Diaspora strategies,skilled migrants and human capital enhancement in Jamaica

In an attempt to boost its stock of human capital and access to global flows of investment, knowledge and innovation, the Jamaican state has begun to turn to skilled members of its diaspora as a vital and untapped economic resource. State strategies to accumulate human capital within the diaspora, however, raise questions about the culture of labour markets and their effects on human capital enhancement and the transfer of knowledge. Drawing on the labour market experiences of skilled members of the Jamaican diaspora currently living on the island, I explore the possibilities and limits that skilled diaspora network strategies offer for capturing, transforming and embedding knowledge, innovation and investment capital in Jamaica.     

Labour migration from South and South-East Asia: some policy issues

The rise in migration for employment since the mid-1970s has had serious consequences for many Asian countries. This discussion examines the issues raised by the migration abroad of thousands of skilled workers and the efforts that sending countries have made in recent years to bring the effects of labor migration more closely into line with their development objectives. It also considers several problem areas requiring the attention of policymakers and authorities responsible for the administration of overseas employment policies. It is estimated that between 1976-81 annual labor migrant flows from the 8 major sending countries in Asia increased sevenfold, from a mere 146,400 to over 1 million. The Asian migrant workers tend to be young, male, married (with dependents in the sending country), and better educated than the average home population. Most of them come from rural areas and are predominantly employed in construction and labor. The most distinctive feature of these workers is their concentration in a few blue collar occupations--carpenters, masons, electricians, plumbers, lorry drivers, mechanics, and heavy equipment operators. These production and trnasport workers outnumber the professional and technical workers by anywhere from 3 to 1 (Philippines) to 17 to 1 (Pakistan and Sri Lanka). At the aggregate level labor emigration affects the sending country's economy through its impact on the labor market, on the financial market, and on the market for goods and services. It can be argued that the outflow of a significant proportion of the labor force should lead directly to a rise in labor projectivity in the sending country since capital per worker among those left behind will increase, yet it can also be argued that since migration sifts out the most skilled and experienced workers there will be an erosion of the country's human captial resources. Specific measures have been adopted in most labor sending Asian countries to protect the welfare of migrant workers, to regulate conditions of employment abroad, to restrict the outflow of scarce skills, and to secure new overseas markets for nationals. Despite the efforts of governments to ensure that workers have satisfactory contracts on going abroad, many cases of "contract substitution" have been reported. The present attitude of many governments toward private recruiters seems to reflect both an acknowledgement of their effectiveness in finding job placements overseas and a growing concern to regulate their activities. The present trend seems to be to allow private agencies easier access while exercising greater supervision over those permitted to operate. The impact of labor migration on the labor markets of sending countries has not been uniformly damaging, but most of the countries have adopted 1 kind of policy or another to reduce the outflow of scarce skills. The use of material and other incentives for retaining workers in the country has obvious advantages but is not very widespread.     

The developmental implications of migration from and between small island nations

This article discusses the role of migration in relieving population pressures, thus making continuing development possible, using small nations in the Caribbean and the South Pacific as examples. The Caribbean islands and many Pacific islands have used out-migration to ease population pressures in this century. Surplus labor has been emerging in various Caribbean nations, independent of the international marketing problems of plantation agriculture. Rural populations alienated from plantations have had to make do on questionable and/or remote land. Population surpluses appear to originate in rural areas, but little evidence exists to suggest that those surpluses are the basis for the emigration patterns of the Caribbean islands. Emigration does not solve population problems because when ambitious, skilled workers leave their country, their actions have little to do with the existence of domestic surplus labor and their leaving may do little to facilitate domestic labor absorption. Thus, if mini-states wish to sustain their hopes of economic expansion, they must find the means to employ their surplus labor. Since mainly skilled migrants leave, their going may actually slow development and retard opportunities for labor absorption. Population movements internal to the Caribbean region may further complicate surplus labor and/or population problems. If protective entry requirements impede normal inter-island relations, they may interfere with developmental processes. In general, migration is not a feasible strategy for population control for small island nations. While temporary migration has a more positive impact than other forms of migration, problems do exist. For example, temporary migration 1) can impose significant economic costs on the source-country, and 2) may result in the source country being unable to capitalize on its initial investment in training and education of temporary migrants. In conclusion, import substitution through cooperation between small island nations, production for export where feasible, and more attention to more sophisticated international service linkages hold a better prospect for material progress than relying on the export of surplus populations.     

