There is a persistent rhetoric around migration, which ignores the fact that the demand for labor is its main driver. The current mainstream narrative doesn’t fully recognize the development potential of labor mobility for migrants and sending and destination countries alike.
The opportunity for an ambitious global agenda here is clear, and LaMP wants to make it happen. We believe we can solve two major challenges in one fell swoop, all while reducing irregular migration, which fuels the migrant smuggling industry.
- By 2050, half a billion of the projected working-age population of the world’s low-income countries are expected to have difficulty finding jobs at home. In the absence of sufficiently large mobility pathways, their demand for alternative and irregular journeys increases.
- The latter number is roughly equivalent to the needs in high-income countries due to the irreversible ageing of their workforce. Many services cannot be done remotely and need skilled workers, from harvesting to elderly care.
What is more, labor mobility is by far the most impactful form of aid – more so than the world’s official and philanthropic development aid. Embracing it in a thoughtful, well-regulated way, building structures to allow demand to meet supply in an orderly manner and with clear conditions, is a very effective solution.
You can read more in this article by Anders Bolling for the Swedish magazine Fokus (behind paywall).