AIMS

Globalization and Skilled Labour Migration

Highly-skilled African migrants have significant impact on innovation and research and development (R&D) activity in destination countries. The battle for highly skilled migrants has intensified due to increased sophistication of the advanced economies with a shrinking working age population. The number of senior citizens over 65 years has increased as the number of young workers declines in basically all industrialized countries. With worldwide competition for highly skilled workers getting fierce, the continent will continue to suffer skills hemorrhage.

There is hope that through their links with the continent, the skilled migrants abroad can impact on the distribution/diffusion of existing technologies and innovations to their countries of origin. They can further integrate their African countries into the global economy by facilitating transfer of knowledge and building numerous other economic, social and cultural linkages with advanced economies. For this research the context of the most visible and politically contentious high skilled migrant group – physicians and nurses are worth a special concern.

Likewise, low-skilled labour has potential to lift families at the bottom of the pyramid out of precarious livelihood situations and enable them to make investments in education, health and small business ventures. There is need to complement policies that enhance the welfare of these low skilled migrant households by maximizing the benefits of oftentimes, temporary or circular migration and reducing its recruitment costs incurred to secure overseas jobs.

First in order to identify the development impact of both types of migration, understanding the newly emerging overall patterns is crucial. Secondly, the determinants of these patterns and their linkages to underlying economic, social, cultural and globalization factors.