The Human Capital Characteristics and Household Living Standards of Returning International Migrants in Eastern and Southern Africa

Africa’s experience with return migration is not new. However, few empirical studies have examined the social and economic characteristics of returning migrants within the continent. In this study, the human capital endowments and household living standards of returning migrants in Uganda and South Africa are examined using recently available data. The study compares returnees in both countries with immigrants as well as the native‐born population with no international migration experience. It also investigates how factors such as previous country of residence, year of arrival, and other demographic factors predict levels of education and living standards among returning migrants. In Uganda, the results show that recently arrived returning migrants had better educational endowments than both immigrants and non‐migrants. Migrants who returned to Uganda following the fall of Idi Amin’s regime had the lowest educational levels and lowest living standards compared to other returnees. Furthermore, the results indicate that previous residence in countries in the West was associated with four additional years of schooling while returning migrants arriving from other African countries had the lowest levels of schooling among returning migrants. In South Africa, the study finds that returnees arriving almost immediately following the end of Apartheid had the highest levels of education compared to either immigrants or non‐migrants. Returnees on average also had the highest household living standards in South Africa. Among South African immigrants, the results indicate that those arriving towards the end of the century had lower educational endowments compared to immigrants who arrived in the country two to four years after the end of Apartheid.     

New Chinese Migrants in Italy

Italy joined the group of European nations with a positive migratory balance in 1980, but now the presence of an immigrant workforce is definitely embedded in the Italian development model. The shift from a net emigration to net immigration country occurred when the internal migration from southern Italy, which had provided the factories in northern Italy with the necessary manpower for their economic development, was coming to an end, and productive decentralization was beginning with the re‐emergence of small businesses. Twenty years later, small dynamic businesses that are mainly clustered in industrial districts specializing in local production are a distinctive feature of the Italian economy to the extent that among industrialized countries Italy counts the largest number of small businesses and the lowest number of employees per business (Accornero, 2000). Starting from the 1980s, opportunities for a low‐skilled labour force opened for new migrants mainly in these productive activities. In addition, throughout the 1980s and the 1990s niche opportunities for self‐employment in workshops producing for Italian suppliers were also appearing or expanding. Among other migrant groups arriving in Italy were those of Chinese origin. The crucial time for the recent migration flow from China to Italy — either directly or via other European countries, such as France and Holland — can be dated from the early 1980s. Since then, a succession of unskilled workers originating almost exclusively from the south‐eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang arrived in the country, after the family‐based chains of emigration that had almost come to a halt during the years of the Cultural Revolution had again been revitalized. The number of immigrants of Chinese origin has grown rapidly over the last 20 years, as has the number of businesses owned by the Chinese. By today, the Chinese migrant community shows the strongest entrepreneurial aptitude, and, according to recent national data, account for the largest number of small business owners among non‐European Union (EU) immigrants in Italy. Unlike the situation in most of the western European countries, such as Great Britain and the Netherlands, where the Chinese are active mainly in the catering service, in Italy their main areas of activity are the production of ready‐to‐wear garments, leather garments and bags, and woollen sweaters. Until recently, these seemed to be the only productive sectors open to Chinese immigrants. However, new trends are emerging in the employment patterns of the Chinese in Italy. The two most striking new features are the expansion from performing only simple manufacturing tasks for Italian suppliers to actually managing the entire productive process in the garment sector, and the growing employment in Italian firms, especially in the dynamic industrial districts where migrants of other origins were already working in large numbers.     

