Can Migrants Save the Global Economy?
By Debayani Kar Published by Foreign Policy in Focus: December, 2009 The global economic crisis has devastated communities 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 job losses since 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 including especially countries in Central and Latin America whose workers fates are tied to the U.S. economy: Mexico (-11%), Guatemala (-13%), Honduras (-13%) and El Salvador (-13%). Some countries in South Asia did experience increases: Bangladesh (+22%) and Pakistan (+21%). While migrant workers have been hit by job losses, lower earnings, slower migration, and continued deportation, their remittances
