MODULE 5: GLOBAL POPULATION AND MOBILITY

“The raging monster upon the land is population growth. In its

presence, sustainability is but a fragile theoretical concept.”
- E.O. Wilson

OBJECTIVES. What will you learn from this module?

At the end of this module, you should be able to:

1. Identify the attributes of global city
2. Analyze how cities serve as engines of globalization
3. Analyze the political, economic, cultural and social factors underlying
the global movements of people
4. Display first-hand knowledge of the experience of OFWs
5. Explain the theory of demographic transition as it affects global
population

INTRODUCTION

In this module, you will learn the meaning of global population and mobility,
expanding your knowledge on how it affects the global economic stage; the importance of a
global city, how it affects the economy of a country, the pros and cons of it, and its four
different categories; the theory of global demography on how it compares with the birth and
death rates of different eras of our history to the present time; what it means of global
migration; the many factors of why people migrate to different land or country, how it affects
the country’s economy, and the negative side it has to do to the people looking for
opportunities elsewhere.
 ANALYSIS. One Minute Paper!

Answer the following questions on the space provided.

1. What is globalization in connection with the topic global city?

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2. What is the meaning of “engines of globalization?”

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3. How does globalization affect global cities and vice versa?

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 LESSON 1 THE GLOBAL CITIES

ABSTRACTION

Formation

Cities in a globalizing world although globalization certainly affects rural and peri
urban areas, global forces are centered in cities.

It is in cities that global operations are centralized and where we can see most clearly
the phenomena associated with their activities, whether it be changes in the structure of
employment, the formation of powerful partnerships, the development of monumental real
estate, the emergence of new forms of local governance, the effects of organized crime, the
expansion of corruption, the fragmentation of informal networks or the spatial isolation
exclusion of certain population groups.

What Is a Global City?

Also called world city or sometimes alpha city or world center, global city is a city
which is the primary node in the global economic network.
Three key tendencies seem to follow from these structural facts about global cities:
1. Concentration of wealth in the hands of owners, partners, and professionals
associated with the high-end firms in this system.
2. Growing disconnection between city and its region.
3. The growth of a large marginalized population that has a very hard time
earning a living in the marketplace defined by these high-end activities.
 Characteristics of a Global City

• A variety of international financial services, notably in finance, insurance, real estate,

banking, accountancy, and marketing
• Headquarters of several multinational corporations
• The existence of financial headquarters, a stock exchange, and major financial
institutions
• Domination of the trade and economy of a large surrounding area
• Major manufacturing centers with port and container facilities
• Considerable decision-making power on daily basis and at a global level
• Centers of new ideas and innovation in business, economics, culture, and politics
• Centers of media and communication for global networks
• Dominance of the national region with great international significance
• High percentage of residents employed in the services sector and information sector
• High-quality educational institutions, including renowned universities, international
student attendance, and research facilities
• Multifunctional infrastructure offering some of the best legal, medical, and
entertainment facilities in the country
• High diversity in language, culture, region and ideologies

Reasons of Increase in a Global City

The increase in global cities is linked to the globalization of economics and the
centralization of mass production within urban centers. The two factors have led to the
emergence of networks of activities that seek to fulfill the service and financial requirements
of multinationals. The cities grow to become global while others suffer deindustrialization or
stagnation of their economies.

Cosmopolitan as an Attribute

“Cultural Diversity is detected on the surface as ‘cosmopolitan feel.” The global city’s
natives encounter and engage daily with a mixture of immigrants and visitors. The result is
cosmopolitan consumption, cosmopolitan work culture, global networking, and global
transnational community relations”.

Cosmopolitanism

Cosmopolitanism is a phenomenon mostly associated with the global city. Large

diverse cities attract people, material, and cultural products from all over the world. It usually
evokes pleasant images of travel, exploration, and “worldly” pursuit by the “citizen of the
world”. It is a consumerist world of malls and supermarkets, or theme parks, and leisure
centers offerings, a cross-cultural variety of food, fashion, entertainment, and various
consumables and artifacts.
 • Post-industrial Character as an Attribute
“The condition in which the production of good has ceased and switched to handling
and shifting money and ideas” (Val-Colic-Peisker)

The Global Cities as Engines of Globalization

1. Global cities provide spaces for industries that produce commodities and firms that
provide services such as accounting, banking, and information processing, among
others.

