Recruitment

The challenges surrounding the recruitment of foreign workers are complex. Recruitment agencies play an important role in facilitating and driving labor migration, but if left unregulated can abuse the workers they place via excessive placement fees or expensive predeparture loans, as well as increase the cost of doing business for employers. The research offered here examines recruitment practices and the regulatory systems that govern recruitment agencies, and provides an assessment of the gaps and possible solutions.

Recent Activity

Reports September 2019 Investing in the Neighborhood: Changing Mexico-U.S. Migration Patterns and Opportunities for Sustainable Cooperation By Andrew Selee, Silvia E. Giorguli-Saucedo, Ariel G. Ruiz Soto and Claudia Masferrer	Policy Briefs August 2019 Rethinking U.S. Immigration Policy: New Realities Call for New Answers By Doris Meissner
Reports July 2019 Equipping Immigrant Selection Systems for a Changing World of Work (Transatlantic Council Statement) By Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Meghan Benton and Kate Hooper	Reports July 2019 Start-Up Visas: A Passport for Innovation and Growth? By Liam Patuzzi
Articles June 6, 2019 Migration and Integration in Czechia: Policy Advances and the Hand Brake of Populism By Dušan Drbohlav and Kristýna Janurová	Articles May 30, 2019 “Merit-Based” Immigration: Trump Proposal Would Dramatically Revamp Immigrant Selection Criteria, But with Modest Effects on Numbers By Muzaffar Chishti and Jessica Bolter
Reports May 2019 The Evolution of the Australian System for Selecting Economic Immigrants By Anna Boucher and Amy Davidson	Articles May 8, 2019 Can Return Migration Revitalize the Baltics? Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania Engage Their Diasporas, with Mixed Results By Ieva Birka

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Reports July 2014 Migration’s Local Dividends: How Cities and Regions Can Make the Most of Immigration (Transatlantic Council Statement) By Demetrios G. Papademetriou	Books May 2014 Migration of Health Workers: The WHO Code of Practice and the Global Economic Crisis
Policy Briefs October 2013 What We Know About Migration and Development By Kathleen Newland	Policy Briefs September 2013 What We Know: Regulating the Recruitment of Migrant Workers By Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza
Fact Sheets August 2013 Side-by-Side Comparison of 2013 Senate Immigration Bill with Individual 2013 House Bills	Fact Sheets April 2013 Side-by-Side Comparison of the 2013 Senate Immigration Framework with 2006 and 2007 Senate Legislation
Fact Sheets April 2013 Side-by-Side Comparison of 2013 Senate Immigration Bill with 2006 and 2007 Senate Legislation	Policy Briefs October 2012 Thailand at a Crossroads: Challenges and Opportunities in Leveraging Migration for Development By Jerry Huguet, Aphichat Chamratrithirong and Claudia Natali

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Spotlight

May 6, 2015

Indian Immigrants in the United States

Indian immigrants represent the second-largest origin group in the United States, accounting for 4.7 percent of the total foreign-born population. Generally high-skilled and highly educated, more than half of Indian immigrants have arrived since 2000 and largely attain green cards through employment-based pathways. Indians account for 70 percent of H-1B petitions and are the second-largest group of international students in the United States.

Policy Beat

April 23, 2015

Recent Court Decisions Put a Sharp Spotlight on U.S. H-2B Temporary Worker Visa Program

The H-2B visa allows U.S. employers to bring in foreign workers to temporarily fill low-skill nonagricultural jobs across a wide range of states and industries. A series of recent legal challenges has exposed the presence of fraud and abuse, while stripping the program of its regulations and raising uncertainty about its future. This Policy Beat examines the implications in the debate surrounding temporary worker programs.

Feature

March 4, 2015

Destination China: The Country Adjusts to its New Migration Reality

Faced with rising numbers of foreign entries (long- and short-term), China in 2012 adopted new legislation to manage its migration flows—the first reform to the country's immigration law since 1985. With an underlying tension in the legal framework between restricting immigrants deemed unwanted and welcoming those viewed as desirable, this feature examines the exit-entry law's key points.

