International labor migration can be broadly characterized by the movement of low and high skilled workers. International low-skilled labor migration is projected to increase over the medium- and long- term because of demographic changes, the growing need for such workers in high-income and emerging countries, and the lack of decent work opportunities in sending countries. Low- skilled migration has the potential to lift families out of poverty and to enable productive household investments in housing, education and additional income-generating activities. A key development objective for low-skilled migration is to enhance the welfare of migrant workers and their families by maximizing the benefits of migration and reducing its costs, particularly monetary costs associated with obtaining jobs abroad.

High skilled migration can have diverse and potentially opposing set of effects in sending countries, especially among those that have human capital shortages and face other development constraints. On one hand, emigration may lead to lower provision of services (such as education, healthcare and innovation) that are critical for growth and poverty reduction. On the other hand, high-skilled migrants integrate their home countries into the global economy by facilitating transfer of knowledge and financial resources and building numerous other economic, social and cultural linkages with higher income countries. In order to identify the development impact of high skilled migration, understanding emerging patterns is crucial, along with their linkages to underlying economic, social and cultural pull-and-push factors. A related objective is to identify and develop innovative approaches to facilitate the recognition of foreign skills, qualification and competencies of migrant workers at various skill levels to better facilitate integration into formal labor markets at destination.

Areas of Focus

  • Work on advancing SDG Indicator 10.7.1 on recruitment costs incurred by migrant-workers to Tier 1.
  • Help build capacity of national statistical agencies to collect recruitment cost data.
  • Identify policies and interventions to reduce recruitment costs paid by migrant workers
  • Analyze the impact of low-skilled migration on families left behind
  • Identify the evolution of demand for migration labor in countries of destination in the short and medium-term
  • Examine the brain gain proposition in Highly-skilled Migration (HSM)
Ibrahim Awad
The American University in Cairo (AUC)

Chair

Michelle Leighton
International Labour Organization (ILO)

Co-chair

Sonia Plaza
World Bank

Focal Point

Side event

January , 2024, Geneva and Online

Seminar

November 30, 2017, Washington DC

Other

December 10-12, 2016, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Seminar

June 22, 2016, Washington DC

Workshop

April 18-20, 2016, Turin

Seminar

April 6, 2016, Washington DC

Seminar

November 16, 2015, Washington DC

Workshop

November 16-17, 2015, Washington DC

Workshop

February 9-11, 2015, Bangkok

Seminar

November 13, 2013, Washington DC

Working paper

Ibrahim Awad, Francesco Panzica and Natalia Popova

June 2023

Working paper

Sandra Berger

November 2022

Working paper

Francesco Panzica and Natalia Popova

October 2021

Working paper

Koen Voorend, Daniel Alvarado and Luis Ángel Oviedo

December 2021

Migration and Development Brief

December 2018

Migration and Development Brief

April 2018

Migration and Development Brief

October 2017

Working paper

Zovanga Kone, Çaglar Özden

March 2017

Working paper

Mariya Aleksynska, Samia Kazi Aoul, Veronica Petrencu (Preotu)

August 2017

Migration and Development Brief

April 2017

Working paper

Cansin Arslan, Jean-Christophe Dumont, Zovanga L. Kone, Çağlar Özden, Christopher Parsons, Theodora Xenogiani

October 2016

Policy brief

Mathias Czaika and Christopher R. Parsons

November 2016

Migration and Remittances Factbook

Dilip Ratha, Sonia Plaza, Ervin Dervisevic

April 2016

Working paper

Mathias Czaika, Christopher R. Parsons

April 2016

Policy brief

Uri Dadush, Soonhwa Yi

December 2014