dealing).
Migration increases the disparities between the immigrants who live in poverty and the people already l.....
The remittance payments help improving education and the standard of living for families within the country of origin. As the country of origin becomes wealthier over a long term, the migrants can return home as skilled workers and develop their home country. This of course takes time, so in the short-term it increases disparities but on a longer run it contributes to decrease disparities.
Besides Mexican migrants to the US, migrants of Eastern and Southern Europeans to Western and Northern Europe are good examples leading to a reduction of economic and social disparities.
In a few situations, international migration can also increase disparities. At a level of high qualification people migrate in smaller numbers and tend to stay in the countries of destination. In the case of so-called “brain-drain” highly qualified professionals seek better opportunities in neighboring countries.
For example, the recent economic and financial crisis of 2007 in Ireland has caused many well-educated young people to move into the UK or mainland Europe. This has caused disparities, as there are less skilled workers in the workforce at home. The very highly qualified workers then do not send any remittances back to their country of origin.
They leave behind the independent population of very young, old and poor who do not pay enough taxes but require support from the independent part of the population and the government. The strongest, healthiest and most qualified people who are most likely to leave their country for job opportunities in their destinations often leave the dependent population within their home country.
This increases the percentage of the weaker population that cannot take care of themselves in the country of origin. Women are left alone to raise the children and the ageing communities are .....
Yet there has been a fluctuation between about 46’000 to 27’000 German migrants per year to Switzerland in the past five years. This has not changed the wealth of Germany; Germany has become wealthier over the past years with a very higher Human Development Index and an increase of 3 in the change of its rank.
That is why migrants are going back to Germany. There are more and more skilled returners leaving Switzerland going back to Germany. In this case flow of migrants therefore does not affect the wealth of the country of origin.
The negative aspect behind international migration for the country of origin is that the community is growing increasingly dependent on money made elsewhere. There are hundreds of illegal immigrants from Mexico to the US that died in the heat of the desert or from Africa that drowned in the sea.
The fact that more people are looking for job opportunities creates a higher job competition in the labor force. Therefore the wages go down. The country of destination then ends up with immigrants doing jobs that the residential people would not want to do anymore.
Migration increases the disparities between the immigrants and the local people. Due to the increasing concerns over related to the availability of jobs, tensions rise between immigrants and other ethnic groups within the country of destination.
In conclusion, as long as there are disparities in wealth and development between regions or countries, there will always be movements of people between them. Individuals seek to improve their living conditions. Migration is only one factor that influences the disparities between wealth i.....
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