Social effects of migration in receiving countries

This paper examines the impact of post-1945 migration into Western, Middle, and Northern Europe from Southern Europe, Turkey, and Northern Africa, and migration to the traditional immigration countries by Asian and Latin American immigrants, on the social structures of receiving countries. Between 1955 and 1974, 1) traditional migration to the US and Australia became less important for European countries while traditional receiving countries accepted many immigrants from developing countries; and 2) rapid economic revival in Western and Northern Europe caused a considerable labor shortage which was filled by migrant workers especially from Southern Europe, Turkey, and Northern Africa, who stayed only until they reached their economic goals. Since 1974, job vacancies have declined and unemployment has soared. This employment crisis caused some migrants 1) to return to their countries of origin, 2) to bring the rest of their families to the receiving country, or 3) to lengthen their stay considerably. The number of refugees has also significantly increased since the mid-970s, as has the number of illegal migrants. After the mid-1970s, Europe began to experience integration problems. The different aspects of the impact of migration on social structures include 1) improvement of the housing situation for foreigners, 2) teaching migrants the language of the receiving country, 3) solving the unemployment problem of unskilled migrants, 4) improvement of educational and vocational qualifications of 2nd generation migrants, 5) development of programs to help unemployed wives of migrants to learn the language and meet indigenous women, 6) encouraging migrants to maintain their cultural identity and assisting them with reintegration if they return to their original country, 7) coping with the problems of refugees, and 8) solving the problems of illegal migration. Almost all receiving countries now severely restrict further immigration. [Those policies should result in improved development of aid policies towards sending countries. Immigration from other countries to those of the European Economic community should be limited to that for humanitarian reasons.     

Multiple Migration and Use of Ties: Bangladeshis in Italy and Beyond

This article analyses previous multiple migratory trajectories of Bangladeshi first generation migrants before their arrival in Italy and within Italy. It also uncovers the role of social networks and transnational ties in their multiple migrations. The findings show that their first international migration was mainly shaped by their family’s socio-economic condition and transnational kinship networks. They already had someone from their family or close relatives in the preferred country with whom they were connected. Their onward relocations until arriving in Italy, in most cases, was to achieve the socio-economic success and legal status that they had failed to attain in their first and subsequent destinations, but the transnational connections with friends or acquaintances are a key resource facilitating these remigrations. Bangladeshis who arrived in Italy from various countries mostly had networks, either with someone from their local district in Bangladesh or with their earlier fellow migrants who moved to Italy before them.     

Chinese Immigrants in the U.S. Labor Market: Effects of Post‐Tiananmen Immigration Policy1

The Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 and ensuing government crackdown affected Chinese nationals not only at home but also around the world. The U.S. government responded to the events in China by enacting multiple measures to protect Chinese nationals present in the United States. It first suspended all forced departures among Chinese nationals present in the country as of June 1989 and later gave them authorization to work legally. The Chinese Student Protection Act, passed in October 1992, made those Chinese nationals eligible for lawful permanent resident status. These actions applied to about 80,000 Chinese nationals residing in the United States on student or other temporary visas or illegally. Receiving permission to work legally and then a green card is likely to have affected recipients’ labor market outcomes. This study uses 1990 and 2000 census data to examine employment and earnings among Chinese immigrants who were likely beneficiaries of the U.S. government’s actions. Relative to immigrants from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea – countries not covered by the post‐Tiananmen immigration policy measures – highly educated immigrants from mainland China experienced significant employment and earnings gains during the 1990s. Chinese immigrants who arrived in the U.S in time to benefit from the measures also had higher relative earnings in 2000 than Chinese immigrants who arrived too late to benefit. The results suggest that getting legal work status and then a green card has a significant positive effect on skilled migrants’ labor market outcomes.     

The evolution of French immigration policy after May 1981

Changes and continuities in French immigration policies, following the assumption of power by the socialist government in 1981, are described. Attention is focused on the political implications of immigration and on the role of immigrants in French politics. Efforts to restrict immigration to France were initiated in 1931, but clandestine immigration, especially from Portugal, remained largely unchecked for 4 decades. In the early 1970s, stricter enforcement measures were adopted, but these measures met with considerable international and national opposition. In 1977, the government altered its approach to immigration by offering financial aid to help illegal migrants return to their countries of origin. These efforts met with little success, and in 1980 the government initiated measures to promote the integration of immigrants into French society. The socialistic government basically adhered to the immigration policies of the preceding government. The current government seeks: 1) to stop further illegal immigration through the intensification of border controls, 2) to grant amnesty to illegal aliens who currently reside in the country and who meet certain employment requirements, 3) to penalize employers who hire illegal aliens or who contract to bring illegal aliens into the country, and 4) to improve living conditions for legal immigrants. The politicalization of immigration has increased in recent years. Current issues center on the human and political rights of migrants and on arbitary administrative efforts to control immigration. It was expected that migrants would acquire political rights after the 1981 election; however, this expectation was not realized, and the political status of immigrants remains an unsettled issue. Consequently migrants have become pawns in the political struggle between different groups in the population both at the national and the local level. Immigration threatens to become an explosive issue. At the same time, migrants themselves are playing an increasingly prominent role in political activities, such as rent strikes and protest movements.     