Talk Is Cheap: The Value of Language in the World Economy-Illustrations from the United States and Quebec

Global economic restructuring modifies the traditional material value of language skills and stands to increasingly fragment labor along class and ethnic lines. Language deskilling, brought about by the international mobility of capital and technological change, has diminished the value of traditionally skilled labor. Yet labor, though weakened economically and politically, is not powerless. Two contrasting instances, examined through a common political-economic perspective, are considered: the U.S. meatpacking industry as exemplified in a Lexington, Nebraska, plant and the labor movement in the national economy of Quebec. These two cases illustrate the unity and diversity found in the contingent and uncertain process of global economic change. The Lexington example illustrates the process by which the language abilities of both immigrant and indigenous labor have been successfully deskilled. The Quebec instance illustrates the capacity of labor to utilize a common language and culture as a mobilization resource to diminish the devaluation of language and secure material gains. Possible future directions of change are considered in each instance.     

Resurgent Irish immigration to the U.S. in the 1980s and early 1990s: a socio-demographic profile

Irish immigration to the US has been motivated traditionally by a lack of employment opportunities at home. With the passage of the US Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, however, Irish immigrants were no longer explicitly favoured. Family reunification became the primary path of entry, which worked against the Irish who had lost their immediate generational link with US residents.
During the severe Irish recession of 1980–85 a resurgence in Irish outflows resulted in a large undocumented Irish population in the US. Most of this population was later legalized as a result of special legislation that targeted the Irish. There have been concerns in Ireland that the outflow in the 1980s, unlike prior flows, included a high proportion of skilled persons, leading some to characterize the outflow as a "new wave".
This article uses US immigration data to assess how the occupational characteristics of recent Irish immigrants compare with prior immigrant cohorts and also examines how Irish immigrants are incorporated into the US economy.
Recent Irish immigrants to the US spanned the occupational spectrum: accountants, engineers, nurses and other professionals found a booming job market in the most advanced sectors of the US economy, while less skilled immigrants found jobs in the informal economy. While the number of entering Irish professionals increased, flows of the less skilled increased even more dramatically, resulting in an overall decline in the occupational selectivity of Irish immigrants.
The 1980–85 Irish recession has been followed by robust growth for more than a decade. Ireland is now experiencing a net inflow of persons, including many Irish professionals returning from the US. However, Ireland continues to experience a net outflow of the young and less skilled which may once again result in a large undocumented Irish presence in the US.     

Immigrant workers in an emigrant economy: an examination of replacement migration in the Middle East

The author investigates human resource shortages in a labor-supplying country, focusing particularly on the case of Jordan. He "examines the growth, characteristics and role of immigrant labour in an erstwhile emigrant economy and assesses the validity of the replacement migration model. Data is presented from the author's survey of some 3,751 work permits issued to foreign workers in Amman between October 1982 and January 1983." It is noted that "replacement migration is only one aspect of a more diffuse pattern of labour inflows which have important implications for the Jordanian economy in general and the labour market in particular." In addition to replacement labor migration, which involves the employment of skilled workers in sectors experiencing domestic labor shortages, the author identifies the roles played by collective contract labor, involving immigrant labor for project-specific work, and secondary labor, involving low-skill work at discriminatory wage rates. The distinctions between these forms of labor migration and their economic implications are discussed. (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)     

Mobile Livelihoods: The Sociocultural Practices of Circular Migrants between Puerto Rico and the United States1

This article focuses on the bilateral flow of people between Puerto Rico and the United States ‐ what has come to be known as circular, commuter, or revolving‐door migration. It documents the migrants' livelihood practices based on a recent field study of population flows between Puerto Rico and the mainland. Specifically, the basic characteristics of multiple movers, one‐time movers and nonmovers residing in Puerto Rico are compared. More broadly, the article assesses the implications of circular migration for Puerto Rican communities on and off the island. The author's basic argument is that the constant displacement of people ‐ both to and from the island ‐ blurs the territorial, linguistic, and juridical boundaries of the Puerto Rican nation. As people expand their means of subsistence across space, they develop multiple attachments to various localities. In the Puerto Rican situation, such mobile livelihoods are easier to establish than in other places because of the free movement of labor and capital between the island and the mainland. The author hypothesizes that circulation does not entail major losses in human capital for most Puerto Ricans, but rather often constitutes an occupational, educational, and linguistic asset.     

WAGE DISCRIMINATION ACROSS ETHNIC GROUPS: EVIDENCE FROM ISRAEL

We investigate wage differentials between ethnic groups in Israel, proposing a new methodology and an illustration based on the latest Israeli census. By using separate wage equations for the various occupations, our methodology allows us to decompose the wage differential into three components: one reflecting human capital differences; one reflecting wage discrimination; and a third indicating occupational segregation. We find that 70 percent of the wage gap is due to segregation, 26 percent to wage discrimination and only 4 percent to human capital differences. Evidence is also found for the existence of duality in the Israeli labor market.     

