Asia structurally dependent on labor migration –analysts | ABS-CBN News Online Beta

Asia structurally dependent on labor migration –analysts | ABS-CBN News Online Beta: "Labor migration for Asia is “not a mom-and-pop story anymore,” Ma. Alcestis Mangahas of the International Labor Organization (ILO) told migration analysts and stakeholders at a recent forum here.

Mangahas, ILO senior migration specialist, said the advancement of labor migration to such level occurred independent of the recent global financial crisis, natural disasters, and political strife that hit Asia in the past three years.

“Migration is no longer ad hoc.”

Hence, Mangahas challenged policy forum participants to face migration squarely, something that an Asian Development Bank paper says is the correct attitude.

This is important since the ADB paper authors noted an “Asian advantage” when migration for work is liberalized —whether within Asia or to other regions of the world by 2012.

But the authors of the 2008 paper “Asian Migration Prospects: 2007-2010” warned officials must be clear of what they want.

“What do labor-sending countries want —higher growth in real GDP [gross domestic product] or higher real incomes for their citizenry?” authors Terrie Walmsley and S. Amer Ahmed posited."

Crisis pushed more Pinoys abroad — analyst | ABS-CBN News Online Beta

Crisis pushed more Pinoys abroad — analyst | ABS-CBN News Online Beta: "Crisis not only brings out the best in people; in the Philippines’s case, it brought out the best people and in droves.

So claims Maruja M.B. Asis of the Scalabrini Migration Center.

At a policy conference organized by the SMC here, Asis said there’s a visible volume of OFWs across all occupational groupings, including production workers, service workers (including domestic workers) and professional and technical workers (the top three occupational groupings of OFWs in 2008).

Hence, she said the year-long increase of migrant worker deployment in 2009 “isn’t surprising”."