E.g., 04/24/2024
E.g., 04/24/2024
Migrants, Migration, and Development

Migrants, Migration, and Development

A woman in Nigeria smiles while using her mobile phone
iStock.com/Wirestock

Remittances are a vital lifeline for migrants’ families around the world and an important source of revenue for many low- and middle-income countries, especially in times of crisis. As more people turn to digital financial technologies for these money transfers, this shift holds the potential to shake up the rigid remittance industry and boost development benefits. But it also brings new challenges, as this report explores.

A migrant worker cuts through a metal rod at a construction site in Qatar
Apex Image/ILO

With more people moving abroad for work and events such as the 2022 World Cup in Qatar highlighting the risks migrant workers can face, questions about how international recruitment occurs have received increased scrutiny. This policy brief explores the notable progress that has been made in establishing fair and ethical recruitment standards, and identifies key areas for future attention by governments, employers, and recruiters.

Colorful speech bubbles
iStock.com/incomible

El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras have long histories of emigration, but are seeing increasing transit and return migration as well. This report explores the stories told within these three countries about migration in all its forms, how these narratives intersect with (and at times, contradict) each other, and how they influence policy decisions and public opinion.

Migrant workers at a textile factory in Jordan
© ILO/Jared J. Kohler

Migrant workers can pay a range of costs when they are recruited and relocate for jobs abroad, accruing significant debt. While many countries, international organizations, and other stakeholders have sought to reduce or eliminate recruitment costs, the pandemic has exacerbated and added to these expenses. This policy brief explores how the costs migrant workers face have changed, and what these developments mean for efforts to promote fair and ethical recruitment.

Aerial view of a flooded residential area in Pakistan
© UNICEF/Asad Zaidi

Multilateral development banks (MDBs) have emerged as major players in responding to climate change, investing in sustainable infrastructure and climate resilience. But while many MDBs have shown interest in projects with positive impacts for climate migrants and host communities, they sometimes struggle to maximize these effects. This report examines MDBs’ role in responding to climate-related migration and displacement to date and opportunities to scale up their work.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other leaders at the 2022 Summit of the Americas
Freddie Everett/State Department

The Los Angeles Agreement on Migration and Protection signed by leaders from 20 countries across the Western Hemisphere at the 2022 Summit of the Americas marks a significant step forward in creating a common language and a coherent set of ideas for more cooperatively managing migration movements across a region that has seen very significant mobility in recent years, as this commentary explains.

Recent Activity

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Cover image for Integración socioeconómica de los migrantes y refugiados venezolanos
Reports
July 2021
By  Diego Chaves-González, Jordi Amaral and María Jesús Mora
Cover image for Socioeconomic Integration of Venezuelan Migrants and Refugees
Reports
July 2021
By  Diego Chaves-González, Jordi Amaral and María Jesús Mora
Cover image for Deepening Labor Migration Governance at a Time of Immobility: Ghana and Senegal
Policy Briefs
July 2021
By  Camille Le Coz and Kate Hooper
coverthumb_covid19 global mobility 2020
Reports
April 2021
By  Meghan Benton, Jeanne Batalova, Samuel Davidoff-Gore and Timo Schmidt
coverthumb_covid19 return reintegration
Policy Briefs
February 2021
By  Camille Le Coz and Kathleen Newland

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City view in Marrakech

The world’s first international agreement on migration was approved by 164 countries in December 2018, but not without turbulence. U.S. withdrawal from the nonbinding Global Compact on Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration, on grounds it could impinge on sovereignty, triggered similar actions by others, particularly in Eastern Europe. Amid ongoing political ripple effects, attention now turns to implementation of the deal's goals.

us peace corps indonesia

Indonesia, which has a long history as a major origin for migrant labor in the Asia-Pacific and beyond, more recently has reluctantly found itself a transit and destination country, including for asylum seekers. Still, policymakers remain focused on protection of its nationals abroad rather than on assuring the status of Chinese and other foreigners in the country. This country profile explores Indonesia's rich migration history. 

 

DGSwingKathleen Interview

Over the past decade, migration has emerged as one of the most pressing issues facing governments around the world. Nearing the end of his tenure as Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Ambassador William Lacy Swing sat down with MPI Senior Fellow Kathleen Newland to reflect on his ten years leading IOM, as well as the international community's role on migration going forward.

