Migration as a Historical Phenomenon - Essay Example

Reflection Professor (Tutor) The Name of the School (University) The City and State Date Reflection Migration is a historical phenomenon that has shaped the world as we know it today. The idea of migration has for long been based on the basis of colonialism (DeWind & Ergun 2013, p. 5). Most colonial masters are currently high-earning and developed countries with the highest number of immigrants such as the UK, U.S.A, and Germany. Nonetheless, the future of migration is expected to change. According to migration expert Professor Papademetriou, migration is expected to increase between high-income countries to high-income countries, as well as migration flow to middle-income countries such as the Asian-pacific. The following paper aims at reflecting on Professor Papademetriou’s lecture on the future of migration. I believe that Professor Papademetriou offers a thought-provoking lecture and ideas as well as facts on the future of migration. Migration is a complex process that has enabled the world to become globalized. As Professor Papademetriou puts it, globalization is the result of increased mobility. I believe that the ability of people to move around across borders has created a global community. The growth in immigrants who live outside where the country they were born has increased over the past quarter-century to over two million. Growth in migration has however occurred in high-income countries such as U.S, Germany, Canada, and Australia. These countries are in the migration game according to Professor Papademetriou. Countries such as Mexico have implemented well-developed immigration laws, policies, and regulations that complement its suitability among immigrants. I support the point of attracting talent as a strategy for enhanced migration. As Professor Papademetriou puts it, high-income and even middle-income countries are in the game of attracting talent such as seeking international students. For instance, countries that focus on attracting foreign students seek to enhance their economy through the money the students will spend. Nonetheless, countries such as Brazil continue to seek new immigrants without well-laid or foundational immigration policy. I believe that the migration policy and regulation is what allows the whole idea of migration to make sense and become effective. Setting up strategies that attract immigrants is a key element in increasing migration. The main idea of this strategy is based on how countries assess their demographics. According to Professor Papademetriou, demographics can help explain the trends of migration in the world. Countries such as China will have about a quarter billion people going into retirement (Kupiszewski 2013, p. 105). The expected increase in population means that the country requires increased human resources to fill in the labour gap. Moreover, demographics will also play a major role in the future trends of migration. For instance, youth unemployment is high in the UK, despite being a popular migration destination. In the future, the UK will analyse its demographics in terms of economic development to the relative skills capacity. According to Professor Papademetriou, any country cannot have a matched skills capacity in the sense that they may have increased accumulation of one skill such as English majors, but lack engineering and technology majors. I tend to support this point since countries in the Asian-pacific are well-known for their skills in engineering and mathematics while India is well-known for information technology skills. These factors and trends illustrate a changing dimension to migration that will develop the future of migration. According to Professor Papademetriou, migration in the future will both diminish and increase. Again, Papademetriou also indicates that migration will increase from high-income countries to high-income countries while middle-income countries will also migrate to high-income countries based on their well-established migration policy and reforms (Kupiszewski 2013, p. 105). Despite all the challenges facing the world such as the fiscal crisis and economic downturns, high-income countries will continue to attract immigrants (Ghosh, B 2013, p. 45). The expected increase in migration among high income countries is based on the changing trends in terms of migration where countries realize increased skills mismatches. The trend has resulted in countries allowing businesses to seek talent and human resources in the global pool rather than domestic pools (Findlay, et al. 2013, p. 703). Nonetheless, immigration in the world has been inconsistent and is set to continue in the future. Countries such as the U.S experienced high migration rates in the late nineties but began to decrease in recent years. Increased challenges have fuelled the degree to which migration in the world is inconsistent in governance. I support all the three points made by Papademetriou concerning the main challenges of governance in migration. I believe that all migration is based on developing a community as Papademetriou argues. The idea of integration is paramount in ensuring that migration is successful as well as effective. Currently, most high migration countries lack the element of integration in terms of citizens and immigrants. Papademetriou argues that countries such as Germany continue to attract immigrants despite the lack of integration, which are frustrating immigration efforts (Fischer-Neumann 2014, p. 339). I believe that when people migrate to a new country they should develop communities where all the interests of both immigrants and locals are well-aligned. Most immigrants in Germany continue to be assimilated based on the government and community. The community always believes that immigrants will never become like them, which is transferred to the immigrants own beliefs resulting in governance challenges. The second immigration challenge that is expected to influence the future of migration is the wastage of human capital (Verhaeren 1993, p. 45). In my view, I support Papademetriou’s statement that countries such as the U.S have resulted in wasting human capital through