Migration

"The immigrant experience is often a contradictory mixture of economic opportunity and exploitation, personal freedom and societal discrimination. During periods of prosperity and low unemployment, new immigrants are welcomed into the labour force. When resources become scarce, immigrants are perceived as rivals who compete for jobs, accept lower pay and poorer working conditions, and their
children are blamed for overcrowded conditions in schools."
www.ailf.org

The reasons for migration are as follows:

• chain migration: one leaves, tests the water, sends for the others. Most migrants have contacts in their new country.
• social security: invest money in a son's plane ticket and preliminary accommodation and when he gets work, he sends money home.

Reasons for immigration/emigration can be different, less out of choice:

• to escape poverty
• economic/social/political reasons: land shortage, population pressure. People are sent out by "structural forces", i.e. government, army
• receiving country may have too many jobs and not enough people whereas the country most immigrants come from would have not enough jobs. Economy needs migration. This is called "push and pull".
• genocide, sexism, discrimination, war, e.g. the ongoing crisis in the Gaza Strip.

Often immigrants are given jobs which all have the three Ds: dirty, dangerous and difficult. These are the jobs no one else wants within their own country so if you see this from the point of view of a business, you can either increase the wages for these awful jobs to tempt people or employ immigrants who accept lower pay and bad conditions. I am sure we are all aware of which stategy most businesses use. Also, this pittance they are payed for 3D jobs is still more than they would get back home for a more reasonable job, higher up the employment "chain".

Sam Wood