Labour market performance and migration flows - European ...

European CommissionOccasional Paper 60, Volume Iactivity in Egypt (Assad et al., 2007), thus reducing the probability that this child is fruitfullyattending school. 1046.5 Social remittances and labour forceThe contribution by Fargues (2007b) demonstrates that the transfer of ideas that occurs because ofmigration can substantially influence the labour markets of AMCs through its effect on demographicchoices; Fargues’ (2007b) idea is that the level of fertility in destination countries influences the levelthat prevails origin countries. Such an argument means that this effect is uneven across AMC countriesbecause – as section 5 showed – these countries greatly differ in the geographical distribution of theirmigrants. Migrants from the Maghreb predominantly move towards countries with a low level offertility – and higher rates of female participation on labour markets, see section 7.4 – while migrantsfrom the Mashreq move towards countries with higher levels of fertility, and more conservative socialstructures. Thus, while past migration flows are indirectly contributing to alleviate the current pressureon labour markets in Maghreb countries via a reduction in the size of younger cohorts in thepopulation, the opposite occurs in the Mashreq countries. This means that social remittances can eitherreinforce or dampen the effect of actual migration, as described in section 6.1.As far as the impact of migration on skill acquisition is concerned, Fargues (2008b) observes that“a shift from a remittances-driven to a human-capital-driven pattern of migration is underway” forAMCs, meaning that the decision to migrate is no longer solely driven by the willingness to sendremittances back home, but also by the desire to make an adequate use of would-be migrants’human capital. Fargues (2008b) also adds that “today the links MENA states establish with theirDiasporas are aimed at maximizing remittances and economic investments in the home country.Tomorrow, states will have to channel the diaspora’s knowledge and skills. For that purpose, theywill have to [create an environment] favourable to flows of ideas and knowledge”, emphasizing thekey role of social remittances in shaping the impact of migration upon AMCs (see section 9.3).7. Behaviour on the labour market7.1 Actual migration and behaviourMigration can exert a direct impact on the labour-market participation of stayers when migrants comefrom households which earn their livelihood from family-run economic activities, such as small-scaleagricultural concerns. As we have seen in section 2.1, the migrant is often the main breadwinnerwithin the household, and this gives rise to the need to replace him or her in family-run activities inorder to avoid a reduction in incomes. The book by Ennaji and Sadiqi (2008) analyzes the impact ofthe – predominantly male – migration from Morocco on the women left behind, and it finds that thesewomen tend to assume roles in production activities that were formerly covered by male migrants.Nevertheless, as Ennaji and Sadiqi (2008) argue, “most migrant husbands would refuse to allow theirwives to work outside the home because this work jeopardizes their social role and the image ashousehold bread-winners”. Ennaji and Sadiqi (2008) also provide evidence that migration is associatedwith a change in family structures, as 26.2 percent of the sampled women go back to live with theirparents, who can help them in taking care of the children. 105 Such a change in family structure is104 ILO (2002) shows how the incidence of child work in Middle East and Northern African countries stands at 15 percent, alevel that is lower than most other developing regions, but that nevertheless suggests that child work is far from being absentthere.105 This is so because AMCs are often characterized by “weak transportation and child care infrastructure [that] discouragewomen from going out to work, as does the lack of social support for children or the aged, the burden of whose care falls onwomen” (UNDP, 2006), and the women left behind do not seek employment because of “their inability to combine theirwork outside with duties as mothers and housewives” (Ennaji and Sadiqi, 2008).136