2. Global cities offer convenience through proximity and just-in-time production of

products and services.

Categorization of the Global Cities

• First Tier Cities – “truly global cities” as the most powerful global financial
articulations
• Second Tier Cities – based on the level of their multinational articulations
• Third Tier Cities – based on the importance of their national articulation
 Processing
Globalization has emerged as a new paradigm for describing the way in which the
human family can relate to each other. Globalization is the increased interconnectedness of
all people on the face of earth. We can now more easily, rapidly, and cheaply move, and thus
share, ourselves, our consumer goods, our material and human capital, and the values that
comprise our respective cultures.

Cities are the engines of globalization. They are social magnets, growing faster and
faster. In the current generation urban life has become the dominant form of human life
throughout the world. The problems generated by the present rate of urban growth are new
and cannot be solved on the basis of the lessons of the past. Our historical urban institutions
are not adapting fast enough to the pace of growth. At Penn we have the resources in a variety
of disciplines and professions to gather, analyze and interpret the new types of data that are
necessary to enable us to catch up and plan for the urban future, in association with other
international initiatives such as the World Ur-ban Forum. An increasing number of large
cities, with populations of over five million, are already identified as global cities, cities that
are nodes of global as much as national networks. In 2000, there were 18 megacities (over 10
million)—conurbations such as Mumbai, Tokyo, New York City/Newark and Mexico City had
populations in excess of 10 million inhabitants. Greater Tokyo already has 35 million.

The Hong Kong/Guangzhou area is even larger, perhaps 120 million. Urban growth
is faster outside the Western world, fastest in the poorest areas, such as Africa and the poorer
parts of Asia, producing the most serious problems—problems which as the processes of
globalization also progress will cease to be African and Asian problems and will become global
problems. Movement into cities increases political voice and participation, as previously
isolated rural populations become players on city streets, on the Internet, and in migration.
As the pace of growth accelerates the distinguishing cultural features of established historical
cities become diluted. Established institutional forms of governance and services do not work
with larger numbers. In the past cities worked differently in culturally different parts of the
world, and experienced different problems, now institutional innovation is failing to keep up
with the rate of growth and change, and the problems confronting urban populations depend
more on size and the rate of growth than on cultural expectations. In order to keep abreast of
emerging problems, we now need to plan and organize the comparative study of global cities.
The biggest problems are:
a) political: inequality;
b) economic: water, food, employment;
c) environmental: air quality, drainage;
d) leisure. If we make allowances for differences relating to location (in relation
to communications and resources) and economic focus (manufacturing in
relation to services), it would appear that the faster the rate of growth, the
more the influence of cultural factors fades into the background and the
problems of governance and supply become similar. For this reason, a global
approach is essential. The comparative study of global cities is imperative. It
 will enable us to learn from the study of one for the solution of problems in
others.
Despite playing significant roles in the global economy, global city thesis has been
known for being a threat to state-centric perspectives. These cities have been accused of
focusing their reach to other global cities and neglecting cities within the national outreach.
These cities are more connected to the outside world than to their domestic economy.
Although they are interconnected and interdependent, global cities are always in a
competitive state. The cities of New York and London have been trying to outwit each other
as the global financial centers. Local governments have been keen to promote the global cities
within their territories as either economic or cultural centers, or sites of innovation.

ACTIVITY. Classify me!

Classify the given global cities below the table as to its category.
LONDON BANGKOK NEW YORK
ZURICH SÃO PAULO TOKYO
MADRID MEXICO CITY SEOUL
MIAMI LOS ANGELES TAIPEI
FRANKFURT PARIS AMSTERDAM
SYDNEY SINGAPORE

First Tier Second Tier Third Tier

After the activity above, answer the following questions below.
1. How does these cities serve as an engine of globalization?
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2. Today I learned
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 LESSON 2 GLOBAL DEMOGRAPHY

ABSTRACTION

What Is Global Demography?

