Populations in many parts of the world are aging at an unprecedented rate, finds a new World Bank report. The situation is such that many countries are increasingly relying on migration to realize their long-term growth potential, the report points out. There is therefore a real need for foreign labour, an opportunity for immigrant workers.
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Indeed, the Bretton Woods institution points out that over the next few decades, the percentage of adults of working age will decline sharply in several countries. In Spain, for example, the population, which is currently 47 million, is expected to drop by more than a third by 2100. The proportion of people aged over 65 will drop from 20% to 39% of the total. The report cites countries like Mexico, Thailand, Tunisia and Turkey that may soon need more foreign workers because their populations are no longer growing.
But, for foreign nationals to benefit from this opportunity, the World Bank underlines the need to better manage migration at the level of public policies. International cooperation is presented as essential to make migration a real driver of development. Bilateral cooperation, also to strengthen the match between the skills of migrants and the needs of the societies of destination. The World Bank calls on States to develop good policies to promote this. “The goal of policy makers should be to strengthen the match between migrant skills and demand in destination societies, while protecting refugees and reducing the need for distress migration,” the report says.
More concretely, the report suggests that countries of origin make labor migration an explicit part of their development strategy. They are called upon to reduce the costs of remittances, facilitate the transfer of knowledge from their diaspora, build skills in high demand globally so that their citizens can obtain better quality jobs when they emigrate, mitigate the negative effects of the brain drainand protect their nationals abroad, then support them on their return.
As for destination countries, they should encourage the reception of migrants when the skills they bring are in high demand, facilitate their integration into society and tackle the social repercussions of migration that raise concerns among their citizens. If all this is implemented, then migration will become an engine of development, according to the senior managing director of the World Bank. For Axel van Trotsenburg, when migration is ” managed properly, it benefits everyone in the societies of origin and destination ».
