Post 2015: Global Action for an Inclusive and Sustainable Future

CHApTER nInE
9
The facilitation
of international
labour mobility
could bring about
substantial
economic gains,
estimated at
between 50% and
150% of global
GDP.
170
pEOplE: lAbOuR mIgRATIOn
9.1 Introduction
Referring to migration as ‘the millennium
Development Goals’ plan b’, lant pritchett
(2003) argued that if the mDGs were
not achieved by 2015, migration would
need to become central to the concept
of development, dominated to date by the focus
on oDa. although migration and mobility
do not feature in the mDGs, the International
organization for migration (Iom) regards them as
fundamental in the challenges and opportunities
they present for achieving the goals (Iom, 2010a).
migration can potentially transform people’s lives,
but can have negative and positive effects on human
development, often simultaneously. migration is
one of the most difficult areas for governments to
regulate and many try to counteract it rather than
responding to it through more effective governance.
From the standpoint of inclusive and sustainable
development (ISD), migration is most beneficial
when individuals and their families can choose
when and to where they wish to move. to date
such choice effectively remains the privilege of
citizens from oEcD countries, who generally face
less restriction on their movement. the united
nations report to the Secretary-General presented
EuropEan rEport on DEvElopmEnt 2013
by the un system task team on the post-2015 un
development agenda (un, 2012) mentions ‘fair
rules to manage migration’ as an enabling factor
for ISD. any post-2015 framework will need to go
beyond aid. migration is one means to do so, since
it can potentially benefit receiving and sending
countries 124 as well as migrants. this chapter
explores how labour migration could contribute to
a post-2015 framework.
the facilitation of international labour mobility
could bring about substantial economic gains,
estimated at between 50% and 150% of global GDp
(Walmsley and Winters, 2003; clemens, 2011). this
chapter focuses on the mobility of low-skilled 125
labour, since ‘global gains from unskilled labour
mobility exceed those from skilled labour mobility,
essentially because the workers lost to developing
country production as a result of the mobility
are so much less productive in the former case’
(Winters, 2003:4). moreover, low-skilled migration
tends to involve people who are living in poverty
and is therefore most relevant to achieving the
mDG targets, but is also the most difficult area of
concession for migrant-receiving countries. 126
124 We use the term ‘receiving’ if on average there is more inward than outward migration and ‘sending’ for the reverse.
125 We use the oEcD (2008) definition of low-skilled: ‘those whose educational level is less than upper secondary. by definition, trades people and
artisans with upper secondary education or with higher vocational training are excluded from the low-educated group’.
126 Higher-skilled migration also affects poverty reduction and development, but for reasons of space this report choses to focus on the area of
labour migration that has most impact on reducing poverty.