Demography is the study of human populations—their size, composition and

distribution across space—and the process through which populations change. Births, deaths
and migration are the ‘big three’ of demography, jointly producing population stability or
change.
A population’s composition may be described in terms of basic demographic features—
age, sex, family and household status—and by features of the population’s social and
economic context—language, education, occupation, ethnicity, religion, income and wealth.
The distribution of populations can be defined at multiple levels (local, regional, national,
global) and with different types of boundaries (political, economic, and geographic).
Demography is a central component of societal contexts and social change.

The “Perils” of Overpopulation

The Population Bomb, which argued that overpopulation in the 19702s and the 1980s
will bring about global environmental disasters that would, in turn, lead to food shortage and
mass starvation. They proposed that countries like the United States take the lead in the
promotion of global population control in order to reduce the growth rate to zero. Their
recommendations ranged from the bizarre (chemical castration) to the policy-oriented
(taxing an original child and luxury taxes on child-related products) to monetary incentives
(paying off men who would agree to be sterilized after two children) to institution-building (a
powerful Department of Population and Environment).
 There was some reason for this fear to persist. The rate of global population increase
was at its highest between 1955 and 1975 when nations were finally able to return to normalcy
after the devastations wrought by World War II. The growth rate rose from 1.8 percent per
year from 1955 to 1975, peaking at 2.06 percent annual growth rate between 1965 and 1970.

By limiting the population, vital resources could be used from economic progress and
not be “diverted” and “wasted” to feeding more mouths. This argument became the basis for
government “population control” programs worldwide. In the mid-20th century, the
Philippines, China, and India sought to lower birth rates on the belief that unless controlled,
the free expansion of family members would lead to a crisis in resources, which in turn may
result in widespread poverty, mass hunger, and political instability. As early as 1958, the
American policy journal, Foreign Affairs, had already advocated “contraception and
sterilization” as the practical solutions to global economic, social, and political problems.
While there have been criticisms that challenged this argument, it persists even to this every
day. In May 2009, a group of American billionaires warned of how a “nightmarish” explosion
of people was “a potentially disastrous environmental, social, and industrial threat” to the
world.

This worry is likewise at the core of the economist argument for the promotion of
reproductive health. Advocates of population control contend for universal access to
reproductive technologies (such as condoms, the pill, abortion, and vasectomy) and, more
importantly, giving women the right to choose whether to have children or not. They see these
tools as crucial to their nation’s development. Thus, in Puerto Rico, reproductive health
supporters regard their work as the task of transforming their “poor country” into a “modern
nation”.

Finally, politics determine these “birth control” programs. Developed countries justify
their support for population control in developing countries by depicting the latter as
conservative societies. For instance, population experts blamed the “irresponsible fecundity”
of Egyptians for that nation’s run-on population growth, and the Iranian peasant’s “natural”
libidinal tendencies for the same rise in population. From 1920 onwards, the Indian
government “marked lower castes, working poor, and Muslims as hypersexual and hyper-
fecund and hence a drain on national resources. These policy formulations lead to extreme
policies like the forced sterilization of twenty million “violators” of the Chinese government’s
one-child policy. Vietnam and Mexico also conducted coercive mass sterilization.

It’s the Economy, Not the Babies!

