According to estimates provided by the united nation, the number of international migrants has increased from about 82 million to over 190 million from 1970 to 2005. During the same period global export’s volumes underwent a major expansion while the foreign direct investment, which is determined using the U.S dollar, received more than 100% growth in the 1970 level to 2000.
Over the last decades, international migration has greatly attracted a lot of attention although there has been slow rate of expansion on how people move internationally (Borjas, 1989).
Various attempts have been made in barricading borders and this has shown that the borders may not be dominant limiting factors in reducing international immigration expansion. Controlling irregular immigration has become a very hard task to handle, both locally and internationally.
Each year many people worldwide leave their home countries with prospects of getting new jobs. Some are not looking for jobs but better working conditions and in some instances, they are propelled by insecurity and poverty to look for any work. Migration in search of labor is a major globalization feature and it creates a very big impact to the world economy (Boyd, 1989).
In 2005, it was estimated that migrant workers every year send to their home countries about US$250 billion or US$160 billion with informal remittance in order to cater for their family’s and community’s needs. Such money also helps in boosting the economic prosperity and growth of the host countries.
Currently a global consensus has been reached on how labor migration contributes to development and growth of both destination and home countries. However, barriers have been put in place to check movement between labor market demands and possible immigrations for foreign labor in the host nations.
The global labor migration policies that fail to meet the needs of human rights can put a lot of pressure on individual immigrants as well as their societies (Ethier, 1986). Studies done have revealed that 10-15% of current migrations involve immigrants at irregular situations who enter or work in other countries without the necessary authorization.
In such cases, individual who opt to use irregular immigration expose themselves to very high degrees of abuse of their human rights, forced labor and exploitation. Hence, the today’s global challenge lies in formulating mechanisms and policies of managing and regulating labor migration and ensuring that it creates a positive development in the host and home countries as well as the migrant’s wellbeing.
In situations where migrants find themselves in risky conditions, I LO comes in to protect them and improve their working conditions (Friedberg, 1995).
The body has been in operation since 1919.ILO is entrusted with the mandate of controlling the entire workers world as well as structuring rules that cover their competencies. In addition, it plays a central and crucial role in promoting effective use of policies that minimize risks and maximize benefits in work-based migration.
There is need to develop and extend the already undertaken research on migration of skilled international laborers as global international cities keep on attracting big flows of corporate power and capital. The research should be undertaken within the context the globe verses the cities, more particularly on banking and international nance.
Cities such as New York, London and Tokyo have increased their Streng in holding the banking industry and global nance, they have discovered the importance of being global market players by attracting skilled workers (Mahroum, 2000).
The global cities command and control the global economy, which is based up their success. In particular, they control spatial organizations in new international divisions and transnational corporations strategies. Urban hierarchy is becoming central to control and accumulation of capital since corporate power and decision-making have rapidly been increasing in the global cities’ headquarters.
Within the banking industry in particular, the skilled international migration workers have greatly helped the city of London in maintaining its local labor market. The migrants have helped the city in going global by creating parallels to its major functions as a major capital corporate.
The city has also become a social center of nancial service in the corporate global networks with a very big worker’s through flow from different country where issues can be marketed, deals made, syndicates established and deals made.
There has been an increase in skilled international workers as a result of globalization in nancial capital. This effect has been felt within investment banking using three main interlocking mechanisms; exchange expansion, emergence of international nancial system and producer service internationalization.
Skilled international migrations play a very critical role in processes of global labor market in the nancial service industry in which corporate transactions, face-to-face communication, “dealing, and wheeling” perform great roles. In securities industries and investment, banking the labor process requires individuals who are knowledge specific and highly skilled.
In Britain for instance, labor market entry is regulated tightly by banks recruiting from Cambridge and oxford universities (Mahroum, 2000). The banks have also placed specific qualification with are accompanies by trainings in the course of the job. “Deskilling” process is therefore not a feature of the global labor market.
Specific personal skills in managerial and processional work in securities and investment banking cannot be easily replaced by use of subcontracting arrangement, automation or through indigenous labor assimilation.
Therefore, international labor migration of skilled workers is mainly focused between global cities’ nancial communities, which in most instances cut across internal labor markets, securities houses and transnational banks.
In terms of wealth creation and earnings, relatively higher incomes, bonus schemes and performance based pay have greatly encouraged managerial workers and international professionals to look for opportunities within the global cities especially within the corporate headquarters (Jonathan, 1996). Such a case was witnessed in 1980s booming in which big influx of migrants entered the city of London.