ineffective migration policies and regulations. The U.S attracted many immigrants in all manner of ways either legally or illegally enabling a high number of immigrants to live and work in the country. Nonetheless, highly talented immigrants such as Africans entered the country with high-level degrees only to face underemployment. For instance, immigrants with degrees end up taking any job such as a taxi driver to survive or get a living due to the lack of proper migration policies (Talani 2012, p. 67). The same aspect is also visible in Australia where immigrants with skills lack effective means to acquire jobs and contribute to the skills mismatch in the economy (Kostenko 2012, 66). Such immigrants have invested in themselves to offer human capital that continues to be wasted. I believe that countries that invest in the process of migration lack the main picture of investing in policies and processes that ease migration efforts. As Professor Papademetriou puts it, globalization is the result of increased mobility. I believe that the ability of people to move around across borders has created a global community. The growth in immigrants who live outside where the country they were born has increased over the past quarter-century to over two million (Bastia 2013, p. 498). This growth has however occurred in high-income countries such as U.S, Germany, Canada, and Australia. I support the point of attracting talent as a strategy for enhanced migration. As Professor Papademetriou puts it, high-income and even middle-income countries are in the game of attracting talent such as seeking international students (Baofu 2012, p. 55). These points go to illustrating the future of migration in terms of which countries will make these changes to their advantage. To illustrate the future of migration, Papademetriou used the example of Canada. Canada has an effective migration policy and regulation where they offer provisional visas (Day & Winer 2012, p. 122). The effective policy allows provinces to choose the people they want. Most countries such as America continue to influence increased migration policy (Wang & Lysenko 2014, p. 2212). I believe and support the idea that governments are frustrating the success and objectives of migration by micro-managing each and every issue. This is based on how America continues to regulate migration even to employers not giving them the freedom to exercise their innovations (Wang & Lysenko 2014, p. 2212). Canada allows temporary work visas that are a means to earning full visas. Papademetriou argues that the future of migration will not be based on how a country chooses an immigrant, but how an immigrant chooses a country. I believe and support this idea based on how middle-countries are investing in attracting immigrants. This idea of attracting is not limited to advertising, but also developing support systems to ensure easy and effective transition to a country. I believe that by putting employers, universities and organizations together will create the effective and needed migration reforms in the world. In conclusion, Migration is a historical phenomenon that has shaped the world as we know it today. The idea of migration has for long been based on the basis of colonialism. Most colonial masters are currently high-earning and developed countries with the highest number of immigrants such as the UK, U.S.A, and Germany. Nonetheless, the future of migration is expected to change. According to migration expert Professor Papademetriou, migration is expected to increase between high-income countries to high-income countries as well as migration flow to middle-income countries such as the Asian-pacific. I believe that the migration in the future will depend on how well migration reforms will take precedence in the world. Countries that will be quick to make migration reforms will enjoy increased migration development or successes. Nonetheless, this is set to be an inconsistent trend with most of the reforms occurring in high-income countries. I believe that the lecture on the future of migration offers a significant foundation for understanding the underlying factors hindering effective migration reforms in the world. References Baofu, P 2012, The Future of Post-human Migration : A Preface to a New Theory of Sameness, Otherness, and Identity, Cambridge Scholars Pub, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Bastia, T 2013, 'The Migration-Development Nexus: Current Challenges and Future Research Agenda', Geography Compass, no. 7, p. 464. Day, KM, & Winer, SL 2012, Interregional Migration and Public Policy in Canada : An Empirical Study, McGill-Queen's University Press, Montréal [Que.]. DeWind, J, & Ergun, D 2013, 'Development and migration : historical trends and future research', in New perspectives on international migration and development, pp. 5-42. Findlay, AM, Wahba, J, & Scott, S 2013, 'Migration and the Employer Perspective: Pitfalls and Potentials for a Future Research Agenda', Population, Space and Place, no. 6, p. 703. Fischer-Neumann, M 2014, 'Immigrants' Ethnic Identification and Political Involvement in the Face of Discrimination: A Longitudinal Study of the German Case', Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies, vol. 40, no. 3, p. 339. Ghosh, B 2013, The Global Economic Crisis and the Future of Migration : Issues and Prospects: What Will Migration Look Like in 2045?, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke. Kostenko, W 2012, 'Australian migration policy change: selecting winners and making losers', Applied Economics Letters, vol. 19, no. 7, pp. 641-644. Kupiszewski, M 2013, International Migration and the Future of Populations and Labour Force Resources in Europe, Springer, Dordrecht. Talani, LS 2012, Globalization, Migration, and the Future of Europe : Insiders and Outsiders, Routledge, New York. Verhaeren, R 1993, 'Future Trends in International Migration to Europe', International Migration Review, no. 3, p. 630. Wang, Q, & Lysenko, T 2014, 'Immigrant underemployment across US metropolitan areas: From a spatial perspective', Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.), vol. 51, no. 10, pp. 2202-2218. Read More