The use of population control to prevent the economic crisis has its critics. For
example, Betsy Hartmann disagrees with the advocates of neo-Malthusian theory and
accused governments of using population control as a “substitute for social justice and much-
needed reforms-such land distribution, employment creation, provision of mass education
and health care, and emancipation.” Others pointed out that the population did grow fast in
many countries in the 1960s, and this growth “aided economic development by spurring
technological and institutional innovation and increasing the supply of human ingenuity.”
They acknowledged the shift in population from the rural to the urban areas. They likewise
noted that while these “megacities” are now clusters in which income disparities along with
“transportation, housing, air pollution, and waste management” are major problems, they
also have become, and continue to be, “centers of economic growth and activity.”
The median of 29.4 years for females and 30.9 for males in the cities means a young
working population. With this median age, states are assured that they have a robust military
force. According to two population experts:
“As a country’s baby-boom generation gets older, for a time it constitutes a large cohort
group of working-age individuals and, later a large cohort of elderly people… In all
circumstances, there are reasons to think that this very dynamic age structure will have
economic consequences. A historically high proportion of working-age individuals in a
population means that, potentially, there are more workers per dependent that previously.
Production can therefore increase relative to consumption, and GDP capita can receive a
boost.”
The productive capacities of this generation are especially high in regions like East Asia
as “Asia’s remarkable growth in the past half century coincided closely with demographic
change in the region. As infant mortality fell from 181 to 34 per 1,000 births between 1950
and 2000, fertility fell from six to two children per woman. Between 1965 and 1990, the
region’s working-age population grew nearly four times faster than the dependent
population. Several studies have estimated that this demographic shift was responsible for
on-third of East Asia’s economic growth during the period (a welcome demographic
dividend).”
Population growth has, in fact, spurred “technological and institutional innovation”
and increased “the supply of human ingenuity.’ Advances in agricultural production have
shown that the Malthusian nightmare can be prevented. The “Green Revolution” created
high-yielding varieties of rice and other cereals and, along with the development of new
methods of cultivation, increased yields globally, but more particularly in the developing
world. The global famine that neo-Malthusians predicted did not happen. Instead, between
1950 and 1984, global grain production increased by over 250 percent, allowing agriculture
to keep pace with population growth, thereby keeping global famine under control.
Lately, a middle ground emerged between these two extremes. Scholars and
policymakers agree with the neo-Malthusians but suggest that if governments pursue
population control programs, they must include “more inclusive growth” and “greener
economic growth.”

Women and Reproductive Rights

The character in the middle of these debates—women—is the subject of these
population measures. Reproductive rights supporters argue that if population control and
economic development were to reach their goals, women must have control over whether they
will have children or not and when they will have their progeny, if any. By giving women this
power, they will be able to sustain growth in part because women were given the power of
choice and easy access to reproductive technologies. In North America and Europe, 73
percent of governments allow abortion upon a mother’s request. Moreover, the more
educated a woman is, the better are her prospects of improving her economic position.
Women can spend most of the time pursuing either their higher education or their careers,
instead of forcibility reducing this time to take care of their children.
Most countries implement reproductive health laws because they worry about the
health of the mother. In 1960, Bolivia’s average total fertility rate (TFR) was 6.7 children. In
1978, the Bolivian government put into effect a family planning program that included the
legalization of abortion (after noticing a spike in unsafe abortion and maternal deaths). By
1985, the TFR rate went down to 5.13 and further declined to 3.46 in 2008. A similar pattern
occurred in Ghana after the government expanded reproductive health laws out of the same
concern as that of the Bolivian government. As a result, “fertility declined steeply…and
continued to decline after 1994.” Such examples seemed to draw the attention of other
countries. Thus, in 2014, the United Nations report noted that the proportion of countries
allowing abortion to preserve the physical health of a woman increased from 63% to 67%, and
those to preserve the mental health of a woman increased from 52% to 64%.
Opponents regard reproductive rights as nothing but a false front for abortion. They
contend that this method of preventing conception endangers the life of the mother and must
be banned, the religious wing of the anti-reproductive rights flank goes further and describes
abortion as a debauchery that sullies the name of God; it will send the mother to hell and
prevents ta new soul, the baby, to become human. This position was a politically powerful one
partly because various parts of the developing world remain very conservative. Unfailing
pressure by Christian world groups compelled the governments of Poland, Croatia, Hungary,
Yugoslavia, and even Russia to impose restrictive reproductive health programs, including
making access to condoms and other technologies difficult. Muslim countries do not condone
abortion and limit wives to domestic chores and delivering babies. Senegal only allows
abortion when the mother’s life is threatened. The Philippines with a Catholic majority, now
has a reproductive health law in place, but conservative politicians have enabled it through
budget cuts and stalled its implementation by filing a case against the law in the Supreme
Court.
A country being industrialized and developed, however, does not automatically assure
pro-women reproductive regulations. In the United States, the women’s movement of the
1960s was responsible for the passage and judicial endorsement of a pro-choice law, but
conservatives controlling state legislatures have also slowly undermined this law by imposing
a restriction on women’s access to abortion. While pro-choice advocates argue that abortion
is necessary to protect the health of the mother, their conservative rivals shift the focus on the
death of the fetus into the mother’s womb as the reason for reversing the law. This battle
continues to be played out in all the political arenas in the United States.
The Feminist Perspective
Feminists approach the issue of reproductive rights from another angle. They are,
foremost, against any form of population control because they are compulsory by nature,
resorting to a carrot-and-stick approach (punitive mechanisms co-exist alongside benefits)
that actually does not empower women. They believe that government assumptions that
poverty and environmental degradation are caused by overpopulation are wrong. These
factors ignore other equally important causes like the unequal distribution of wealth, the lack
of public safety nets like universal health care, education, and gender equality that point to
overpopulation as the culprit behind poverty and ecological devastation.
Governments have not directly responded to the criticisms, but one of the goals of 1994
United Nations International Conference on Population and Development suggests
recognition of this issue. Country representatives to that conference agreed that women
should receive family planning counseling on abortion, the dangers of sexually transmitted
disease, the nature of sexuality, and the main elements of responsible parenthood. However,
the conference also left it to the individual countries to determine how these
recommendations can be turned into programs. Hence, globally, women’s and feminist
arguments on reproductive rights and overpopulation are acknowledged, but the struggle to
turn them into policy is still fought at the national level. It is the dilemma that women and
feminist movements face today.

