Labor Market and Institutional Drivers of Youth Irregular Migration: Evidence from the MENA Region

This article examines the drivers of youth irregular migration in the Middle East and North Africa region. A multinomial logit model is implemented to test the effect of labor market and institutional characteristics on the decision of youth to migrate using a unique and novel dataset covering young people aged 15–29 from five major Middle East and North Africa countries. Specifically, the article investigates the effect of micro determinants of irregular migration: individual socio-economic factors, wealth factors, adaptability factors, labor market factors, and institutional factors. The article finds that the labor market drivers matter more for regular rather than irregular migration amongst the youth from the Middle East and North Africa region. However, institutional settings are of great importance for any decision to migrate, be it regularly or irregularly. In addition, youth from wealthier households are more likely to express willingness to migrate using regular channels, whereas youth from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to consider the irregular route.

Since the 1960s, the United States has undergone a surge in immigration. The share of the U.S. population that is foreign born surpassed 10% in 2000, with new immigrants accounting for nearly half of recent U.S. population growth. Three policy issues are central to the current debate about immigration. One is what should be the level and composition of legal immigration. The United States admits relatively large numbers of immigrants with low levels of education and other discernible skills. Rising immigration of the less skilled may lower wages of native workers. A second issue is what to do about illegal immigration. Illegal aliens account for one third of new U.S. immigrants. An open question is whether U.S. policy should attempt to replace illegal immigration with large-scale temporary immigration of foreign workers. A third issue is whether immigrants should be eligible for public assistance. Denying eligibility could reduce immigration and lower fiscal transfers from natives to immigrants. In this paper, we examine immigration in the United States over the last several decades in order to gauge the potential for and the consequences of changes in U.S. immigration policy. Our study has six main sections, following an introduction. In section 2, we review U.S. immigration policy and trends. Current U.S. policy sets a quota on overall immigration, with first priority for admissions given to family members of U.S. citizens and legal residents. In recent years, fewer than 15% of new immigrants have been admitted based on their skill level. Whether intended or not, this policy favors immigrants with relatively little schooling. Recent immigrants tend to concentrate in specific regions and industries, and tend to earn much less than natives. In section 3, we consider how U.S. regional economies adjust to immigrant inflows. Despite the geographic concentration of recent immigrants, wages have not fallen perceptibly in the gateway communities in which immigrants settle. Regions have adjusted to immigrant inflows through other mechanisms, including skill upgrading of the native labor force, outmigration of native workers, and shifts in output mix towards immigrant-intensive industries. If education levels of the U.S. labor force stabilize, as they are expected to do, the wage impacts of immigration may be more pronounced. In section 4, we examine the factors that influence U.S. illegal immigration. Most illegal immigrants enter the country either by crossing the Mexico-U.S. border or by overstaying entry visas. Mexico is the largest source country for illegal immigration and illegal entry tends to surge following economic downturns in the country. The U.S. government impedes illegal immigration by policing borders and monitoring employers, with the vast majority of resources dedicated to border enforcement. These efforts appear to have had limited success, as the inflow of illegal immigrants continues unabated. In section 5, we examine the fiscal impact of immigration. Prior to U.S. welfare reform in 1996, immigrants were more likely than natives to receive public assistance. New laws restrict immigrant access to many benefits, one important exception being costly public education. For some types of public assistance, individual U.S. states have the discretion to offer benefits after an individual has been in the country for at least five years. Excluding immigrants from public assistance has been subject to numerous judicial challenges. Despite immigrant use of public assistance, the net fiscal transfer from natives to immigrants appears to be very small at the national level, though it is higher in a few specific states that have both generous welfare benefits and large immigrant populations. In general, the older and the less educated the adult immigrant population is, the larger are native-to-immigrant net fiscal transfers. In section 6, we examine the political economy of U.S. immigration policy. We find that individual opinions about immigration policy are influenced by expectations about its impact on outcomes in the labor market and on public services and the welfare state. In particular, less-skilled workers and political conservatives are among those most opposed to freer immigration. Congressional representatives seem to respond to these concerns in their districts when voting on legislation. In section 7, we conclude by discussing current policy choices facing the United States. Key decisions for U.S. policy makers include whether to replace family-based immigration with skills-based immigration, whether to continue to exclude immigrants from access to public assistance, whether to expand temporary immigration, and how to balance border and interior policing in enforcing against illegal immigration.

