Sri Lankan migrant worker perceptions of workplace hazard and safety awareness: case of the manufacturing industry in Korea.

This study was carried out to understand the perspective of unskilled Sri Lankan employees in the manufacturing industry to gain a deeper understanding to learn how to utilize expatriate labor meaningfully in a host country workplace. The structural questionnaire was developed according to previous studies and international labor standards and was validated with an expert in the field. The questionnaire included three parts covering the basic information, perception of workplace hazards, and health and safety awareness of workers. Unfamiliar work practices and processes due to lack of safety and work training have become an impediment. Further investigation of this study shows that language is one of the main barriers to living and working in Korea, the findings of this study indicate where employment permit system (EPS) workers appear to be fervent and our research exhibits the unrevealed image of EPS workers in the Republic of Korea.

The role of returned migrants in England's poorest region.

"Work on the growing international phenomenon of return migration requires a base of comparative knowledge on the less conspicuous process of inter-regional return migration. Three questionnaire studies in the North-East of England identified about one-quarter of respondents as 'returned migrants' to that region. This group [is] attracted to work in new factories, but their economic status has not been markedly improved by geographic mobility."

Pakistani workers in the Middle East: volume, trends and consequences.

PIP: The migration of workers from Pakistan to the Middle East is examined. Both the positive and negative aspects of this migration for the country of origin are considered. The study is based on secondary data from published sources.^ieng

Drafting an international convention on the protection of the rights of all migrant workers and their families.

PIP: This introduction cites the genesis and history of the International Convention, briefly notes the underlying principles, and broadly states the significance of the text. The draft consists of a Preamble and 91 articles covered in 8 parts: 1) scope and definitions of migrant workers and their families, 2) fundamental human rights of all migrants, 3) additional rights for migrant workers and their families, 4) provisions applicable to particular categories of migrant workers, 5) promotion of sound, equitable and humane conditions in connection with lawful international migration of workers, 6) application of the Convention, 7) general provisions, and 8) final provisions. The importance of this convention is that for the 1st time the rights of all migrant workers, including non-documented workers, will be listed and these rights will be universal and international beyond national definitions. While fundamentally a human problem, migrant workers and their families are also a political and economic issue; the Convention is a means to facilitate and promote bilateral and multilateral relations which can further peace and security.^ieng

[The text of the Articles of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Their Families which the Working Group Provisionally Agreed during the First Reading].

PIP: This preamble documents the 91 Articles of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrants and Their Families. This defines and covers the rights of all migrant workers and their families which can be ratified by as many countries as possible. The status and fundamental rights of migrant workers and their families have not been sufficiently recognized everywhere and therefore require appropriate international protection. The 8 parts are: 1) scope and definitions, 2) fundamental human rights of all migrant workers and members of their families, 3) additional rights of migrant workers and members of their families in a regular situation, 4) provisions applicable to particular categories of migrant workers and members of their families, 5) promotion of sound, equitable and humane conditions in connection with lawful international migration of workers and their families, 6) application of the Convention, 7) general provisions, and 8) final provisions.^ieng

Entry charges on immigrants.

The author analyzes "the various arguments that can be advanced for imposing fees on immigrants to optimize...resident gains.... This article discusses cost recovery and emphasizes the costs of multiculturalism as a possible basis for fees. It then analyzes the effects of inelastic immigrant supplies in providing an optimal tariff motivation for monopsonistically restricting labor flows and deals with the second-best problem of devising an optimal fee policy to accompany a possibly suboptimal immigration quota. Next, attention turns to the role of priceable externalities. Externalities which are expensive to price because of transactions costs are analyzed. Finally, along with summarization of major conclusions, the author considers if, even in the economic interests of existing residents, entry rights should be sold."

Canada's guestworkers: some comparisons of temporary workers in Europe and North America.

PIP: The Canadian system of issuing temporary employment visas is first described, and the characteristics of the resulting guestworker labor force are considered. Comparisons are made with the situation in the United States and in Europe. The author notes that, in contrast to the situation in Western Europe, guestworkers make up only one percent of the total labor force.^ieng

French immigration policy since May 1981.