BACK-LOADED WAGES AND ON-THE-JOB TRAINING IN A FRICTIONAL LABOR MARKET

This paper analyzes the coexistence of on-the-job (general) training and on-the-job search in a frictional labor market where firms post skill-dependent labor contracts to preemptively back-load compensation after training. The back-loaded compensation scheme discourages trained workers' efficient job-to-job transition, as if they accumulated relationship-specific capital, which induces overintensified training among more productive firms. The quantitative analysis predicts that the market equilibrium, relative to the efficiency benchmark, gets more skilled workers (training inefficiency) and less output (allocation inefficiency). It further demonstrates that efficiency loss is moderate due to positive externality and can be improved, as search friction is mitigated. (JEL J24, J31, J64)     

Gender differences in the reemployment status of displaced workers human capital as signals that mitigate effects of bias

Data from the Current Population Survey's Displaced Workers Supplement for year 2000 indicate that after job loss, women become reemployed less frequently than do men. To explain this difference, we test sets of hypotheses derived from Human Capital and Gender Queuing theories. The results support the theory that in their hiring of displaced workers, employers tend to place men in a higher labor queue than women. Net of human capital factors, women are significantly less likely than men to be reemployed following the loss of a job. However, results also show that for women only, certain human capital characteristics substantially improve their reemployment chances. Unmarried women displaced from full-time and white-collar high-level occupations were significantly more likely to become reemployed than were women without these characteristics. The results suggest that queuing processes interact with human capital characteristics in a gender specific manner. Because employers lack perfect information about job applicants, they rely on certain human capital characteristics that signal the extent to which women in the labor market depart from prevailing negative stereotypes about women workers. To employers, unmarried women displaced from full-time managerial and professional jobs may appear more productive and committed to work than do women lacking these types of human capital. Thus, the possession of certain types of human capital among women can mitigate the effects of gender bias in the hiring of displaced labor.     

BRAIN DRAIN IN GLOBALIZATION: A GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM ANALYSIS FROM THE SENDING COUNTRIES' PERSPECTIVE

According to the economic literature, high‐skilled emigration may either harm or benefit developing economies. Recent research highlighted several positive and negative channels through which the brain drain operates. This paper aims at evaluating the relative magnitudes of various brain drain channels and quantifying their global impact on migrants' sending countries. For this purpose, we develop a 10‐region general equilibrium model of the world economy characterized by overlapping‐generations dynamics. Our findings suggest that the short‐run impact of brain drain on resident human capital is extremely crucial, as it affects not only the number of high‐skilled workers available to domestic production, but also the sending economy's capacity to innovate/adopt modern technologies. This latter effect is particularly important in globalization, where capital investments are made in places with high production efficiencies. Hence, despite positive feedback effects, those countries facing prevalent high‐skilled emigration are the most candid victims to brain drain. (JEL F22, J24, O57)     

Unlocking the Talents‐in‐Waiting: Case Study Analysis of Chinese and Indian High‐Skilled Migrants in South Australia

Nations across the world and through time have used skilled migration mechanisms to boost economic growth and workforce competitiveness. However, effectively using these talents from abroad and transforming this collective human capital into valuable social capital is an on‐going challenge. This study applies a case study analysis of skilled migrants from China and India in South Australia and finds that there are multiple barriers to the successful integration of skilled migrants. These barriers tend to block the effective utilization of migrants’ skills and reduce the ability to advance social capital in the community. The study concludes by putting forward various policy recommendations to overcome these obstacles and outlines ideas for an effective application of a skilled migrant programme.     

Transformations of employment and occupation patterns in Taiwan's transition to an information society

This study investigates the employment and occupation patterns that have emerged as Taiwan has evolved into an information society. The study shows that the unemployment problem that arose after Taiwan's transformation to an information society is closely related to the inability of information-intensive industries (particularly information-intensive manufacturing) to absorb the labor released from labor-intensive industries. Second, the changing trends in occupation structure under the transformation to an information economy have made Taiwan's labor market unbalanced, benefiting workers who are more highly skilled in information, are more professional, and have higher levels of education. This state of unbalance negatively affects inequality and bias in the labor market.     

Brazil in the Transition Towards Knowledge Economy: Between Qualification and Internationalization of Human Capital

The last decades has been characterized by an increasing relevance of knowledge and innovation into the economic system, becoming two crucial factors in the global competition. Therefore, qualified human capital has turn to be an essential strategic factor strongly needed by advanced and emerging economies. The paper focuses on the international competition for skilled professionals that have increased more and more during the years, bringing in the field new economic actors. In particular, the article investigates the rising importance of Brazil in the international talents’ competition, highlighting the current features of the local labour markets in the attempt to analyse the major elements of strength and weakness that characterizes the Brazilian scientific and economic system. To this end, the authors provide an analysis of the qualified migrants inflow and outflow, having the aim of a deeper comprehension of the attraction capability of Brazil.     

