The number of international migrants has more than doubled since 1965. According to the United Nations Population Division, 175 million people—that is 2.9% of the world population—lived and worked outside their country of birth in 2000, as opposed to 75 million (2.3%) in 1965. Given the global demographic transition—shrinking and aging populations in the developed world juxtaposed with quickly expanding populations in the developing world—and given the economic gaps between the developed and the developing world, international migration is bound to increase in the future. The Labor Markets Group so far has focused on identifying win-win situations for the developing and the developed world, so both can benefit from increased international labor mobility, skill transfers across borders, and remittances. In addition, migration as a Social Risk Management tool for households has been explored. Finally, the access to social protection for migrant workers in host countries and the transferability of social security benefits back to the migrant’s home country have been assessed. Future work on international migration of the Labor Markets Group will focus on portability issues of social security benefits for migrant workers and the question how active immigration policies in the developed countries can help the developed world to overcome future labor and skill shortages while at the same time enhance human capital formation in the developing world. Related Papers  Migration, Labor Markets, and Integration of Migrants: An Overview for Europe (240kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0807
Münz, Rainer
April 2008
For more than two centuries most countries of Western Europe have primarily been countries of emigration. During the last 60 years, all countries of Western Europe have gradually become destinations for international migrants and asylum seekers. Today all West European countries and several new member states of the European Union (EU) have a positive migration balance. And it is very likely that sooner or later this will also be the case in other new EU member states and today’s candidate countries. This paper discusses the size of Europe’s migrant population, its demographic structure, and the socio-economic position of migrants. The European Labour Force Survey (LFS) as well as Eurostat, OECD and UN migration data are used as the main databases. In most sections of the paper the geographic unit of analysis is EU15 as the so-called “old” EU Member States are home or host some 94 percent of all migrants and some 97 percent of all legal foreign residents living in EU27. But general information on stocks of international migrants and recent migration flows are given for all countries of Western, Central and South-Eastern Europe. The Social Assimilation of Immigrants (239kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0701
de Palo, Domenico; Faini, Riccardo; Venturini, Alessandra
February 2007 Policy makers in migrant-receiving countries must often strike a delicate balance between economic needs, that would dictate a substantial increase in the number of foreign workers, and political and electoral imperatives, that typically result in highly restrictive immigration policies. Promoting integration of migrants into the host country would go a long way in alleviating the trade off between economic and political considerations. While there is a large literature on the economic assimilation of immigrants, somewhat less attention has been devoted to other – and equally crucial – dimensions of migrants’ integration, namely the process of social assimilation. The aim of this paper is to take a close look at migrants social integration into the host country. The authors rely on the European Community Household panel (ECHP), which devotes a full module to the role and relevance of social relations for both migrants and natives. An innovative feature of this analysis is that it relies on migrants perceptions about their integration rather than – as is typically the case in most opinion surveys – on natives attitudes toward migrants. Labor Market Outcomes of Natives and Immigrants: Evidence from the ECHP (331kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0615
Peracchi, Franco; Depalo, Domenico
November 2006 This paper analyzes the evidence provided by the European Community Household Panel (ECHP), a longitudinal household survey which covers a wide range of topics, giving comparable information across the member states of the European Union before the 2004 enlargment. The ECHP allows for following the process of integration into the European labor markets of the cohorts of immigrants that reached Western Europe before the mid-1990s. The Relative Merits of Skilled and Unskilled Migration, Temporary and Permanent Labor Migration, and Portability of Social Security Benefits (210kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0614
Koettl, Johannes under guidance of and with input from Robert Holzmann and Stefano Scarpetta
November 2006 In March 2006, the G-20 established a study group on labor mobility and demographics. The World Bank’s Social Protection and Labor unit (HDNSP) was asked to provide an issues paper on the relative merits of skilled and unskilled migration, temporary and permanent labor migration, and portability of social security benefits. The objective of this paper is: (i) to highlight the relative merits of skilled and unskilled migration for both source and destination countries; (ii) to highlight the relative merits of temporary and permanent migration for source and destination countries; and (iii) to highlight the costs and benefits of enhanced portability of social security benefits and its impact on incentives for migrants and migration outcomes. Demographic Alternatives for Aging Industrial Countries: Increased Total Fertility Rate, Labor Force Participation, or Immigration (247kb pdf)
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0540
Holzmann, Robert
December 2005 The paper investigates the demographic alternatives for dealing with the projected population aging and low or negative growth of the population and labor force in the North. Without further immigration, the total labor force in Europe and Russia, the high-income countries of East Asia and the Pacific, China, and, to a lesser extent, North America is projected to be reduced by 29 million by 2025 and by 244 million by 2050. In contrast, the labor force in the South is projected to add some 1.55 billion, predominantly in South and Central Asia and in Sub-Saharan Africa. The demographic policy scenarios to deal with the projected shrinking of the labor forth in the North include moving the total fertility rate back to replacement levels, increasing labor force participation of the existing population through a variety of measures, and filling the demographic gaps through enhanced immigration. The estimations indicate that each of these policy scenarios may partially or even fully compensate for the projected labor force gap by 2050. But a review of the policy measures to make these demographic scenarios happen also suggests that governments may not be able to initiate or accommodate the required change. Portability Regimes of Pension and Health Care Benefits for International Migrants: An Analysis of Issues and Good Practices (300kb pdf). Also available in French (349kb pdf).
Social Protection Discussion Paper No. 0519
Holzmann, Robert; Koettl, Johannes; Chernetsky, Taras
May 2005 The paper provides a first investigation into the portability of pension and health care benefits for international migrants. It is based on available literature and newly minted data, but more importantly on selective case studies from main migrant-sending and receiving countries. While exploratory, the paper achieves a better understanding of the realities on the ground and is able to distill key issues as well identify good and best practices. Challenges and Opportunities of International Migration for the EU, Its Member States, Neighboring Countries and Regions: A Policy Note (683kb pdf)
Also available in Russian (967kb pdf)
Institute for Futures Studies, 2nd Stockholm Workshop on Global Mobility Regimes
Stockholm, June 11–12, 2004
Holzmann, Robert; Münz, Rainer The paper aims at identifying key challenges and opportunities, including win-win solutions that would allow sending and receiving countries in and around Europe to benefit most from geographic mobility of people. The paper: highlights demographic, economic and political gaps explaining international migration; explores the main options for the EU member states and reviews the expereinces of traditional countries of immigration; investigates the implications of a pro-active recruitment approach, including the impacts on both sending and receiving countries; sketches the institutional requirements and necessary changes to move toward win-win solutions, identifying areas of potential cooperation between sending and receiving countries. The paper concludes with a short summary and an outlook on open questions.
Related Links
Research Program - International Migration & Development
World Bank Development Research Group This research program seeks to fill the gaps in existing knowledge about migration. It includes extensive data-gathering and analysis on the development impact of migration, so as to identify migration policies, regulations and institutional reforms by developed and developing countries that will lead to improved development outcomes. Migration & Development
World Bank Poverty Reduction Group The migration program in the Poverty Reduction Group facilitates the analytical and operational activities on migration with emphasis on shared growth and poverty reduction issues. This website provides development practitioners with links to data sources, methodological notes and analytical products that can enhance the understanding of migration issues and strengthen the necessary policy dialogue. Top |
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