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Migration is one of the influencing factors that changes our lives. And apparently migration is a trend that will continue to influence our lives.
Migration is the collective noun for both immigration and emigration. We all know what that is; we are all dealing with it, either direct or indirectly.
Globalisation on the other hand is a lot more abstract. It could be defined as; ...the integration of economic and capital markets throughout the world. Bringing the world closer through better world-wide communication, transport and trade links. The creation of a "Global Village", where members of the same industry from around the world interact on a large scale. (London Stock Exchange)
According to the council of Europe, globalization and migration represent two of the most dynamic global socio-political trends. Although each shows a proper dynamic, both (phenomenon) are highly interrelated. Globalization creates situations -- economic inequalities for example -- which increase “the pressure and intensify the desire to migrate.” (www.coe.int).
The OECD exposes that “record numbers of people are moving to many OECD countries in search of jobs and to join their families... the economic down-turn in some OECD countries has not affected the upward trend in international migration which began in the mid-1990s.
The United States admitted more than a million permanent immigrants in 2001 and 2002, 25% more than in 2000. In the same time period, several European countries, including Austria, France and Switzerland, admitted about 15% more immigrants. (OECD, Jan. 2004)
The journal of Humanitarian Assistance elaborates on the same topic: “Longer-term international migrants belong to two broad groups: voluntary migrants and forced migrants. Fuelled by a combination of push factors in source countries and pull factors in receiving countries.”
So the “desire” to migrate comes from... “a well-developed networks that link the supply of labour with the demand of businesses for both highly skilled and unskilled workers.” This in the case of voluntary migration). “Forced migration is fuelled by conflicts, human rights abuses and political repression that displace people from their home communities. “
Although the overall share of migrants is less than three percent of the world population, the migration flows increase beyond the growth of the world population: “During the period from 1985 to 1990, global population growth increased by about 1.7 percent per year, whereas the total population of international migrants increased by 2.59 percent per year.” (http://www.jha.ac/articles/u041.htm)
Interesting is also a recent article on (e)migration focused on the German situation:
In 2004 more than 150,000 Germans... were going abroad—the highest number since 1884.
At the same time the immigration decreased heavily over the last years... Hard numbers are difficult to find, but anecdotal evidence suggests that many more academics are leaving Germany than are arriving, in contrast with countries such as the United States and Sweden that have a net “brain-gain”. According to a German medical organisation, about 12,000 German doctors now work abroad (“Germany: land of emigration. Auf wiedersehen, Fatherland” (http://www.economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?story_id=8089708&fsrc=RSS)
Migration is an important drive for change. People that migrate will have to deal with change. But in this case, the migration trend will change (all) our lives. In fact it already does affect us in many ways.
© 2006 Hans Bool
Hans Bool is the founder of Astor White a traditional management consulting company that offers online management tools. Have a look at some of our free management tools
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