Population Growth and Food Security

Today’s global population has reached 7.4 billion, and it is estimated to increase to 9.5
billion in 2050, then 11.2 billion by 2100. The median age of this population is 30.1, with the
male median age at 29.4 years and female, 30.9 years. 95% percent of this population growth
will happen in the developing countries, with demographers predicting that by the middle of
this century, several countries will have tripled their population. The opposite is happening
in the developed world where populations remain steady in general but declining in some of
the most advanced countries (Japan and Singapore). However, this scenario is not a run-off
that could get out control. Demographers predict that the world population will stabilize by
2050 to 9 billion, although they warn that feeding this population will be an immense
challenge.
 Population Growth by Continent from 2000 to 2018

The decline in fertility and the existence of a young productive population, however,
may not be enough to offset this concern over food security. The Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) warns that in order for countries to mitigate the impact of population
growth, food production must increase by 70%; annual cereal production must rise to 3
billion tons from the current 2.1 billion; and yearly meat production must go up to 200 million
tons to reach 470 million. The problem here is that the global rate of growth of cereals had
declined considerably – from 3.2% in 1960 to just 1.5% in 2000.
The FAO recommends that countries increase their investments in agriculture, craft
long-term policies aimed at fighting poverty, and invest in research and development. The
UN body also suggests that countries develop a comprehensive social service program that
includes food assistance, consistent delivery of health services, and education especially for
the poor. If domestic production is not enough, it becomes essential for nations to import.
The FAO, therefore, enjoins governments to keep their markets open, and to eventually
“move towards a global trading system that is fair and competitive, and that contributes to a
dependent market for food.
 ACTIVITY. The World’s Religions Differentiated!

Choose the letter of the correct answer.

1. Which continent has the highest growth rate?

a. Africa
b. Asia
c. Europe
d. South America

2. Which continent has the largest population?

a. North America
b. Africa
c. Asia
d. Europe

3. Who predicted that population would increase by geometric progression, while food
production would increase in arithmetic progression?
a. Emile Durkheim
b. Gottman
c. Ferdinand Tönnies
d. Thomas Robert Malthus

4. The three main factors that cause population change to a specified area are
a. births, deaths, and marriage.
b. births, deaths, and migration.
c. births, deaths, and life expectancy.
d. none of the above

5. What causes overpopulation?

a. Lack of technology in the productive process
b. Poverty
c. Immigration
d. Poor family planning
e. All of the above
Answer the following questions.
1. What do you think are the factors that would affect demographic transition?
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2. Under what circumstances is rapid population growth beneficial to societies?

