Regional Conference on Migration Workshop on Temporary Migrant Workers (TMW)

San Salvador, El Salvador23-24 of April, 2009

“Temporary Migrant Worker's Programs:

A global perspective”

Ricardo Cordero – Senior Labor Migration Expert Labor and Facilitated Migration DivisionIOM - Geneva

TLM in the global context

Global distribution of migrant workers: (86 to 90 million MW in the world - ILO/UNDESA 2006)

- Europe: 33% - Americas 30% - Asia: 26% - Africa: 8 % - Australasia: 3%

The majority of TMW move within developing countries (South-South) more than towards developed countries (South-North).

More than 20 million Latin-Americans work outside their countries of origin (ECLAC-2006)

Non skilled TMW represent more than 80% of the total temporary migratory work flow.

Main occupations of TMW: agriculture, construction, tourism/hotel industry, health services, domestic labor and fishing

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Repercussions of the world economic crisis on labor migration

The ILO estimates that the world's unemployment will rise to 210 million in 2010 (10.5 % > than in 2007)

Migrant workers – TMW in particular- tend to be the most vulnerable in times of crisis (job loss, discrimination and xenophobia)

Most affected sectors: construction, financial services, commerce, manufacturing y tourism

World Bank reports a substantial drop in the flow of remittances (Morocco, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Mexico, and Bangladesh).

Despite the economic crisis there are a few market “niches” that are still open: Canada 2008 (519,722 new immigrants / 143,000 TMW). Japan, Denmark, and some European Union countries)

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Basic Concepts

Temporary labor migration: movement of foreign workers for a limited time period with the compromise of returning to their country of origin once the agreed upon period has concluded

Temporary migrant worker: Foreign paid worker with working permit for a defined period of time, regardless of the amount of time he/she may actually have stayed in the host country

Temporary migrant worker's program: Mechanisms and regulations agreed between countries of origin and countries of destination with the purpose of facilitating order labor migration flows in which working conditions and return procedures to the country of origin are defined in advance

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2 TLM Strategy (labor market

study)

TEMPORARY LABOR MIGRATION

CYCLE

M O N I T O R O3

InternationalCooperation

1Formulation of

migration policies

4Data base and registration of

potential TMW

5 Dissemination of

information

8Return and

reintegration

6Recruitment

(support services B -D)

7Migration and Development (remittances)

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PROTECTION

GENDER

MONITORING

TLM and development: role of the countries of origin

Incorporate migratory policies within the National Development Plans

Analyze possible immediate and future effects of labor migration (temporary and permanent) in the national labor market (human resource management)

Analyze and restructure the financing methods of university and technical education

Adapt public infrastructure (housing, education, health, etc) to demographic changes that may be generated by temporary migratory flows

Improve inter-institutional coordination and the management capability of labor migration (temporary and permanent) in particular that related to bilateral and regional initiatives and “South-South” (MERCOSUR, CA-4)

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TLM and development: role of the countries of destination

Facilitate the coherence and complimentarity between migration policies and other State policies related to the subject, for example international cooperation (with countries of origin), commerce, environment, agriculture, health, national security

Analyze the impact of recruitment and admission policies of migrant workers in their national development and in countries of origin

Manage the recruitment of highly skilled foreigners responsibly by avoiding “brain drain” from developing countries

Facilitate and if possible increase the recruitment of semi-skilled and non-skilled temporary migratory workers

Promote mechanisms for associating remittances to local development initiatives in countries of origin

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Challenges for the optimization of benefits for TLM

At the level of labor mobility policies: Watch over the protection and wellbeing of TMWs Keep the “temporality” of the system by

assuring/facilitating the return of TMW Turn the “brain drain” into “brain circulation”

(knowledge transfer) Improve bilateral and multilateral cooperation

between countries of origin and countries of destination

Maximize the impact of remittances over local and national development

Strengthen TLM as a mechanism to reduce irregular migration

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Recommendations at a program and project level for TLM

1. Strengthening institutional capability for the management of labor migration (at program and policy level)

2. Improvement of the information systems on labor migration (data base)

3. Labor market studies in countries of origin and destination

4. Support services (before, during, and after)

5. Develop programs for the return and reintegration of TMWs

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THANK YOU

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