Plaza, Eloiza A.

CONTEMPORARY WORLD
BSA 201
MODULAR ACTIVITY 8
GLOBAL MIGRATION
Identify the reasons for the migration of people
Document why states regulate migration; and
Write the effects of global migration on the economic well- being of states.

ACTIVITY: 8.1
Identify of the Migrants:
Reason of Migration: Improved safety and security
Better future for children
No confidence in the future of your country of
origin.
Government’s affirmative action policy
Deterioration in social services
Decline in your quality of life
Decline in living standards
Higher earnings potential
Prospect for professional
Lower taxation rates.
Migration Regulations: 4.122 The object of the Migration
Act 1958 (Cth) is expressed broadly as being
to ‘regulate in the national interest, the coming
into, and presence in Australia, of non-
citizens’.[213] Certain provisions of
the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth) relate to
family violence. These provisions permit
certain persons applying for permanent
residence in Australia to proceed with their
application after the breakdown of their
marriage or de facto relationship if they, or a
member of their family, have experienced
family violence at the hands of their partner. [214]

Effects on the economic lifestyle of the The loss of a person from rural
Migrants migrated in the states. areas, impact on the level of output and
development of rural areas. The influx of
workers in urban areas increases competition
for the job, houses, school facilities etc.
Having large population puts too much
pressure on natural resources, amenities and
services.

ACTIVITY 8.2
1. Why are migrants mostly beneficial for receiving countries?

Agents of Diversity
Migrants bring diversity. In other words, different cultures come together and interaction
occurs. Research shows that diversity is what people appreciate the most in cities. On the one
hand it makes citizens aware that they are part of something bigger, a world behind the city
borders. On the other hand, diversity brings the world a bit closer, due to new cultural
experiences in terms of food, language and symbols. Next to the fact that it might be socially
appreciated, there is evidence that, economically speaking, cultural diversity is
beneficial. Research shows that locals who live in American cities that score higher on cultural
diversity earn a higher wage and are financially better-off than locals who don’t live in such
cities.
Agents of Business
Migrants bring business. For centuries, they have shown to be highly resourceful in terms
of their settlement and survival in their new environments. With almost no financial or social
capital, they are able to use their human capital to set up businesses. They provide cities with
useful night-shops, which include food for after a night out, but also independent boutiques
encompassing fashion or other vintage stuff. This brings vibrancy to the city connected to a
strong economic component of business.
Agents of Transnational Connections
Migrants maintain transnational connections. In a world that is getting more competitive,
cities benefit when its resources come from all over the world. Migrants connect the globe and
use their transnational social network to strengthen their local socioeconomic activities. One can
imagine, if a city caters these transnational connections and eventually becomes a hub in the
transnational migrants’ social web, then it will certainly take a lead on the transnational ladder of
competitivenes
Agents of Knowledge
Migrants bring knowledge. They fill the workforce gap wherever there are not enough
skilled people. Especially during the current economic downturn this is apparent. Developed
countries start to recognise this commodity and are actively recruiting migrants to work in
specific fields by liberalising immigration policies for migrants with knowledge. Prime example
of this trend is Germany, which loosened up migration policies so to be able to recruite the
highly-skilled even better.

Agents of Investment
Migrants make investments. By far, they are exceeding countries when it comes to
investing in developing countries. They send tremendous amounts of capital back to countries of
origin. It has been estimated that in 2013 alone these remittances summed up to a ginormous
amount of 440 billion dollars, of which two third is invested directly in third-world countries.
According to the World Bank, this number will grow towards 515 billion dollars in 2015. Their
commitment, connected to their transnational ties translates itself into a significant investment in
developing countries and eventually may alter the socioeconomic structure which benefits almost
everyone.