Macroeconomic equilibrium with illegal immigration

Recent legislation mandating reporting of undocumented immigrants may instill fear of discovery when they access emergency department (ED) services. The objectives of this study were to: 1) characterize the knowledge and beliefs of undocumented Latino immigrants (UDLI) about health care workers' reporting (or nonreporting) of illegal immigrants in the ED, 2) determine whether UDLI fear discovery when presenting to the ED, and 3) determine the nature and sources of this fear. This was a cross-sectional study of UDLI and two comparison groups conducted in two California county EDs, from November 2009 to August 2010. The authors interviewed a convenience sample of adult UDLI, Latino legal residents (LLR), and non-Latino legal residents (NLLR) using a structured instrument in their native language. The main outcome was fear of discovery among UDLI and the sources of that fear. Of 1,224 patients approached, 1,007 (82.3%) were interviewed: 314 UDLI, 373 LLR, and 320 NLLR. The median age was 43 years (interquartile range [IQR] = 31 to 55 years), and 51% were male. UDLIs were less likely to speak English (14%, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 10% to 18%), have health insurance (39%, 95% CI 32% to 44%), or have a regular primary care provider (PCP; 39%, 95% CI = 34% to 45%), compared to LLR (English 56%, 95% CI = 51% to 61%; health insurance 50%, 95% CI = 45% to 55%; regular PCP 51%, 95% = CI 46% to 57%) and NLLR (English 95%, 95% CI = 92% to 97%; health insurance 49%, 95% CI = 43% to 54%; regular PCP 51%, 95% CI = 45% to 56%). Of the 16% of UDLI who stated that nurses and doctors treat undocumented immigrant patients differently than citizens, 41% (95% CI = 29% to 54%) reported less respect given to UDLI by staff. Thirty-two percent of UDLI had heard of Proposition 187, 13% believed hospital staff reported UDLI to immigration authorities, and 9% said they were asked about their citizenship status. Fear of coming to the hospital because of discovery was expressed by 12% (95% CI = 9% to 16%) of UDLI, with 42% (95% CI = 28% to 58%) citing discussions with friends/family, 32% (95% CI = 19% to 47%) citing media and 16% (95% CI = 7% to 30%) citing both as sources of this fear. One in eight of UDLI presenting to the ED express fear of discovery and consequent deportation. Belief that medical staff report UDLI and recent immigration are risk factors for this fear. Family, friends, and media are the primary sources of these concerns.

To gather insight in conditions important to an understanding of undocumented migrants' life situations and more specifically to explore undocumented migrants' quality of life and how we can understand the various domains of quality of life related to demographics, living conditions, migration history and inflicted burden. Undocumented migrants suffer from economic hardship and acculturative stress, limited psychological and social support and at the same time restricted access to health care and social welfare. An exploratory mixed methods design using primarily quantitative data with a qualitative component was implemented. Sociodemographic data on 90 undocumented migrants were collected, and self-report questionnaires on quality of life and psychological distress were completed, supplemented by qualitative data obtained through interviews and additional qualitative questions. The STROBE checklist for cross-sectional studies was used for reporting this study. Quality of life in our group of undocumented migrants was poor. Leaving their home country because of war or persecution, hunger, having experienced abuse, homelessness and higher age were statistically significantly associated with poorer quality of life. Having membership in a local association and having a partner were statistically significantly associated with better quality of life. Qualitative data indicate that marginal living conditions, fear of death and suffering and conditions associated with dependency were the main components comprising the burden to our respondents, reflecting their precarious juridical status as undocumented migrants. Our respondents' poor quality of life was related to the complex interplay between possible exposures to traumatic experiences before and during flight and post-migration traumatisation in relation to our respondents' experiences of economic, social and acculturative hardship in Norway. Responses called for to improve undocumented migrants' quality of life and eliminate barriers to their health care appeal more to nurses as a professional group and to those in positions of authority than each individual nurse on duty.

Africans in south China face social and health barriers

The factors that influence the formation of transit states' policies towards irregular migration have been insufficiently analysed. The case study in this article therefore investigates why and how Morocco, at the interface of Euro‐African migration flows, created a policy towards irregular migration at the beginning of the twenty‐first century. This article shows that Morocco's policy, rather than being a by‐product of European migration policies, was the authorities' strategic response to the country's complex geopolitical environment that aimed at restoring Morocco's pivotal role in the region via irregular migration control. By retracing the three‐phase inverted agenda‐setting process that occurred between 2000 and 2007, this article shows why and how irregular (transit) migration was set on Morocco's political agenda, transformed into a new area of public intervention and progressively framed as a national public problem. Policy Implications Morocco's irregular migration policy, unlike that of receiving states, is less guided by national‐electoral than by geopolitical considerations. Migratory flows considerably impact Morocco's regional negotiation capital; but while strengthening relations with Europe remains a top priority, Morocco's cooperation with African states is increasingly important. Framing irregular migration as an exterior threat by stigmatizing sub‐Saharan transit migration and concealing irregular national emigration is crucial for Moroccan authorities to assure popular adherence to restrictive policies. Civil society activism on migration is an important democratization vector in Morocco. However, selective state responses create a labour division between a state‐run border‐control and civil society‐run integration measures.

