Global Development Through International Labor Mobility

Abstract

International labor mobility is currently heavily restricted by tight immigration controls around the world, and most people who want to migrate in search of employment and higher wages are either unable to or must do so illegally. This study questions whether modern immigration restrictions are effective or economically beneficial to either sending or receiving countries. This study assesses the economic and social benefits and drawbacks of greater international labor mobility for the world, and the U.S. in particular. It focuses on temporary labor migration of low-skilled workers from the developing world to the developed world, and argues that increasing this type of migration could promote the development of the developing world far more than current international aid and trade flows. Furthermore, greater international labor mobility benefits all countries that participate. The U.S., specifically, has much to gain from developing formal bilateral and multilateral migrant labor agreements with developing countries, in particular Mexico. The economic and social benefits of widening legal avenues for migrant labor far outweigh potential costs, such as suppressed wages of low-skilled citizens. Policymakers in the developed world should reconsider the effectiveness of restrictive immigration policies and militarized borders, and they should strongly consider the economic growth that could be realized by establishing formal, well-enforced migrant labor programs with developing countries.