2. What are the benefits and detriments of economies dependent on migrant remittances?

Remittances have risen spectacularly in recent decades, capturing the attention of

researchers and policymakers and spurring debate on their pros and cons. Remittances can improve
the well-being of family members left behind and boost the economies of receiving countries. They
can also create a culture of dependency in the receiving country, lowering labor force participation,
promoting conspicuous consumption, and slowing economic growth. A better understanding of
their impacts is needed in order to formulate specific policy measures that will enable developing
economies to get the greatest benefit from these monetary inflows.
Remittances can increase the well-being of receiving households by smoothing consumption and
improving living conditions.
Remittances can facilitate the accumulation of human capital by making possible improved
sanitary conditions, healthier life styles, proper healthcare, and greater educational attainment.
Remittances can ease the credit constraints of unbanked households in poor rural areas, facilitate
asset accumulation and business investments, promote financial literacy, and reduce poverty.
Remittances can reduce labor supply and create a culture of dependency that inhibits economic
growth.
Remittances can increase the consumption of nontaxable goods, raise their prices, appreciate the
real exchange rate, and decrease exports, thus damaging the receiving country’s competitiveness
in world markets.
Remittances can be curtailed, along with international migration, by escalating anti- immigrant
sentiment and tougher enforcement practices in host countries, including the US and many in
Europe and the Gulf region.
3. Why is migrant integration a challenging issue for states?

Migration is a growing and permanent part of Europe's future. Two factors have led to pressure
for a more effective EU strategy to promote the economic, social, cultural, and political integration
of migrants and the next generation: recognition of the failure to integrate past migrants effectively,
and concern about rising support for the far right. European countries have differing views on both
the goals of integration and the most appropriate strategies to achieve it. Nevertheless, the EU does
have at its disposal several unique levers to make an effective contribution to the development of
integration policy, complementing the primary responsibility of its member states.
One of the factors leading to an increased focus on integration at the EU level is the belated
recognition that migration will be a permanent part of Europe's future. The workers who come to
fill skills and labor shortages, refugees, overseas students, and family members who arrive to join
immigrant relatives will require a level of incorporation, whether they stay temporarily or
permanently. If states are to compete for the "brightest and best," potential migrants must be
confident that they will not face discrimination and exclusion. Moreover, EU states cannot afford
to neglect the talents of migrants already in the workforce.
Ten new countries will join the EU in 2004, leading to greater mobility of migrants (including
of Roma communities). A desire to ensure that their arrival does not provoke tensions, and that the
new EU citizens experience equality of opportunity with other EU nationals, also needs to be
expressed in policy initiatives.
Public resentment of migrants and fear of difference leads to discrimination, community tensions,
and occasional violence. In addition, it has contributed to the rise in support for far-right political
parties, which successfully exploit people's fears and resentments. Public anxiety about Muslim
minorities (in particular since the September 11 terrorist attacks), subsequent international
conflicts, and vocal hostility towards Muslims in Europe all point to the need for a comprehensive
integration strategy.
4. How do migrants prompt xenophobia and racism in receiving countries?
Today, one in every 50 human beings is a migrant worker, a refugee or asylum seeker, or
an immigrant living in a ëforeigní country. Current estimates by the United Nations and the
International Organization for Migration indicate that some 150 million people live temporarily or
permanently outside their countries of origin (2.5% of the worldís population1 ). Many of these,
80-97 million, are estimated to be migrant workers and members of their families2 . Another 12
million are refugees outside their country of origin. These figures do not include the estimated 20
million Internally Displaced Persons forcibly displaced within their own country, nor tens of
millions more of internal migrants, mainly rural to urban, in countries around the world. Increasing
ethnic and racial diversity of societies is the inevitable consequence of migration. Increasing
migration means that a growing number of States have become or are becoming more multi-ethnic,
and are confronted with the challenge of accommodating peoples of different cultures, races,
religions and language. Addressing the reality of increased diversity means finding political, legal,
social and economic mechanisms to ensure mutual respect and to mediate relations across
differences. But xenophobia and racism have become manifest in some societies which have
received substantial numbers of immigrants, as workers or as asylum-seekers. In those countries
the migrants have become the targets in internal disputes about national identity. In the last decade,
the emergence of new nation states has often been accompanied by ethnic exclusion..