One century of foreign immigration to the United States: 1880-1979

Due to declining fertility rates and increased numbers of immigrants, legal foreign immigration now comprises 1/4 of the US's annual population growth. This article uses 1900-1979 Immigration and Naturalization Service data on immigrants' intended destination to examine immigration policy and its effect on immigrants and the American people. From the US's beginnings to the 1880s, immigrants came mainly from Great Britain, Germany, and other Northern and Western European countries, in the 1890s; over 70% of immigrants came from Italy, Austria, Hungary, Russia, and Germany. Immigration had peaked at over 1 million persons a year at the outbreak of World War I, then declined sharply, and rose again greatly during the first 2 decades of the 20th Century. The first significant legislation to restrict ethnic groups was in the early 1880s with the Chinese Exclusion Act; In 1924, Congress passed the 2nd Immigration and Naturalization Act which used the 1890 census to set quotas for ethnic groups, and later used the 1920 census to fix quotas in the national origins system; both pieces of legislation favored Northern and Western Europeans. Immigration declined drastically during the 1930s and early 1940s, but the Displaced Persons Act, the War Brides Act, and 1950s legislation allowed more Asian refugees and some other ethnic groups to enter the country. The nationality origins quotas were eliminated in 1965, and were followed by dramatic changes in immigration character as persons from formerly low quota nations flooded into the US. 1976 and 1978 legislation made immigration still more equitable, and the Refugee Act of 1980 allowed admittance of 50,000 refugees with no regard for geographic or ideological biases. A preference system, in operation since 1924, has favored relatives of citizens and immigrants with certain skills. Females presently outnumber male immigrants, average immigrant age is 26.2 years, and over 1/2 of the immigrants since 1950 have been housewives, children, or others with no occupation. In the 1970s, 1 in 10 immigrants was a professional or technical worker, probably from Asia. In 1900, most immigrants headed for mainly northern, industrialized cities, especially New York. In recent years, too destinations have included New York, California, Washington, Texas, and Florida. Throughout the century, 3/5 immigrants went to only 5 states, so many states have received very few immigrants since 1900. Due to the amount spent on receiving refugees, and economic and job problems, many Americans think immigration should be greatly limited. Today's 1 million legal and illegal immigrants will continue to change the composition of the American population, as the long established Northern and Western European population declines.     

Migration in Southern Europe and the Case of Greece

In recent decades, the southern European countries of Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Greece have all undergone transformation from senders to receivers of migrants. On the basis of this common feature, they have been grouped together in recent discussions of migration experiences and prospects. However, as revealed in comparisons made possible by the newly available data set from Greece's first regularization programme, the migration experience of Greece departs radically from that of other southern European countries. To an extent unparalleled in southern Europe, Greece has been subject to an immigration impact as the result of the collapse of communist regimes in Eastern Europe, some of which share borders with Greece. Characteristics of Greece's major source countries differ from those of other countries of southern Europe (1) in that they are former communist countries that appear to have a long and difficult road of economic transition ahead, (2) with respect to proximity, and (3) in terms of dominance of a single source country. These differences have important implications for future patterns of migration and of articulation of the labour markets of receiving countries with those of specific sending countries.     

Flows of People and Knowledge between Italy and Australia

This article analyses 20 years of bilateral peoples' flows between Italy and Australia using a unique set of data collected by Australia's Department of Immigration and Citizenship. This period has witnessed substantial changes in the composition of migration between the two countries. Against a historical background where migration is mostly composed of unskilled Italians relocating to Australia, the past two decades have seen a progressive increase in the arrival of young and highly skilled/qualified Italians on a short‐term basis. Conversely, there has been an increase in older Australians moving to or visiting Italy for work. Such changes have affected the bilateral skill flows, whose relevance has increased as globalization forces have made international transport easier and cheaper. Australia remains a “magnet” for Italians, and, unlike the historical origin of Italy's early immigrants, it now enjoys a net inflow of highly skilled labour.     

