This paper uses a randomized information intervention to shed light on whether poor understanding of social insurance, both the process of enrolling and costs and benefits, drives the relatively low rates of participation in urban health insurance and pension programs among China's rural-urban migrants.
... See More + Among workers without a contract, the information intervention has a strong positive effect on participation in health insurance and, among younger age groups, in pension programs. Migrants are responsive to price: in cities where the premiums are low relative to earnings, information induces health insurance participation, while declines are observed in cities with high relative premiums.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS8658 NOV 29, 2018
Despite a moral argument for the need to embrace refugees and other migrants fleeing dire conditions of war, conflict, violence, oppression, and extreme poverty, large influxes of migrants tend to reinforce alarmists’ calls against labor mobility.
... See More + In this context, the importance of policies to promote the mutual benefits of both sending and receiving nations (that is, co-development) through labor mobility - facilitated by well managed and controlled migration systems - is increasingly recognized. The report outlined in this policy brief recognizes this wide spectrum of migration-related issues and sets them in a clear framework focused on three separate policy objectives: control, co-development, and co-existence. Policies that support control (for example, building walls to prevent illegal entry into a country) should not be mixed with efforts to promote co-existence (for example., measures to provide new migrants with pathways to becoming active members of society, with access to key benefits that will further their productivity). The policy brief highlights the opportunity for bilateral arrangements to support co-development and describes a range of options. The report presents multiple features of the system that can be applied in other contexts, while underscoring Korea’s efforts to strengthen the system and manage the political economy over time.
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The number of individuals who have crossed borders has mushroomed over recent years. The phenomenon of international migration, however, is heterogeneous in terms of the underlying motives and aspirations of migrants.
... See More + Forced international migrants are involuntarily displaced refugees who flee conflict, violence, or persecution across an international border. Voluntary migrants can additionally be classified into two categories: (i) temporary labor migrants who migrate for economic reasons for a fixed duration of time, and (ii) immigrants who move with the intention of changing their country of residence, due to factors such as wanting to reunite with family or to benefit economically. Bilateral labor agreements (BLAs) between sending and receiving countries are institutional tools designed to facilitate migratory flows and maximize the potential benefits of temporary international migration for all concerned. This study focuses on the employment permit system (EPS) in Korea, a temporary migration program for low-skilled workers considered a good global practice among efforts toward the goal of co-development - that is, the mutual benefit of both sending and receiving nations. The EPS has accomplished several remarkable achievements, including a drastic reduction in migrants’ cost burden, enhanced transparency, reduction in the share of workers overstaying, and improved access to worker protection. The process used to match employers and temporary labor migrants also merits significant improvement.
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The objective of the Skills and Employment for Tongans Project is to improve opportunities for secondary school progression and facilitate the transition to jobs in the domestic and overseas labor markets for Tongans.
... See More + There are four components to the project, the first component being Conditional cash transfer program for secondary school enrolment and attendance. Component one will incentivize secondary school progression and completion through the provision of cash transfers. It will address the financial constraints poor and vulnerable households face in access and retention and will provide the necessary motivation for students to stay in school. The guiding principle of this component will be to provide the right incentive for these households to both encourage secondary school enrolment and ensure regular attendance through to completion. The project will fund both the TA required to establish the cash transfer program and the funds required for the transfers. This component includes two subcomponents: technical assistance required to establish CCT, and cash transfers and bonus payments. The second component is the strengthening TVET provision. Component two aims to strengthen the provision of TVET in Tonga to support the skills development of Tongans and make them more competitive in the global and domestic labor market. The goal is to improve TVET services across different levels within the education and skills system of Tonga, including the Government, employers, training providers, the quality assurance system through the TNQAB, and most importantly, the trainees or students. This component includes three subcomponents: improving the quality of TVET, TVET student support funds, and strengthening governance of the TVET sector. The third component is the enhancing opportunities for labor migration. Component three will enhance opportunities for Tongans to access employment abroad. This will be achieved by supporting quality pre‐departure training for seasonal and migrant workers and strengthening the capacity of the Employment Division (ED) within the MIA to screen and prepare migrant workers. This component includes two subcomponents: pre‐departure training for migrant workers, and institutional strengthening for the ED. Finally, the fourth component is the project management, monitoring and evaluation, and centralized support.
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Asia and the Pacific region experienced a dramatic rise in migration during the last few decades. The wave of migration increased from the 1970s when the oil price surge provided the impetus for the oil-producing Middle East to scale up their infrastructure investments.