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 LESSON 3 GLOBAL MIGRATION

ABSTRACTION

What Is Migration?
There are two types of migration: internal migration, which refers to people moving
from one area to another within one country; and international migration, in which
people cross borders of one country to another. The latter can be further broken down into
five groups. First are those who move permanently to another country (immigrants). The
second refers to workers who stay in another country for a fixed period (at least 6 months in
a year). Illegal migrants comprise the third group, while the fourth group is migrants whose
family “petitioned” them to move to the destination country. The fifth group are refugees (also
known as asylum-seekers), i.e., those “unable or unwilling to return because of a well-founded
fear of prosecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social
group, or political opinion.”
Migration is a key feature of our increasingly interconnected world. It has also become
a flashpoint for debate in many countries, which underscores the importance of
understanding the patterns of global migration and the economic impact that is created when
people move across the world’s borders. A new report from the McKinsey Global Institute
(MGI), People on the move: Global migration’s impact and opportunity, aims to fill this need.
Refugees might be the face of migration in the media, but 90 percent of the world’s
247 million migrants have moved across borders voluntarily, usually for economic reasons.
Voluntary migration flows are typically gradual, placing less stress on logistics and on the
social fabric of destination countries than refugee flows. Most voluntary migrants are
working-age adults, a characteristic that helps raise the share of the population that is
economically active in destination countries.
 By contrast, the remaining 10 percent are refugees and asylum seekers who have fled
to another country to escape conflict and persecution. Roughly half of the world’s 24 million
refugees are in the Middle East and North Africa, reflecting the dominant pattern of flight to
a neighboring country. But the recent surge of arrivals in Europe has focused the developed
world’s attention on this issue. A companion report, Europe’s new refugees: A road map for
better integration outcomes, examines the challenges and opportunities confronting
individual countries.
Fifty percent of global migrants have moved from the developing countries to the
developed zones of the world and contribute anywhere from 40 to 80 percent of their labor
force. Their growth has outstripped the population growth in the developing countries (3
percent versus only 0.6 percent), such that today, according to the think-tank McKinsey
Global Institute, “first generation immigrants constitute 13 percent of the population in
Western Europe, 15 percent in North America, and 48 percent in the GCC countries.” The
majority of migrants remain in the United States, 95 percent in the United Kingdom, and
percent in Australia. Once settled, they contribute enormously to raising the productivity of
their host countries.

Table 1: Migrant Contribution to Destination Country (in dollars and as percentage of

national GDP, 2015)

Country Contribution Percentage of GDP

United States $2 trillion 11 percent

Germany $550 billion 17 percent

United Kingdom $390 billion 14 percent

Australia $330 billion 25 percent

Canada $320 billion 21 percent

What Is Global Migration?

Global migration is a situation in which people go to live in foreign countries, especially

to find work. Most global migration is from developing countries to developed ones. Global
migration can be understood as a cause and effect relationship, though the causes are just as
numerous as their effects. People move across international borders for a variety of reasons.
Why Do People Move?

• Economic Reasons
Lack of employment or opportunities or differentials in employment and wages; the lure
of well-paid job in a wealthy country is a powerful driver of international migration. Lack
of educational institutions across developing countries has also tremendously contributed
to the reason for migration.

• Political Reasons
The unattractiveness of agricultural activities, disasters, lack of basic amenities (roads,
electricity, portable water, and inadequate health care facilities) and industrial ventures
in countries have also encouraged international migration.

• Social Factors
Socially factors are things that affect someone’s lifestyle. These could include wealth,
religion, buying habits, educational level, family size and structure and population
density.

• Cultural Factors
The idea of culture is vital to understanding the implications for translation and despite
the differences of opinion as to whether language is a part of culture or not, the two are
connected. Culture ranges are from syntax, ideologies, religion, language and dialect, to
art and literacy.

