Notes taken by Agnes Pohle and Rut Schwitalla
Parallel Sessions 2 Friday 27 June 11.00-12.30 h
2.2 Migration and Development: Policy Coherence and Effective Partnerships
Organiser: OECD Development Centre, France
Chair: Ibrahim Awad, International Labour Office, Suisse
Speakers:
· Denis Drechsler
· Bachir Hamdouch
· Binod Khadria
Highlights arising from the discussion
In the session following issues were discussed:
· For measuring development it is important to choose a set of indicators. Among these could be remittances (most visible), knowledge transfer and labour market imbalance.
· Most remittances are sent by workers on low-skilled jobs which also contribute to poverty reduction in the countries of origin.
· “Brain drain” and “brain gain” are not clearly defined, and still are being controversially discussed.
· There is no agreement on the impacts of migration on development.
· Because of the lack of a social security system people often do not want to return to their country of origin.
· There are different definitions of highly skilled, skilled and unskilled workers. Indicators used are, for example, educational level or profession.
· Highly skilled education does not automatically lead to development. It might even imply a certain level of labour market imbalance.
· International migration flows in general are more and more difficult to measure, in particular as a result of increasing temporary and circular migration.
· The EU migration policy is in parts becoming more restrictive. Because there is a need for highly skilled labour force, several initiatives have been launched to facilitate in-migration of this group. The migration process for unskilled migrants, in contrast, tends to become more difficult.
· The competition between the U.S. und the EU for highly skilled migrants influences their immigration policies.
· Presentations and discussions of the session focused on remittances flows. Related questions of interest were the influence of Diaspora networks and the social costs of migration.
· The international community is requested to take over responsibility for creating employment and implementing development policies. Destination countries and migrants` countries of origin should cooperate to achieve positive results for those involved.
· It should be taken into account that migration has long-term implications.