Labour market performance and migration flows - European ...

Chapter IFinal Reportother cases, like Jordan, national official figures are below the World Bank figures (the Central Bankof Jordan, in its Monthly Statistical Bulletin, estimates remittances at 16% of GDP).To date, no economic study has been undertaken to gauge the relevance of either of these twochannels specifically in AMCs, as the endogeneity of remittances with respect to labour marketconditions in the migrant-sending areas prevent us drawing any definitive conclusion on the causalrelationship between remittances and prevailing wages and unemployment levels.In any case, an important issue related to the impact of remittances on the labour market is whoreceives the remittances and the impact of these financial windfalls on labour market behaviour. In thecase of Egypt, in 2006, almost 65% of overseas remittances were sent by spouses and a quarter by offspring.Also, 60% of households receiving remittances had female heads. Households receivingremittances were more likely to be rural (almost 69%). Heads of households receiving remittanceswere less likely to be waged workers and more likely to be out of the labour force. This may reflectthe fact that a large proportion of receiving heads were females (Wahba 2007).77