Concerns have been raised about unauthorized immigrants importing measles to the United States (US). This potential risk has not been rigorously evaluated nor compared with the potential risk of measles importation by US residents traveling internationally or international travellers coming to the US. We compared the potential risk of measles importation from each of these populations. Using a cross-sectional, ecological design, we compared country-level measles vaccination and incidence data, for top (i) US resident international travel destinations, (ii) US-bound international travellers' home countries and (iii) home countries of unauthorized immigrants to the US. In 2014, US residents made 52.5 million trips to one of the top 10 international destinations. Five of these countries (10,958,000 US resident trips) had average first-dose measles vaccine coverage below 90%, and five (9,881,000 US resident trips) had average measles incidence over 1 case/100,000 population. Two of the 10 top US-bound international travellers' home countries (5,597,259 international visitors) had average first-dose measles vaccine coverage below 90%, whereas five (13,333,545 international visitors) had average annual measles incidence over 1 case/100,000 population). In 2012, of 11.2 million unauthorized immigrants living in the US, 8.9 million (79.0%) were born in one of the top 10 unauthorized immigrant home countries. Four of those countries had average first-dose measles vaccine coverage below 90% (1.3 million unauthorized immigrants), whereas three of these countries had average measles incidence over 1 case/100,000 population (950,000 unauthorized immigrants). Overall, there are 10 times more annual US visitors to high measles incidence countries than there are unauthorized immigrants in the US from high measles incidence countries. Efforts to prevent reestablishment of indigenous measles transmission in the US should focus on evidence-based risk assessments, highlighting a greater potential measles importation risk of from US residents travelling internationally than unauthorized immigrants coming to the US.

In the past two decades, attracting highly skilled foreign individuals has been proposed in many countries as a viable approach to redressing labour and skill shortages arising from falling fertility rates and an ageing population. Within this context, international graduates - more specifically - have been deemed a convenient and advantageous source of skilled labour owing to their local academic credentials and experiences. The desirability of attracting and retaining international graduates has contributed to the development and maintenance of post-study migration and employment pathways in many countries to retain these graduates following course completion. Nevertheless, international graduates have received less attention than other migrant groups in the scholarly literature. This thesis aims to advance current knowledge of international graduate retention by systematically documenting and examining the labour market performance of international graduates who remained in Australia between 1998 and 2015.Australia offers an interesting case study to examine the retention of international graduates and their experiences in transitioning to the host labour market. In addition to being a major destination country for international students, Australia maintains a front-running immigration framework designed to provide post-study migration and employment pathways. Further, there is rich and readily available Australian survey data on the employment and career progression of its tertiary graduates that remains under-utilised. Recent research has generated preliminary empirical evidence collectively pointing to an unfavourable labour market position of international graduates in Australia. Notwithstanding, little is known about patterns, trends and changes to their labour market experiences against a backdrop of evolving socio-political and economic environment. In addition, limited scholarly efforts have been dedicated to exploring their labour market integration from a geographical perspective. In this respect, this thesis studies the temporal evolution of international graduate retention in Australia with a focus on the labour market experiences of international graduates following the introduction of post-study migration and employment pathways in 1999. It also examines the influence of geographic mobility in shaping the integration of international graduates into the Australian labour market.Drawing on the Australian Graduate Survey, this thesis revealed that the number and percentage of international graduates who remained in Australia with the intention to work increased appreciably between 1998 and 2015. Nevertheless, recent waves of international graduates tended to come from non-English-speaking backgrounds, stay on with temporary visas and lack work experience, all of which have been reported to contribute to disadvantageous outcomes in the Australian labour market. Consistent with prior studies, this thesis pointed to poorer labour market outcomes amongst international graduates compared to domestic graduates, including higher levels of economic inactivity, unemployment, part-time employment and education-job mismatch. Importantly, the relative labour market standing of international graduates further worsened over the 18-year period, with a clear trend of rising economic inactivity, unemployment, part-time employment and education-job mismatch.Using Blinder-Oaxaca regression decompositions, this thesis linked the deteriorating labour market performance of international graduates to compositional changes in their Australian citizenship and residency status and paid work experience, as well as changes in the behavioural responses associated with these characteristics. The recent influx of non-native English-speakers also played a role, though the effect was relatively modest. Gaps in the labour market performance of international and domestic graduates primarily stemmed from compositional differences in their paid work experience, field-of-study choices and, to a smaller extent, language background. Specifically, the analysis attributed the disadvantageous labour market position of international graduates to their relative lack of paid work experience, in addition to their over-representation in Management and Commerce and under-representation in Education and Health.Given their deteriorating outcomes, the thesis subsequently tested the capacity of geographic mobility to enhance the integration of international graduates into the Australian labour market using treatment effects regression models. The flexibility to move across labour market regions was shown to help reduce the risk of education-job mismatch amongst international graduates, after accounting for the possible positive selection of mobile graduates. No evidence of gender differences was found. The effect of geographic mobility, however, was conditional on the socio-economic characteristics of the destination labour market. Specifically, international graduates who moved to Melbourne were more susceptible to field-of-study mismatch due to the large labour market and large migrant population in this metropolis.The empirical evidence gathered throughout this thesis highlights a need to review and strengthen existing policies and interventions to help international graduates integrate into the Australian labour market. Specifically, approaches aimed at improving discipline-related work experience amongst international graduates and informing their mobility and workplace decisions should be prioritised. More broadly, the empirical insights into the integration of international graduates into the host labour market generated in this project constitute a stepping stone for future work on international graduate retention in Australia and internationally.