INDUSTRIAL DYNAMICS AND THE NEOCLASSICAL GROWTH MODEL

This paper studies industry-level dynamics and demonstrates the ability of a modified neoclassical growth model to capture a range of empirical facts. The paper begins by using U.S. data to document skilled and unskilled labor trends within industry sector classifications as well as industry sector output trends. Using Current Population Survey data from 1968 to 2004, it is shown that the ratio of skilled workers to unskilled workers employed has risen in all industries. The absolute increase in this ratio was larger in the more skilled industries, while the growth rate was larger in the less skilled industries. Furthermore, using national income account data, it is shown that relatively high-skilled industries have accounted for an increasing share of output over time. A version of the neoclassical growth model is then constructed to match these observations. One important feature of this model is a structure that introduces new goods into the economy at each moment of time. The model is able to capture a rich set of labor market movements between sectors and between skill levels as well as changes in the relative output shares across industries, yet preserves many nice features of the neoclassical growth model. ( JEL E13, J20, 030)     

Geographical differentials in the socioeconomic status of Puerto Ricans: human capital variations and labor market characteristics

"This article examines the role of human capital and labor market characteristics in explaining geographical and individual differentials in socioeconomic outcomes of Puerto Rican women [in the United States]. The better socioeconomic performance of Puerto Ricans outside the Northeast can be in part related to their larger amount of human capital. Labor market characteristics also play a role, but their effects are generally small. Net of other characteristics, Northeast residence reduces labor force participation, increases female headship, but reduces welfare use. Of all groups examined, recent migrants from Puerto Rico located in the Northeast show the poorest socioeconomic outcomes."     

Economic achievement of immigrants in Japan: Examining the role of country-of-origin and host-country-specific human capital in an inflexible labor market

The economic integration of immigrants is a salient social issue in Japan. Although the US immigration literature has stressed the importance of host-country-specific human capital over country-of-origin human capital for immigrants, previous studies in Japan have shown mixed results about the effects of these two types of human capital on the economic integration of immigrants. The mixed results might be because previous studies focused on only specific immigrant groups (with regard to nationalities, cities, and visa status), human capital variables, and dimensions of economic achievements in the Japanese labor market. The segmented nature of the Japanese labor market structure and immigration policies create different pathways to “economic achievements” of immigrants depending on the dimension of “economic achievements” studied. By conducting a nationally representative social survey of Japanese immigrants, we examined the association between the two types of human capital (i.e., country-of-origin and host-country-specific) and the three indicators of labor market success: employment status and firm size, occupational status, and income. Our results indicate that host-country-specific human capital in the form of higher education and language proficiency is important for all three indicators of economic achievement in Japan, while country-of-origin human capital in the form of higher education and vocational skills is transferable to some extent. Our results suggest that the significance of human capital in immigrants' economic success is determined not only by the structure of the labor market but also by immigration policies.     

IMPORTED CAPITAL INPUT,ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY,AND FIRM PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE FROM FIRM‐LEVEL DATA

Importing capital inputs has been recognized as a critical channel for technology transfer across countries. We examine whether and to what extent the productive impact of imported capital varies with firms' abilities to absorb new technologies using ordinary least squares, instrumental variable, and threshold regression estimators. We find that firms with higher absorptive capacity gain significantly more from importing foreign capital. Our results also suggest a threshold for such benefits. Furthermore, the productive contribution of skilled labor is significantly higher in firms that import foreign capital. Developing policies to augment absorptive capacity will help firms in developing countries to realize benefits associated with imported capital. (JEL F14, D24, L24, O33)     

A DUAL DEFINITION FOR THE FACTOR CONTENT OF TRADE AND ITS EFFECT ON FACTOR REWARDS IN US MANUFACTURING SECTOR

We introduce a dual definition of the Factor Content of Trade (FCT) using the concept of the Equivalent Autarky Equilibrium. Estimating a symmetric normalized quadratic revenue function for the U.S. manufacturing sector between 1965 and 1991, we find that the FCT for capital is positive, while the FCT for skilled and unskilled labor is negative, suggesting that the Leontief Paradox is not present. Then the growth rate of the factor rewards is decomposed to the FCT, endowments, and technological change effects. We find that technological change is the most important determinant in explaining wage inequality between skilled and unskilled labor. (JEL F11, F16, J31)     

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION

Two questions are addressed in this paper. (A) Why do labor unions and certain employer organizations respectively promote and impede minimum wage legislation? (B) Do these groups have significant impacts on minimum wages? Question (A) is examined in the context of models that identify the economic self-interest of unionized skilled workers and capitalists in legal wage floors. Question (B) is approached by a median legislator utility maximization model that leads to Tobit estimation of the relationship between state minimum wage rates and measures of statewide organized labor and capital and average hourly earnings.