The Emergence of Pro-Regularization Movements in Western Europe

Contrary to the image conveyed by existing research on irregular migrants as powerless and exploited victims of restrictive immigration policies, irregular migrants in some European countries display a strong potential for collective action. In France, Spain and Switzerland since the mid‐1990s pro‐regularization movements have emerged which have claimed the collective regularization of illegal migrants. At the centre of these new social movements were illegal migrants from sub‐saharan Africa, Latin America and former Yugoslavia who went public and claimed a legal residence status. This article starts form the assumption that despite important differences between the three countries, they share several central characteristics which enabled the emergence of these pro‐regularization movements. In order to identify these pre‐conditions, three country studies, based on an innovative social movement research approach, were carried out. The findings of the country studies show that the findings of the country studies shows that in the three countries the same specific preconditions existed which encouraged the emergence of the pro‐regularization movements.     

Best Practice Options: Albania

The Cooperative Efforts to Manage Emigration (CEME) site visit to Italy and Albania – organized in cooperation with the Centro Studi di Politica Internazionale (CeSPI), an Italian independent research institute – took place in June 2002. Albania is a country of 3.1 million people with a GDP of $4.1 billion that switched in the early 1990s, after 45 years of communism, from economic autarky to a peculiar form of market economy, and experienced some of the world’s highest emigration rates in the 1990s. Some 600,000 to 700,000 Albanians, or almost one–fourth of Albanians, and half of Albanian professionals, emigrated. As a result, the labour force is only 38 per cent of the population, versus 50 per cent in most industrial countries (UNDP, 1996, 2000). The major destinations of Albanian migrants in the 1990s were Greece, which had 400,000 to 600,000 Albanians in 2002, and Italy, which had 144,000 legal residents and probably some tens of thousands illegals at the end of 2001. 1 The Albanian Government estimates that about half of the Albanians in Greece are legal residents. There are also about 100,000 Albanians in Switzerland, the UK, Germany, and other Western European countries.
Many Albanians have become legal residents of Greece and Italy as a result of regularization–legalization programmes. Albania is also a transit point for third country nationals attempting to reach the rest of Europe via Albania. Of particular interest to the CEME members were efforts by the Italian and Albanian governments to cooperate in managing the flows of Albanian and transit migrants. When the CEME visit was made, Albania was experiencing rapid, yet unbalanced economic growth as a result of $615 million in remittances from Albanians abroad (estimates: Bank of Albania annual report, 2001), and aid from the European Union (EU) and other sources. The spending of remittances and aid has fuelled a building boom, but there was no clear sense of how Albania would use the window of opportunity opened by remittances and aid to develop a viable economy. The optimistic scenario is that remittances and investments from Albanians abroad will produce an economic take off based on value–added food production and tourism in the “Switzerland of the Balkans”. The pessimistic scenario is that corruption and divided government will prevent the development of a successful economic strategy, and that low wages, high unemployment, and inadequate services such as health care and education will prompt the continued emigration of young and educated Albanians. Potential best practices include: joint Italian–Albanian marine patrols to discourage smuggling and trafficking in small “fast boats”; Italy granting Albania at least 6,000 work visas a year to publicize that there is a legal way to work in Italy, helping to discourage illegal migration; and bilateral and international assistance to enable Albania to develop laws and institutions to deal with foreigners transiting Albania, and foreigners requesting asylum in Albania. Albania does not, on the other hand, appear to be a best practice in managing the use of remittances to aid economic development. Although remittances play an important role in basic subsistence and construction of housing, there have been fewer efforts to encourage investment of these funds in infrastructure or productive activities. The banking system needs substantial reform to become a venue for transfer of remittances and source of credit for enterprise development. Albania would benefit from a more systematic examination of the lessons learned in other countries about the investment of remittances for economic development.     