... See More + Migrants from Asia stand at an estimated seventy million, accounting for one-third of the total international migrants. Migration patterns reflect the wide income and demographic disparities within the region and with other parts of the world. While Asia is a major source of skilled migrants to advanced countries, most Asian migrants tend to be low-skilled. And all migrants contribute to the economic development within Asia as well. These remittances support macroeconomic stability, as well as contribute to reducing poverty and building human capital. This report consists of eight chapters on the different aspects of migration and remittances across the regions as follows: Chapter 2 focuses on the impact of migration and remittances as well as rules and regulations governing labor migration; Chapter 3 analyzes the behavior of remittances over the business cycle in comparison with other inflows such as foreign direct investment (FDI), portfolio equity, and official development assistance; Chapter 4 introduces examples of financial literacy programs targeting migrants and remittance recipients and empirical findings on impacts of financial literacy programs on people’s financial behavior; Chapter 5 identifies the issues in the traditional banking system in extending access to remittance services to migrant workers; Chapter 6 discusses on the measures to channel remittances for productivity enhancing investments; Chapter 7 provides details on the future flow securitization of remittances to raise long-term financing for various types of investments; and Chapter 8 summarizes the chapters and provides recommendations.
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This Migration and Development Brief reports global trends in migration and remittance flows, as well as developments related to the Global Compact on Migration (GCM), and the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicators for volume of remittances as percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) (SDG indicator 17.3.2), reducing remittance costs (SDG indicator 10.c.1) and recruitment costs (SDG indicator 10.7.1).
... See More + This Brief has a special focus on transit migration.
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This Migration and Development Brief reports global trends in migration and remittance flows, as well as developments related to the Global Compact on Migration (GCM), and the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicators for volume of remittances as percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) (SDG indicator 17.3.2), reducing remittance costs (SDG indicator 10.c.1) and recruitment costs (SDG indicator 10.7.1).
... See More + This Brief has a special focus on transit migration. Addressing the adverse drivers of transit migration will involve policy efforts to create economic opportunities and reduce conflict and fragility in migrants’ countries of origin. Opening more legal channels for migration to destination countries would also help reduce transit migration. Collaborative efforts among the origin country, the transit country, and the final destination country to control transit migration, however, should not violate free (intra-regional) movement of people under regional protocols. Respecting the human rights of transit migrants remain a policy priority. In situations where transit migrants stay on for protracted periods, there may be a need to provide access to education and health services, as well as to labor markets. For their part, origin countries need to empower embassies in transit countries to assist their nationals. Multilateral agencies can help the global community through the collection of data and also analytical and technical assistance in addressing the drivers of transit migration. They can also act as honest brokers to facilitate collaboration among the concerned parties. Multilateral development banks can also provide innovative financing solutions to transit countries.
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This paper applies this structure to an assessment of the existing labor sending system in Bangladesh. Section one provides a quick overview of existing migrant flows from Bangladesh, key push and pull factors, and the migration of women.
... See More + Section two provides background on the Framework for Access, including existing Bangladeshi laws addressing migration including bilateral agreements and domestic policies and key government institutions in charge of setting migration policy and regulating migration. Section three explores the existing processes for Facilitating Access, focusing in particular on the private recruitment process. Section four looks at current efforts on the part of GoB for Fortifying Access through protecting and improving migrant welfare, and section five explores Furthering Access via training mechanisms for overseas employment. Finally, section six offers recommendations for addressing gaps in the institutional structure moving forward.
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Ratings for the Chongqing Urban-Rural Integration Project for China were as follows: outcome was moderately unsatisfactory, Bank performance was moderately unsatisfactory, and monitoring and evaluation quality was modest.
... See More + Some lessons learned included: having alternative subprojects ready to go will have reduced the long delays seen between the decision to drop a subcomponent and appraisal of a replacement. Another way to increase flexibility is to avoid listing the specific sectors to be included under access to services but to let the key performance indicators (KPIs) and Intermediate Outcome Indicators (IOI) define those service areas. During preparation, the Bank brought in expertise from these disciplines, but this was less the case for supervision. Selecting fewer project sites and supplying each with more inputs will demonstrate the intensity of impacts possible with a multi-sectoral approach, rather than focusing on a widespread area which diluted effects. Care needs to be taken during restructurings to make sure the theory of change remains clear, and indicators cover outcomes from the revised project.
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Implementation Completion and Results Report ICR4173 FEB 08, 2018
Bangladesh has maintained an impressive track record on growth and development. However, even with a growing economy there is still widespread poverty and underemployment motivating many Bangladeshis to migrate in search of better opportunities.
