| Abstract: | Colombia has traditionally been classified as a net exporter of manpower. However, the US's restrictions on immigration and the economic crisis in Venezuela, Colombia's sister republic, have affected both the volume and composition of emigration. It could be initially concluded that despite domestic difficulties and external problems, favorable economic prospects explain the present reduced outflow of immigrants. On the basis of a sample survey of applications taken during the last 2 years, 94% of arrivals were classified as professionals and technicians; the remainder were administrative workers. This achievement (which contrasts with high levels of unemployment among Colombian professionals) reflects new technological innovations. It appears that while Colombia exports engineers, it imports engineering. Opinion surveys conducted among employers, migrants, and educational authorities show that costs are not fully compensated by the migrant's improved standard of living in the country of destination, even if he has sent remittances to his country of origin. Investments in education and training yield no returns to the country if the recipient emigrates. The advantages of emigration, identified in the same surveys, include 1) reduction in internal pressure on the labor market, 2) improvement in the incomes of those who do not emigrate, and 3) resolution of economic problems for migrants. The Social Economics Plan implemented by the current government indirectly affects migratory processes by focusing on: 1) eradication of poverty; 2) the National Rehabilitation Plan, by which regional growth is stimulated in poor and economically precarious districts; and 3) the Integral Rural Development Plan which aims to eradicate poverty and improve production and commercialization in small-holding areas. The author concludes that the effects of migration on social structures must be examined in depth. |