Bangladeshi migrant workers

Bangladeshis in 2017 suddenly emerged as one of the top migrant groups entering Europe illegally. While Europe is a new destination, Bangladeshi labor migration has been an important part of the country's development since the 1970s, with growing numbers heading abroad, largely to the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. This article explores and contextualizes the new phenomenon of Bangladeshi migration to Europe.

Young people ride motorcycles in Batac, Philippines.

In the Philippines, a pervasive culture of migration has led millions to seek opportunities abroad, particularly since an economic downturn in the 1970s. The government has long embraced exporting labor as official economic policy, but over time, the focus has shifted: first to protecting workers overseas and much more recently to linking migration and development. This article explores the evolution of Filipino migration policy and trends.

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Expert Q&A, Audio
February 7, 2022

This episode of Changing Climate, Changing Migration checks in with migration scholar Hein de Haas about the predictions that vast numbers of people will be displaced by climate change and head to wealthy countries in North America and Europe—views he deems often misplaced.

Changing Climate Changing Migration podcast tile episode 15
Expert Q&A, Audio
December 10, 2021

For this episode of Changing Climate, Changing Migration, we speak with Joan Rosenhauer, the executive director of Jesuit Refugee Service/USA, about how natural disasters and other environmental harms affect her organization’s work and its faith-based mission.

Expert Q&A, Audio
November 24, 2021

With migration a dynamic phenomenon in the Americas, the U.S. government increasingly is realizing that migration management should be viewed in a regional context. This requires a new set of policies and ways of engagement with countries in North and Central America, and beyond, as MPI President Andrew Selee discusses with colleague Andrea Tanco in this episode of our World of Migration podcast.

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Video
November 8, 2021

As MPI celebrates two decades of providing essential research, policy analysis, and data on important immigration and immigrant integration issues, hear from members of the MPI community about what the institute has meant to them and how it has evolved.

changing climate, changing migration episode 14
Expert Q&A, Audio
October 27, 2021

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), in 2015 created a special division responsible for migration-related issues involving the environment and climate change. The division just got a new leader and is looking to embark on a new agenda.

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Recent Activity

Reports
June 2007

This report explores the role of ethnic community-based organizations as drivers of refugee integration. It highlights contributions, challenges, and best practice methodologies identified through site visits to refugee-serving ECBOs across the country, and offers recommendations for enhancing the capacity and sustainability of refugee integration services.

 

Policy Briefs
June 2007

This report identifies features of remittances that make them ideal leveraging agents for poverty reduction and migration management agendas, and proposes a four-part international research and policy agenda for maximizing the development impact of international remittances.

Policy Briefs
May 2007

This report captures India’s exceptional growth in reported remittances over the 15-year period between 1990 and 2005. It explores the relative importance of these remittances in India’s economy, and then identifies factors responsible for this exponential gain.

Policy Briefs
April 2007

This report draws from the existing body of knowledge surrounding circular migration to identify: research gaps, shortcomings of common policy routes, innovative circular migration policies, and critical considerations for policymakers seeking to design and implement positive circular migration schemes.

Reports
September 2006

For an increasing number of scholars, international migration has undergone a transformation particularly in the last decade or so. Although circular migration’s impact on development is far from settled, a review of the current literature suggests increasing optimism about its developmental potential.

Reports
September 2006

Previously confined to everyday conversations among migrants and their families, remittances are now on the minds of most governments, members of civil society, the international community, and, to some extent, the private sector. The continued deficiency in our understanding of some of the fundamental aspects of remittances is evident in current literature.

Policy Briefs
January 2006

This report examines the connections between the United States’ temporary and permanent systems of admission to the United States. It describes the goals and structure of each system, discusses the relationship between immigrant and nonimmigrant admission flows, and describes the critical data gaps that impede understanding of the underlying realities of immigration to the United States.

Books
October, 2005

This volume finds that while emigration may be beneficial in some cases, unhindered high-skilled emigration, particularly in the case of sub-Saharan Africa, can have disastrous consequences. The author, Arno Tanner, recommends specific policies where carefully targeted development measures could be used to mitigate the negative consequences of brain drain.

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