... See More + As a result, almost half a million Bangladeshis migrate overseas annually for employment purposes, mostly to the Middle East. Unfortunately, Bangladeshi migrants face considerable challenges and risks such as fraud and deception by recruiters, physical abuse and exploitation from employers, squalid living conditions, poor access to health care and insufficient pay for long work hours in difficult physical conditions, and social marginalization in host countries. Many go into debt to pay for migration, remit most earnings, achieve minimal savings, and have limited assistance for re-integration upon return home. The current work of Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF) comes at an opportune time to pilot innovations for supporting safe migration. In addition, there is considerable potential for scaling-up given the wide-spread nature of migration among the Bangladeshi population and increasing public awareness of its challenges and risks.
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International labor migration is becoming an increasingly important employment strategy for developing countries. Labor surpluses and youth bulges paired with insufficient domestic job creation mean that for many countries, access to foreign labor markets is the only immediate answer to avoiding a significant increase in unemployment.
... See More + Fortunately, labor shortages in many traditional receiving countries are likely to prompt increased openness of these markets for workers from developing countries. As recent events have made clear, however, policy and institutions have not kept pace with this changing reality. While increasing mobility creates huge potential increases in global welfare, accessing these gains requires careful management and facilitation of labor flows to avoid low-level (dis-) equilibria or, put differently, to maximize the potential gains of migration for the sending country, migrants, and receiving country.Sending countries will need to design labor-sending systems that balance increased mobility with protection throughout the entire migration process, while ensuring that supply and demand for specific skills are matched.As labor migration becomes increasingly important to the economy of Bangladesh, so too do the institutions managing migration. These include institutions governing the processes by which workers are recruited and employed abroad, the protections they receive while abroad, and support they receive upon their return home. These institutions are not only crucial to the well-being of workers; strong institutions are essential to accessing the economic gains of migration. A close look at Bangladesh’s migration system will provide the Government of Bangladesh with the necessary tools to improve existing corridors and increase access to labor markets that are just beginning to open up to Bangladeshi workers.Fully functioning labor sending systems include four key pillars: (1) the Framework for Access, legal frameworks and international agreements allowing for the movement of labor between countries; (2) Facilitating Access, tools for labor intermediation to help workers through the difficult process of identifying and obtaining jobs overseas; (3) Fortifying Access, protection mechanisms and support services that mitigate risks of migration for workers; and (4) Furthering Access, which creates institutions to expand and diversify foreign market access via upskilling and moving up the labor value chain.This paper applies this structure to an assessment of the existing labor sending system in Bangladesh. Section I provides a quick overview of existing migrant flows from Bangladesh, key push and pull factors, and the migration of women in particular. Section II provides background on the Framework for Access, including existing Bangladeshi laws addressing migration including bilateral agreements and domestic policies and key government institutions in charge of setting migration policy and regulating migration. Section III explores the existing processes for Facilitating Access, focusing in particular on the private recruitment process. Section IV looks at current efforts on the part of GoB for Fortifying Access through protecting and improving migrant welfare, and Section V explores Furthering Access via training mechanisms for overseas employment. Finally Section VI offers recommendations for addressing gaps in the institutional structure moving forward.
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Internal mobility is a critical component of economic growth and development, as it enables the reallocation of labor to more productive opportunities across sectors and regions.
... See More + Using detailed district-to-district migration data from the 2001 Census of India, the paper highlights the role of state borders as significant impediments to internal mobility. The analysis finds that average migration between neighboring districts in the same state is at least 50 percent larger than neighboring districts on different sides of a state border, even after accounting for linguistic differences. Although the impact of state borders differs by education, age, and reason for migration, it is always large and significant. The paper suggests that inter-state mobility is inhibited by state-level entitlement schemes, ranging from access to subsidized goods through the public distribution system to the bias for states' own residents in access to tertiary education and public sector employment.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS8244 NOV 20, 2017
International labor migration is an important sector of the Indonesian economy in its own right, requiring commensurate efforts to improve its professionalism as a sector and instill modernization across its various components to maximize its potential for the benefit of all stakeholders.This report aims to point towards the best policy mix for Indonesia’s various international migrant worker groups who face widely differing risks and gain diverse economic benefits from migration.
