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OECD: Foreign Workers Heading to Industrialized Countries in Record Numbers
Lisa Bryant
Paris

The latest report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development shows millions of foreign workers continue to flood into industrialized countries, despite the recent global economic downturn. But the new arrivals are not necessarily the ones employers are looking for.
The study by the Paris-based OECD indicates industrialized countries continue to register record immigration flows, a trend that began in the mid-1990s, when the world economy was booming. Today, many countries are still recovering from the recent economic downturn.

But that has not stopped most of the OECD's 30 member countries from actively recruiting foreigners - and in some cases passing new, pro-immigration laws. Some of the biggest immigration increases have occurred in the United States, Switzerland, France and New Zealand. John Martin, director for employment and social policy at the organization, explains why.

"I think there are a number of factors, which are at work here," he said. "One is, of course, that, with the strong economy in the second half of the '90s and the populations beginning to age in OECD countries, many OECD countries feel the need to import more foreign labor, and in particular there is been an emphasis in recent years to try to recruit more highly skilled immigrant workers in order to fill labor shortages in certain sectors."

But many immigrants arrive to join family members, or because of human rights problems back home. Those immigrants, the report says, are not necessarily skilled. Older workers, women and youth, in particular, have a hard time assimilating to their new homes.

The OECD says the geographic origin of these migration flows has also shifted in recent years, with more immigrants coming from Asia, Eastern Europe, and the former Soviet Union.

Many developing countries worry about a so-called brain drain, as some of their best and brightest citizens leave for more lucrative jobs elsewhere. But the reality, according to the OECD study, is more complex.

Mr. Martin says the example of health workers in South Africa, leaving for jobs in Britain or the United States, is a case in point.

"Those professionals who have left to go to OECD countries have been replaced within the South African health system by South Africa recruiting health care professionals from surrounding countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa region," he said.

Meanwhile, the foreign workers are also sending home money. In some cases, Mr. Martin says, the remittances exceed the inflow of foreign aid.