To explore undocumented migrants' mental healthcare needs and more specifically to explore how undocumented adults living in Norway perceive psychological distress, to gather insight on their living conditions and to explore associated living condition risk factors. Undocumented migrants are defined both nationally and internationally as an especially vulnerable group with regard to their health status, living conditions and barriers to access to health care and social welfare. An exploratory mixed-methods design using primarily quantitative data with a qualitative component was implemented. Socio-demographic data on 90 undocumented migrants were obtained, and self-report questionnaire on psychological distress was completed, supplemented by qualitative data obtained through interviews. The level of psychological distress was extremely high in our group of undocumented migrants. Leaving their home country because of war or persecution, economic strain, homelessness, hunger and having experienced abuse was significantly positively associated with psychological distress. Contrary to what was predicted, having family and work was not significantly associated with the reduction of psychological distress. Additional qualitative data indicate that having family entails great responsibilities and work implies exploitation to such an extent that any potential positive influence this has on mental health, such as a sense of belonging and a reasonable standard of living, is outweighed. The high level of psychological distress indicates a need of additional diagnostic evaluation and mental health care. The living conditions were so marginal that their day-to-day existence was threatened. We recognised a need for an interdisciplinary and dynamic approach to mental health care. Undocumented migrants are in need of a minimum of psychological and material support assuring basic needs such as shelter and appropriate food and access to health care and social welfare.

The wage penalty to undocumented immigration

This article presents the results of a survey of 100 illegal Bulgarian immigrants living in the Athens area of Greece. The results indicate that Bulgarian illegal immigrants tend to take lower level jobs in the Greek labour market, some of which, however, are jobs for which Greeks compete. Entry into Greece is made legally via visas obtained in Bulgaria. Immigrants tend to be treated well and make friends with locals. Their wage levels are considerably below those of comparable Greeks and they are not insured. Illegal immigrants seem to be tolerated by the authorities, as well as by locals. They tend to send considerable remittances to their home country, but are not particularly reliant on fellow immigrant networks for their labour market movements.