This caused salaries over-inflation beyond the average expected earnings. The media has helped in constructing a powerful image of wealthy pickings of London nacial or Manhattan through exposure of the yuppie culture, sexy and fast lifestyles.
London’s magnetism as a living space and and working destination cannot be underestimated in constructing of the uneven skilled individuals distribution within nancial industry’s economy worldwide. Corporate professional want to work in global cities as they consume and accumulate wealth.
One can argue that; migration of skilled international laborers can be termed as a disproportionate process in formation of the global city since its characteristics and magnitude dependent highly upon a person’s functional city and control capabilities in the urban hierarchy.
In addition, in the course of the relationship existing between the global city and migration, headquarters functional control and principal earnings greatly determine global labor movement concentration.
In order for an individual to conceptualize deeply on the relationship that lies between skilled international labor migration and the global cities two studies done in London city on global investment banking were analyzed. The city’s postal questionnaire of security houses foreign banks and a detailed survey interview of foreign and British investment banks was also analyzed.
In this review through the various provided examples on international labor migration, it been stated that migration plays a fundamental role in global city control and functional capability in the world economy.
In addition, other cities such as Singapore, New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong have disproportionately improved the capabilities to control international labor within the nance (Jonathan,1996). Suggestions have been made that; the magnitude, nature and the characteristics of the skilled international migration will only work at different levels in urban hierarchy.
There are number of impacts felt on the receiving countries. The effects on migrants arrival on the host nation’s economy is highly influenced by different circumstances (Friedberg, 1995).Sometime there can be flexibility in salaries and wages like in the U.S and this acts as a form of evidence in justifying that increases in supply could cause decreases in wages even among individuals with quality education (Either, 1986).
Among the European nations where wages vary with flexibility, there are higher degrees of unemployed individuals. In both cases, the problems caused by the underlying issues clearly prove to have relatively small magnitude.
By analyzing migrant’s degree of production and chances of securing employment from a broader perspective, one can note that migrants chances of getting greatly rely on the demands of an employer. Different countries have decided to make us of a adoption point scheme, a tool that is useful in identifying acceptable immigrants who can work in such countries (Durand, 1996).
The tool is currently being used in; Canada and Australia and greatly helps in increasing matching likelihood (Boyd, 1989). However, employers can closely match their demands by requesting migrants for previous working experiences.
Therefore one state that; many migrants’ chances of securing employment are highly dependent on the employer’s personal demands. If such a case occurs, employees are given strict penalties as one of the ways of reducing undocumented immigration.
Migration leads to so many mixed initial challenges upon any given host country, but in most scenarios, the general resultant effects upon the natives incomes seem meager. Over a long period, other factors may start showing their impacts (Borjas, 1989). Host country’s production activities mix in some occasions could start changing in order to accommodate new arrivals’ the framework.
Secondly, there can be disturbances caused by migration on the fiscal balance within the host state. Whether immigrants are part of the effects depends on a number of factors such as tax collection, their employability, their eligibility and need for state support.
If migration is not managed in a sober manner, it very unlikely that it could act as a relieve source. Lastly, immigration can greatly affect the migrants in a negative way through acceleration of technical changes in the society.
There are various approaches, which can be used in improving and expanding the temporary migration schemes without putting into consideration of whether they are broader or bilateral. One of such approaches is by ensuring that there is improved immigrants outcome and reduced return to home countries rate (Massey, 1993).
Reference list
Borjas, G.J.,1989. Economic theory and international migration. International Migration Review 23(5),p.457-485.
Boyd, M.Y.,1989. Family and personal networks in international migration: recent developments and new agendas. International migration review, 43(4),p.638 670.
Durand, J.K.,1996. International migration and development in Mexican communities. Demography,33(2),p 249-264.
Ethier, W.J.,1986. Illegal immigration: The host-country problem. The American economic review,76(1),p56-71.
Friedberg, R.M.,1995. The impact of immigrants on host country wages, employment and growth. The Journal of Economic Perspectives. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 9(2),p.23-44.
Jonathan, V., 1996 International labor migration, investment banking and the city of London, 33(8),1378-1392.
Mahroum, S.K.,2000. Highly skilled globetrotters: mapping the international migration of human capital. R&D Management,30(1),p.23-32.
Massey, D.S.,1993. Theories of international migration: a review and appraisal. Population and development review,23(8),p.431-466.