• Push-Pull Factor
In geographical terms, the push-pull factors are those that drive people away from a place
and draw people to a new location. Combinations of push-pull factors help determine
migration or immigration of particular populations from one land to another.
○ Push Factors: Reasons to leave – Factors that lead migrants decide
to leave their home
○ Pull Factors: Reasons to migrate – Factors that attract people in are
where immigrants are going
Push Factors Pull Factors
● Unemployment ● Better working conditions
● Social unrest ● High standard of living
● Political crisis ● Attractive compensation package
● Minimum wages ● More employment opportunities
● Poor living condition
● Corruption in the government
● Lack of employment opportunities
● Social mobility
● Government policies
 Benefits and Detriments for the Sending Countries
Even if 90% of the value generated by migrant workers remains in their host countries,
they have sent billions back to their home countries (in 2014, their remittances totaled $580
billion). In 2014, India held the highest recorded remittance ($70 billion), followed by China
($62 billion), the Philippines ($28 billion), and Mexico ($25 billion). These remittances make
significant contributions to the development of small-and medium-term industries that help
generate jobs. Remittances likewise change the economic and social standing of migrants,
shown by new or renovated homes and their relatives’ access to new consumer goods. The
purchasing power of migrant’s family doubles and makes it possible for children to start or
continue their schooling.
Yet, there remain serious concerns about the economic sustainability of those reliant
on migrant monies. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) observes that in countries like the
Philippines, remittances “do not have a significant influence on other key items of
consumption or investment such as spending on education and health care.” Remittances,
therefore, may help in lifting “household out of poverty…but not in rebalancing growth,
especially in the long run.
More importantly, global migration is “siphoning…qualified personnel, [and]
removing dynamic young workers. This process had often been referred to as “brain drain.”
According to the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia
have lost one-third of their college graduates. Sixty percent of those who moved to OECD
destinations were college graduates, compared to just nine percent (9%) of the overall
population in the country. Fifty-two percent of Filipino who leave for work in the developed
world have tertiary education, which is more than double the 23 percent of the overall Filipino
population. Furthermore, the loss of professionals in certain key roles, such as doctors, has
been detrimental to the migrants’ home countries. In 2006, some 15 percent of locally trained
doctors from 21 sub-Saharan African countries had emigrated to the United States or Canada;
the losses were particularly steep in Liberia (where 43 percent of doctors left), Ghana (30
percent), and Uganda (20 percent).”
Governments are aware of this long-term handicap but have no choice but to continue
promoting migrants' work as part of state policy because of the remittances’ impact on GDP.
They are equally “concerned with generating jobs for an under-utilized workforce and in
getting the maximum possible inflow of worker remittances.’’ Governments are thus actively
involved in the recruitment and deployment of works, some of them setting up special
departments like the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training in Bangladesh; the
Office of the Protector of Emigrants within the Indian Labor Ministry; and the Philippine
Overseas Employment Agency (POEA). The sustainability of migrant-dependent economies
will partially depend on the strength of these institutions.
 The Problem of Human Trafficking
On the top of the issue of brain drain, sending states must likewise protect migrant
workers. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation lists human trafficking as the
third largest criminal activity worldwide. In 2012, the International Labor Organization
(ILO) identified 21 million men, women, and children as victims of “forced labor,” an appalling
three out every 1000 persons worldwide. Ninety percent of the victims (18.7 million) are
exploited by private enterprises and entrepreneurs; 22 percent (4.5 million) are sexually
abused; and 68 percent (14.2 million) work under compulsion in agricultural, manufacturing,
infrastructure, and domestic activities. Human trafficking has been very profitable, earning
syndicates, smugglers, and corrupt state officials profits of as high as $150 billion a year in
2014.
Governments, the private sector, and civil society groups have worked together to
combat human trafficking, yet the results remain uneven.
 ACTIVITY. Minute Paper Reflection!

Answer the questions below. Write your answer on the space provided.
1. In your own perspective, do you think global migration helps your country? Why?
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2. Based on what you’ve learned about human trafficking, do you think is it

possible to be resolved, if yes, how, if not, why?
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