Illegal immigration and large numbers of illegal immigrants in the United States have become a major economic and political issue since the mid-1970s (U.S. Congress 1981). More generally, significant illegal immigration has been concentrated in the last thirty-five years of U.S. history. If the United States had continued a policy of unrestricted immigration, as it did essentially up to 1921, there would be no illegal alien issue. The positive excess demand for rights to immigrate to the U.S. is a result of restrictive immigration and trade policies, rapid Mexican population growth, and long-term U.S. economic growth that has caused U.S. real wage rates and real income to rise above many other countries. The result is large real wage rate differences between the United States and some other countries (e.g., Mexico). Given the barriers to trade and capital flows, workers have found it rewarding to arbitrage these international labor markets by immigrating temporarily or permanently. Currently, real wage differences are large between the United States and Mexico, and given the common border, illegal immigration cannot be prevented (Hansen 1978). A conflict exists between efforts of governments to enforce immigration laws and incentives for individuals to evade regulation. Immigration laws impose costs on potential immigrants (and their employers), but these are also the incentive for evasion. Perceptive individuals reallocate themselves internationally in response to changes in economic conditions (Schultz 1975). In turn, governments engage in law enforcement to discourage illegal immigration and thereby to alter behavior as intended by laws. Thus, for a given economic environment and set of laws, an optimal rate of law e forcement or of illegal immigration exists (Rodney Smith). An analysis of immigration that ignores the prospect of illegal behavior will incorrectly predict the effects of changes in the statutory provisions of immigration laws. A significant share of the labor force in some other countries is comprised of aliens. Northern European countries established legalized guest-worker programs during the 1960s to facilitate economic growth. Under these programs, workers, mainly from souther Europe (Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Yugoslavia) and Africa, cross national boundaries to obtain employment. By 1973 at least 8 million foreign workers were legally employed i northern Europe (Hansen 1978). The largest numbers were employed in Germany and France, although Switzerland had the largest share of its work force comprised of these workers (in excess of 30% during some years). Also, Iran and Saudi Arabia have employed significant numbers of alien workers. The illegal alien and immigration issues are broader than human resource or labor economics from which they have been traditionally viewed (Briggs 1976, Corwin and Fogel, Chiswick, U.S. Congress 1980). They are part of international trade in commodities and factors and of trade and factor mobility impediments. Furthermore, the issue of obtaining seasonal farm workers is part of a broader issue of obtaining temporary labor. The approach of this paper will be to deemphasize a range of issues dealing with the characteristics of markets for seasonal labor (see Huffman; Emerson) and labor market effects near the U.S.-Mexican border (Briggs 1975; Smith and Newman; Hansen; Cross and Sandos). The author is a professor of economics, Iowa State University. Paper No. J-10809 of the Iowa Agricultural and Home Economics Experiment Station, Project 2590. Helpful suggestions were obtained from T. W. Schultz, Maury Bredahl, Larry Morgan, Robert Coltrane, Robert Emerson, Robert Weaver, and James Paulsen. Twelve supporting tables are available from the author on request.

BackgroundAs in many European countries, undocumented migrants in Denmark have restricted access to healthcare. The aim of this study is to describe and analyse undocumented migrants' experiences of access to healthcare, use of alternative health-seeking strategies; and ER nurses' experiences in encounters with undocumented migrants.MethodsQualitative design using semi-structured interviews and observations. The participants included ten undocumented South Asian migrants and eight ER nurses.ResultsUndocumented migrants reported difficulties accessing healthcare. The barriers to healthcare were: limited medical rights, arbitrariness in healthcare professionals' attitudes, fear of being reported to the police, poor language skills, lack of network with Danish citizens, lack of knowledge about the healthcare system and lack of knowledge about informal networks of healthcare professionals. These barriers induced alternative health-seeking strategies, such as self-medication, contacting doctors in home countries and borrowing health insurance cards from Danish citizens. ER nurses expressed willingness to treat all patients regardless of their migratory status, but also reported challenges in the encounters with undocumented migrants. The challenges for ER nurses were: language barriers, issues of false identification, insecurities about the correct standard procedures and not always being able to provide appropriate care.ConclusionsUndocumented migrants face formal and informal barriers to the Danish healthcare system, which lead to alternative health-seeking strategies that may have adverse effects on their health. This study shows the need for policies and guidelines, which in accordance with international human rights law, ensure access to healthcare for undocumented migrants and give clarity to healthcare professionals.

Irregular migration flows rose to prominence in the UK towards the end of the 1990 with notorious and tragic incidents as migrants died either trying to enter the UK or while working in the UK. This chapter argues that responses to irregular migration draw from a repertoire of contentious immigration politics. It explores the ways in which longer-term patterning of migration politics and policy have continued to shape the ways in which migration to the UK is understood. The chapter analyses the salience of irregular migration flows, the links made to people smuggling and human trafficking networks particularly through media coverage of irregular migration, and then develops its argument about the longer-term historical patterning of responses to irregular migration, such as the ways in which irregular migration is related to the longer-term race relations framework that has structured UK migration policy and politics since the 1960s. Keywords: human trafficking; immigration politics; irregular migration; smuggling; United Kingdom migration policy