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Can Migrants Save the Global Economy?

Source: Foreign Policy in Focus

The global economic crisis has devastated workers around the world, none more than migrants whose daily wages are dependent on the whims of global financiers. Witness Dubai. Even before the meltdown of Dubai World, migrants whose labor literally built Dubai from the ground up suffered serious job losses with the onset of the global recession in 2008.

Remittances are expected to decline from $308 billion worldwide in 2008 to $293 billion in 2009, due to the global financial crisis. Many countries have experienced declines, particularly in Central and Latin America where workers’ fates are tied to the U.S. economy: Mexico (-11%), Guatemala (-13%), Honduras (-13%) and El Salvador (-13%). Some countries in South Asia, however, did experience an influx of money from workers abroad: Bangladesh (+22%) and Pakistan (+21%). read more