PIP: Examining the immigration policy changes undertaken by Socialist President Francois Mitterand between May 1981 and September 1982, this discussion provides backgroung information for the study of immigration policy reform in France, discusses the institutional and historical contexts within which recent policy changes have occurred, and examines the initial measures taken, the new immigration legislation adopted in October 1981, the "Exceptional Regularization" carried out in 1981-82, and various other immigration measures announced during the period under study. The discussion also identifies some of the problems which arose and are likely to arise as a result of the new policies. The French government has historically taken great pains to track the movement of both foreigners and natives within its territory. All citizens are issued a national identity card, and all foreigners residing in the country for longer than 3 months must obtain a residence permit from their local prefecture of police. The entry of some 347 million people annually into France must contribute to the problem of exercising strict control at entry. French measures to enforce immigration laws within its borders have not prevented the development of clandestine immigration nor the employment of undocumented foreigners. French law requires that all employers and employees contribute to the system of the Securite Sociale and to a variety of other government programs providing social and economic assistance to workers and their families. The year 1932 marks the date of the first French laws limiting immigration. On July 5, 1974 the French government closed the country's borders to immigration and have not reopened them since. Following that date a more severe attitude towards clandestine immigration became evident. Despite the anti-immigration policies of the 1974-81 period the number of foreigners residing in France did not diminish. 3 basic goals guided the new government in the development of its policies: to limit the entry of new foreigners; to end the precariousness which has characterized the existence of many immigrant families in France; and to examine immigration problems through bilateral negotiation with various sending countries. The immigration policy developed and carried out by the Mitterand administration during its first 15 months in office expressed an attitude of generosity towards established immigrants and external rigor vis-a-vis new immigration. The generosity of the new government is evident in the limitations placed on expulsion and detention, the guarantee of due process of law and all job-related rights for undocumented foreigners, the reaffirmation of family reunification, easier access to "privileged" immigrant status, the extension of the right of employment to foreign students and to Polish and Lebanese refugees, and new legislation guaranteeing the right of association to immigrants. The government's desire to control immigration more effectively is evident in the tightening of control at France's borders and in the substantial increases in sanctions against employers of clandestine workers.^ieng

Migrant and seasonal farmworkers in the United States: a review of health hazards, status, and policy.

Although the occupation and associated living conditions of migrant and seasonal agricultural workers in the US pose exceptional health hazards to the workers and their dependents, relatively few occupational health professionals have been involved with this group. This articles examines the basis for this neglect and proposes a definition of the population that should be considered in farmworker health policy. It then reviews existing evidence regarding hazards of 4 major occupational exposures--pesticides, the sun, injuries, and poor field sanitation--and policies that have been developed to address these hazards. The extremely negative health consequences of farmworker living conditions, which are indirect occupational hazards, are also summarized. Numerous policy, planning, and research recommendations are made. Adequate solutions for this impoverished and powerless group, however, will require significant sociopolitical advances, such as are developing with unionization and other forms of political organization.

The reorganization of mine labor recruitment in Southern Africa: evidence from Botswana.

"The past decade has been one of unprecedented change in the pattern and organization of mine labor recruitment in Southern Africa. Using detailed data on recruitment patterns in Botswana, this article supports the view that recent changes have initiated a self-sustaining trend whereby certain flows of foreign labor into South Africa will decline unabated into the foreseeable future. This results from a shift in general recruiting policy from one of encouraging external migrant labor flows--by expanding recruitment networks and employing a variable and transient workforce--to one of retrenchment and labor stabilization biased in favor of internalized labor supplies."

Recruitment of labor migrants for the Middle East: the Sri Lankan case.

"This article deals with the social, economic and demographic aspects of labor migration from Sri Lanka to the Middle East. The findings are based on a survey covering 891 return migrants and 866 family members of current migrants, as well as a total of 407 nonmigrants who were interviewed as a control group. Although the elasticity of the demand for female domestic personnel is much smaller than that for male migrants, it was found that recruitment for female labor migrants has increased considerably in recent years. The enormous demand for foreign employment has led to a thriving recruitment sector and to numerous illegal activities also among authorized employment agents. Currently, prospective labor migrants have to incur huge debts to finance migration."

"No TEBA...forget TEBA": the plight of Malawian ex-migrant workers to South Africa, 1988-1994.

"This article is about the process of socioeconomic transformation in rural Malawi. It examines the survival strategies and enterprising spirit of Malawian migrant workers and their households. It argues that the strategies of these people often went beyond survival in the provision of basic necessities.... In March 1988, the South African Chamber of Mines stopped a century-old tradition of recruiting migrant workers from Malawi. This has arrested and put to a halt a process of accumulation taking place in the households of the returned migrant workers in the rural economy. Thus, the effects of the retrenchment of the workers will spread from the migrant and his family through the economic and social wellspring of all sectors of rural communities and their commercial lives."

Farm labor migrations in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia.

"This study is concerned with determinants and macroforces in rural-rural migrations that relate to areal differentiation and temporal patterns. Patterns and causes of farm labor migrations from the Ethiopian highlands and some lowland districts to the Awash Valley irrigation schemes are traced, the results of revised economic policies."