... See More + Following introduction, Section 2 of the report looks at the major profiles of Indonesian migrant workers and their reasons for migrating. Section 3 focuses on the discussion about female domestic workers. Section 4 delves into the issue of undocumented migration, including the government’s efforts to encourage documented migration. Section 5 then looks as how best to sustain the benefits of migration, with particular reference to a third profile of migrant workers, namely those who work in the more developed countries of East Asia and who generally earn the highest wages. Finally, Section 6 rounds off the report with broad policy recommendations
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The movement of people in Southeast Asia is an issue of increasing importance. Workers move throughout Southeast Asia in search of economic opportunities.
... See More + This book highlights how mobility affects the well-being of workers, the constraints workers face when migrating for better opportunities, and the solutions to ease these constraints. The diversity of economic development in Southeast Asia means that there are ample opportunities for workers to seek out better jobs that pay higher wages. The book documents why workers are not always able to take advantage of these opportunities, what is lost when they are not able to take advantage of them, and potential policies that will expand their access to them. The report is structured as follows: part one gives migration and regional integration in Southeast Asia; and part two presents migration policy in Southeast Asia.
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This Migration and Development Brief reports global trends in migration and remittance flows, major policy developments, and the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicators for reducing remittance costs and recruitment costs.
... See More + The Brief reports new data on recruitment costs, a potential indicator for the SDG of promoting safe and regular migration. The special focus of the Brief is return migration, currently a challenging issue globally following the increase in asylum seekers and undocumented migrants.
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This migration and development brief reports global trends in migration and remittance flows, major policy developments, and the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicators for reducing remittance costs and recruitment costs.
... See More + The brief reports new data on recruitment costs, a potential indicator for the SDG of promoting safe and regular migration. The special focus of the brief is return migration, a challenging issue around the world amid a rise in asylum seekers and undocumented migrants.
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The objective of the Floods Emergency Recovery Project of Malawi is to sustainably restore agricultural livelihoods, reconstruct critical public infrastructure to improved standards in the flood-affected districts, and improve the Government of Malawi's disaster response and recovery capacities.
... See More + Negative impacts include: loss of land acquisition, loss of asset, loss of structures, loss of income, loss of trees and crops, and loss of livelihood. Mitigation measures include: (i) all titled landowners, customary landowners, encroachers, persons affected by loss of access to sources of income and persons affected by loss of access to natural resources (water, wood, grazing areas etc.), as affected persons; (ii) cash compensation for affected land equivalent to replacement value, taking into account market values for the land; (iii) cash compensation for the harvest or product from the affected land or asset, equivalent to average market value or market value of the crop for the remaining period of tenancy/ lease agreement, whichever is greater; (iv) compensation in cash according to affected people’s choice, taking into account market values for materials; (v) cash compensation for affected land equal to replacement value, taking into account market values for the land; (vi) land for land replacement or compensation in cash according to affected people’s choice based on replacement value, taking into account market values for the land; (vii) cash compensation for affected building and other fixed assets based on its replacement value without including depreciation, and taking into account market values for the structures and materials; (viii) cash compensation equivalent to average of last 3 years market value for the mature and harvested crop; (ix) Cash compensation based on type, age and productive value of affected trees plus 10 percent premium. For fruit trees it is the value of production lost until replacement seedlings mature.
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This paper examines how the 2008-09 financial crisis affected labor markets in Central and Western Europe, and how this impact depended on employment protections laws.
... See More + Using a differences-in-differences approach that compares industries with varying degrees of inherent dependence on external financing, the analysis finds that the crisis had significant negative impacts on employment, particularly on temporary, less skilled, and younger workers. These impacts on the level and composition of employment were significantly stronger in countries with stronger legal protection of permanent workers from dismissal. This finding suggests that, given regulatory inflexibility in adjusting the permanent workforce, firms responded to tightening financial constraints by disproportionately laying off temporary workers (who tend to be younger and less skilled than permanent workers).
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS8085 JUN 05, 2017
"Project Greenback 2.0 –Johor Bahru" is the product of a partnership between the World Bank and Bank Negara Malaysia, aimed at supporting the development of an efficient and transparent remittances market.
... See More + Previously, the World Bank Group launched the Project Greenback 2.0 in Turin, Italy (2013); and Montreuil, France (2014). As part of the project, a survey was conducted among 401 migrant workers from Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Vietnam, China and India in order to understand their remittance behaviour and level of financial inclusion. The survey focuses on the economic and financial profile of migrants working in urban areas of Johor Bahru and surrounding plantations, and analyses their remittance and financial behaviors. Particular attention has been given to the use of regulated and unregulated remittance channels to transfer money abroad.
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