Feature

February 20, 2015

Following the Money: Chinese Labor Migration to Zambia

Migration has begun to follow the flow of capital after years of Chinese investment in major infrastructure projects in Zambia. This feature article, based on original research including the coding of 25,000 Zambian entry permits, examines the emerging migration pattern from China to Zambia, as Chinese migration to the country has increased 60 percent since 2009.

Top Ten

December 11, 2014

Exploitation of Migrant Workers in Asia

Mass cases of exploitation and abuse of migrant workers have drawn international scrutiny and criticism of the kafala system in Gulf Cooperation Council countries and private recruitment practices in Southeast Asia. With Qatar under scrutiny amid a frenzied construction boom in advance of the 2022 World Cup, international organizations and human-rights groups in 2014 stepped up their campaign for worker protection reforms.

Recent Activity

Reports

June 2022

Programas de trabajadores temporales en Canadá, México y Costa Rica: ¿Son vías prometedoras para gestionar la migración centroamericana?

La migración irregular desde El Salvador, Guatemala y Honduras se ha convertido en una de las principales características del panorama migratorio en Centroamérica y Norteamérica, pero existen pocas vías legales para los centroamericanos que se ven presionados a emigrar. Este informe explora cómo Canadá, México y Costa Rica podrían utilizar los programas de trabajo temporal existentes para ampliar las opciones de migración legal.

Reports

June 2022

Temporary Worker Programs in Canada, Mexico, and Costa Rica: Promising Pathways for Managing Central American Migration?

Irregular migration from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras has become a dominant feature of the migration landscape in Central and North America, yet few legal pathways exist for Central Americans facing pressure to emigrate. This report explores how Canada, Mexico, and Costa Rica could use existing temporary worker programs to expand legal migration options while also helping fill their labor shortages.

Video

April 28, 2022

How Can Europe Address Its Labor Market Needs at a Time of Upheaval?

Held immediately after the European Union unveiled its skills and talent package, this MPI Europe webinar explores how Europe can address its labor market needs at a time of great upheaval, and the role that immigration and immigrant integration policy can play in helping propel Europe’s economic recovery.

Video, Audio, Webinars

April 20, 2022

With Millions of Unfilled U.S. Jobs, What Role Is There for Immigration?

Experts on this webinar examined the scope and reality of skills shortages and the role of immigrants in the U.S. labor market, ways to address the underemployment of highly skilled immigrants, and how immigrants and immigration policy can be used to fulfil needs in the education sector, STEM occupations, and other skills needs. The webinar also marked the launch of Leveraging the Skills of Immigrant Health-Care Professionals in Illinois and Chicago,

Commentaries

April 2022

Beyond the Border: Opportunities for Managing Regional Migration between Central and North America

With migration from Central America increasing, the region from Canada to Panama faces an opportunity to build an effective regional approach to migration by focusing on several areas that are ripe for significant policy innovation. This commentary sketches a vision, offering a road map to more detailed research that outlines strategies for cooperation on legal pathways, humanitarian protection, migration management, and sustainable development.

Policy Briefs

December 2021

How Can Europe Deliver on the Potential of Talent Partnerships?

Europe has announced it will launch a set of Talent Partnerships, combining new mobility schemes for workers or students with related investments in capacity-building in partner countries. As the details are being hammered out, this MPI Europe policy brief explores how and under what conditions these partnerships could help meet European labor market needs and provide tangible benefits for partner countries and migrants themselves.

Policy Briefs

November 2021

Invertir en alternativas a la migración irregular desde Centroamérica: Opciones para expandir las vías de empleo en Estados Unidos

Es cada vez más claro que Estados Unidos, México y los países de origen de migrantes en Centroamérica tendrán que trabajar juntos para abordar el gran movimiento irregular de personas a través de la región. Este informe propone que además de mejorar la protección humanitaria para quienes la necesitan, ampliar las oportunidades legales para acceder a un empleo en el extranjero es otra parte de la ecuación.

Policy Briefs

November 2021

Investing in Alternatives to Irregular Migration from Central America: Options to Expand U.S. Employment Pathways

There is increasing recognition that the United States, Mexico, and migrant-origin countries in Central America will need to work together to address the large-scale, irregular movement of people through the region. While it is critical to improve humanitarian protection for those in need, expanding legal opportunities to take up employment abroad is another part of this equation, as this policy brief explores.

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