ACTIVITY 8.3
1. The students will be graded using the analytic rubric (see the appendices)
2. The students will answer the process questions:
a. Why are migrants mostly beneficial for receiving countries?
There are many harms to immigrant-receiving countries that various critics of immigration
have pointed out. It is not axiomatically true that the benefits to immigrant-receiving countries
outweigh the harms. However, there are some general reasons to expect that this is the case for
migration to highly developed countries, which are indeed the target countries for most migrants.
The reasons are of two types:
Highly developed countries are more likely to have knowledge-intensive economies. These kinds
of economies are more likely to have higher levels of complementarity between labor. The
economies can more readily adapt to the new forms of labor (for more, see the counter-arguments
at the suppression of wages of natives page).
People in developed countries are in a better position to experience the global benefits of open
borders and capture a larger share of these locally. For instance, if immigrants provide the labor,
capital, and entrepreneurship to set up a new business that caters to a global market, many of the
benefits to consumers are global, but some of the benefits of the economic activity are concentrated
in the area where the business was set up.
b.What are the benefits and detriments of economies dependent on migrant remittances?
money goes directly to the people it is intend for which means is less opportunity for waste
or corruption money can be spent by the individual on areas like education and healthcare which
may not be possible with official said the consumer has considerably more sovereignty the sender
is confident that the money will be used effectively which might not be the case with official aid.
Remittances are transfers of money across national boundaries by migrant workers.
Remittance flows have grown in the world economy over the longer-term as the scale of migration
between countries has grown.
Migrants sent about US$450 billion to developing countries in 2017, ten times more than
they did just 20 years earlier. These ‘workers’ remittances’ are more than four times the value of
all foreign aid for development. Some countries are heavily reliant on remittances, for example,
half of all Tongans work abroad, and many send money back home.
Western Union and MoneyGram dominate the money transfer industry and the high level of fees
that these companies has been heavily criticised in recent years

c. why is migrants integration a challenging issue for states?

For example, across the EU, different Member States have approached integration in
different ways. As a result deficiencies in one or another Member State may impact others. In
addition, often these approaches do not explicitly address people with a migrant background, even
though they are often disadvantaged. They also tend to be “blind to the situation of women” which
underlines the need for a gendered approach.
Then there is the question of education and language learning, two elements vital for
successful integration. Language learning is often of poor quality and rarely linked to on-the-job-
training. There is also strong evidence of some form of segregation in schools revealing migrants
and non-migrants living separate, divided lives.
To help refocus integration efforts, he called on “all EU institutions, national governments,
human rights institutions, civil society, social partners, and faith communities [to] do our part to
ensure that the European project is one of which we can be proud; one that puts human dignity at
its very heart.”
d. How do migrants prompt xenophobia and racism in receiving countries?
Xenophobia consists of highly negative perceptions and practices that discriminate against
non-citizen groups on the basis of their foreign origin or nationality. It affects all categories of
migrants, immigrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers. Different migrant groups may, however,
experience xenophobia to varying degrees depending on their cultural, racial and ethnic make-up,
class composition, and migrant status.
Xenophobia is perpetuated through a dynamic public rhetoric that actively stigmatizes and
vilifies some or all migrant groups by playing up the ‗threat‘ posed by their presence and making
them scapegoats for social problems. Xenophobia is not simply an attitudinal orientation. Hostile
and skewed perceptions of migrant groups generally go hand in hand with discriminatory practices
and poor treatment of such groups. Acts of violence, aggression and brutality towards migrant
groups represent extreme and escalated forms of xenophobia.
Xenophobia is not a ‗natural‘ response by native populations to the presence of foreigners.
Like racism and nationalism, it is a social and political phenomenon that contributes to the
marginalization and/or exclusion of migrant groups in social and national settings. Xenophobia is
crucially linked to nation-building and nationalism, in particular, its aggressive forms. 20 See
Coenders, Marcel, Marcel Lubbers.