Towards a Coherent Policy of Co–Development

This paper seeks to demonstrate the major benefits that a dedicated policy of co–development can bring to three major actors affected by immigration: receiving states, countries of origin, and the immigrants themselves. True co–development involves sustained cooperation between receiving nations and source nations in the management of both legal and illegal migratory flows. At the same time, it fosters the economic and demographic development of both the sending and the receiving country. This cooperation is based in large measure on understanding that, more than ever before, the best migration policy for developed nations is one that seeks not to block, but to smoothly regulate the circulation and re–circulation of the majority of foreigners and immigrants. As a result, Northern countries will be able to concentrate the state’s limited control resources on selected targets such as criminals, delinquents, and migrants arrested multiple times for unauthorized entry or residence. Developed nations must recognize that the vast majority of immigrants wish to retain close links to their country of origin, and with drastically improved transportation and communication links, most migrants are increasingly able to do so. Northern states should adapt policies that, for the most part, accommodate immigrants’ wishes to maintain active ties to their homeland. Such measures are generally in the best interests of the receiving countries, source countries, and of course, the immigrants themselves. The various problems faced by these three main actors regarding migration as they seek to pursue activities in their best interest is considered, followed by the advantages that a policy of co–development has for these actors: for receiving nations in terms of meeting labour force needs, reducing demographic problems, and controlling illegal immigration; and for source countries in terms of increased access to visas, increased amounts and efficacy of remittances, and the return and re–circulation of skilled and seasonal workers, and retirees. The interests of the immigrants themselves will be considered at various points throughout the discussion, in the context of the effects that the various policies of receiving and sending countries will have on them.     

Releasing the development potential of return migration: the case of Senegal

Migration has long been a permanent part of Senegal's history. Indeed, as a land of migrants and immigrants, Senegal has always been an important pole of West African immigration because of its colonial heritage, political stability and economic growth which, until the mid-seventies, had been relatively good.
Nonetheless, events of the past few decades have induced changes in migration. Continuing desertification, globalization of the economy and accelerated pauperization have intensified the human exodus. The emergence of world markets has stimulated demand for both cheap and highly skilled labour. In general, Senegalese who left the country did so in search of work. These migrations have not been limited to a South-North direction but also, and increasingly, to a South-South one. France, Côte d'Ivoire and Gabon have long been countries of call for Senegalese workers.
This article seeks to evaluate the manner in which Senegal has undertaken to develop the potential of its returning migrants, to better assess the effects of the return and reinsertion of these migrants within the present context of restrictions on the flow of migrants.
The first section presents the profile of Senegalese migrants and then evaluates what may be described as the "French-Senegalese" experience. The latter offers an example of concerted efforts to ensure the reintegration and participation of returning migrants in the economic development of their country of origin.
The second section reviews Senegal's official policies for the protection and promotion of Senegalese living abroad and assesses the Programme of Support to Migrant Workers.
The third section presents recommendations for actions which could accompany migrants returning to their countries of origin and facilitate their reinsertion in the current economic and social environment.     

Immigrant Trip Duration: The Case of Immigrants from Western Mexico1

This article uses data from the Mexican Migration Project to determine the factors that affect how long Mexican immigrants stay in the United States. Based on the estimates of a discrete‐time hazard model, the most important predictors of duration are the economic opportunities for immigrants in the United States, the household resources before migration, and the opportunities available at the immigrant's community of origin. The article also finds longer trip duration after the Immigration Reform and Control Act than in previous years and important differences between male and female migrants.     

Changing patterns of migration in the Adriatic region

International migration in the Adriatic countries of Albania, Greece, Italy, San Marino, and Yugoslavia is briefly examined using data from official and other published sources. The main types of migratory movements identified by the author within the region are "1) economically motivated migration (legal and clandestine); 2) immigration of refugees for resettlement; 3) immigration with the scope of final resettlement in a third country (transit movements); [and] 4) return migration by former emigrants."     

Swedish migration policy liberalization and new immigrant entrepreneurs

Sweden has allowed immigrants from any country to obtain residence permits for entrepreneurship since 2008. The aim of this study was to explore the outcome of this policy. The study adds time perspective and superdiversity and operationalizes the mixed embeddedness framework to facilitate a quantitative study on three levels of analysis. Detailed register data for two cohorts of immigrants—those who arrived four years before and those who arrived four years after the reform—are used. The results confirm the usefulness of the mixed embeddedness model, that is the institutional regulative context, economic and social context, and individual resources, in the analysis of immigrant entrepreneurship. However, the study shows that the propensity to engage in entrepreneurship is more affected for refugees and students than for migrants with a residence permit for work and entrepreneurship. This indicates a need for further facilitating the process to immigrate for entrepreneurial reasons.     