Migration within the periphery: Haitian labor in the Dominican sugar and coffee industries.

"This article presents data on the employment of Haitian labor in the sugar and coffee sectors in the Dominican economy. The Haitian cyclical pattern of migration is related to the enclave pattern of development as it has occurred in the Dominican Republic. The common features of both coffee and sugarcane production which stimulate the reliance on cheap foreign labor are discussed."

International contract migration and the reintegration of return migrants: the experience of Sri Lanka.

"This article attempts to shed light on the issue of how far the labor exporting countries can monitor the process of reinsertion of return migrants in the domestic economy, with a view to maximizing net gains from international labor migration, drawing upon the experience of Sri Lanka. It begins with an examination of the socioeconomic characteristics of migrant workers with special emphasis on their post-migration activity status and the pattern of remittance utilization. Then it proceeds to evaluate critically the self-employment scheme that has been introduced by the Sri Lankan labor administration to advise and train return migrants in establishing themselves in business. The findings point to the danger of expecting too much from policy initiatives in this sphere."

The making of an immigrant niche.

"This article speaks to the conceptual and methodological issues in research on the making of an immigrant niche through a case study of immigrant professionals in New York City government." The author argues that "the growth of this immigrant niche resulted from changes in the relative supply of native workers and in the structure of employment, which opened the bureaucracy to immigrants and reduced native/immigrant competition. These shifts opened hiring portals; given the advantages of network hiring for workers and managers, and an immigrant propensity for government employment, network recruitment led to a rapid buildup in immigrant ranks."

The worldwide market for skilled migrants: can Australia compete?

"The purpose of this article is to...[analyze] the relative importance of internal and external factors on the demand for skilled immigration visas to Australia. Our objectives are to determine how the size of the pool of potential migrants is influenced by factors such as relative economic conditions and U.S. and Canadian immigration policies and to determine what implications these factors have on the relative quality (skill level) of potential migrants to Australia. Our results indicate that the demand for skilled immigration visas to Australia is related to the number of immigrants accepted by the United States and Canada as well as employment possibilities in Australia. We do not find a relationship between U.S. and Canadian policy and the relative quality of the applicant pool."

Immigration to Spain: implications for a unified European Union immigration policy.

PIP: A unified immigration policy is one of the prerequisites for establishing the free movement of people within the European Union (EU). This paper considers the difficulties in establishing a joint policy on the free movement of people within the EU by focusing upon changing immigration policies in Spain. By comparing Spain, a country of only recent, small-scale immigration, to Germany, a country with a longer history of non-European immigration, obstacles to developing and effectively implementing coordinated immigration policies among EU members can be elucidated. The administrative control of entry, estimates of legal and illegal immigrants in the country, and the status of bilateral relations with Morocco are examined in order to highlight the political difficulties encountered in a unified immigration policy both within Spanish society and for the EU. Spain is both a threshold to the EU and a destination. Border control may be the easiest part of implementing a joint immigration policy in the EU. It is more difficult to control settlement. In addition, high rates of unemployment may result among the native host country populations as immigrants more readily accept low-skilled, low-paying jobs.^ieng

Economic effects of immigrants on native and foreign-born workers: complementarity, substitutability, and other channels of influence.

PIP: The authors use Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA) data constructed from 1980 census microdata files and other sources to estimate a structural model of native/foreign-born labor demand and labor supply which distinguishes the effects upon real wages of each type of labor and on the employment of natives. The authors specify, econometrically estimate, and simulate the structural model which incorporates not only a production structure channel through which immigrants influence area real wages and employment, but also demand and native labor supply channels. It is noted that while these are not the only channels through which immigrants may affect native workers, the model nonetheless constitutes a step in the direction of a general equilibrium approach. In the production structure channel, immigrants and natives are found to be substitutes in production. Immigration lowers foreign-born wage rates and leads to lower wages for natives. The negative effects of the production channel usually are ameliorated through the demand channel. Further, immigrants add to local demand through their earnings and potentially through non-labor income, while also lowering unit costs and local prices which enhances real incomes and potentially net exports, and thus the demands for local output and area labor. The author discusses findings of interest from the simulation results based upon an analysis of all areas.^ieng

Migrant labor absorption in Malaysia.

The use of migrant workers to ease labor shortages caused by rapid industrialization in Malaysia during the twentieth century is examined. "This paper will focus on: (1) the extent, composition and distribution of migrant workers; (2) the labor shortage and absorption of migrant workers; and (3) the role of migrant workers in the government's economic restructuring process."