When Will the Russians Come? On Post‐Soviet Immigration and Integration in Sweden

The focus of this paper is one of the paradoxes of international migration: the unexpectedly low level of migration between neighbouring countries with large macro‐economic differentials; in this case migration from the former Soviet republics to Sweden. In line with Faist (2000) , one assumption in the study is that the dynamics of international migration are strongly influenced by the emergence of a transnational social space. Based on a database (ASTRID) containing individual information about all residents in Sweden for the period 1986–2003, the study includes an analysis of migration in relation to the transnational social space ‐‐ its bridging and adaptive functions ‐‐ including labour market integration, family situation, intermarriage, population circulation and the spatial clustering of immigrants. The study reveals an over‐representation of female immigrants and a high frequency of intermarriage among women migrants. Moreover, a changing migrant composition over the past decades was found, including a growing number of students, whereas the empirical analyses indicate a rather weak labour market position among immigrants from former Soviet republics. However, the position of recently arrived migrants has been enhanced over time, and migrants who stay for longer periods attain a stronger position on the labour market. The analyses also show an increasing number of highly educated persons among immigrants from the former Soviet republics. Furthermore, migrants from the former Soviet republics who move to Sweden tend to remain rather than return. In addition, the empirical analysis shows only minor tendencies of spatial clustering among the migrants. In sum, the study indicates that the lack of a more developed transnational social space may explain the rather low level of migration but also that the changing mobility patterns could represent an initial phase of a denser transnational social space that may trigger higher migration rates between the former Soviet republics and Sweden in the near future.     

Negative Assimilation: How Immigrants Experience Economic Mobility in Japan

This paper examines the economic mobility of foreign migrants in Japan. In a country that is largely regarded as homogeneous and closed to outsiders, how and to what extent do immigrants achieve economic success? A survey conducted by the authors revealed that the conventional assimilationist perspective does not fully explain immigrants’ economic success in Japan. Migrants from the West experience what Chiswick and Miller ( 2011 ) refer to as “negative assimilation.” That is, their earnings decline over time in Japan. While negative assimilation was not clearly observed among immigrants from neighboring Asian countries, wages among them did not increase with the length of their stay in Japan. For both groups, the skills they brought from abroad were found to be largely accountable for their economic success, while locally specific human capital, such as education acquired in the host society, did not contribute to their earnings.     

Work,Refuge, Transit: An Emerging Pattern of Irregular Immigration South and East of the Mediterranean

Southern and Eastern Mediterranean (SEM) countries have recently turned into receivers of migrants, but they have neither the institutions nor the policies that would allow them to integrate migrants. Therefore, most migrants in SEM countries found themselves in irregular situation. Using a variety of statistical sources, official and non‐official, the article establishes that out of 5.6 million immigrants living in SEM countries in the mid‐2000s, a minimum of 3.6 would be in irregular situation. They belong to three categories: approximately 2 million migrant workers attracted by SEM labour markets where they are employed in the informal sector with no work permit, 1.5 million de facto refugees who cannot obtain the status of refugee and are waiting for resettlement in a third country or return to their homes, and less than 200,000 transit migrants initially bound for Europe, which they are unable to reach for lack of visa. While their reasons to be stranded in the SEM differ, these three categories share the same vulnerable conditions, with no legal access to work, services, or protection.     

Electoral turnout of foreign-born residents in Chile: an analysis with data from the administrative census and opinion polls

Based on an administrative census of the 267,116 migrants registered for the 2017 presidential elections and a survey applied to 4771 migrants, we conclude that (1) the electoral participation of migrants shows a significant gender gap, with women participating in a higher proportion; (2) migrants who registered earlier in the electoral registers, are more likely to vote compared to the rest; (3) when migrants come from countries that implement compulsory voting, they increase their likelihood of voting in the receiving country; (4) the declaration of wanting to remain in Chile and not return to their countries of origin or migrate to another country increases the probability of voting, and the same happens with married migrants, with Chilean children, with a Chilean partner, and with a better economic situation; (5) social capital has a positive influence on electoral participation.