Risk and reward: How migration reshapes the world

Managing migration means dealing with its effects, which are often positive but include issues like social tension that cannot be ignored.

The most stressful experiences humans will face are supposedly death, divorce and moving house. These are life-changing events for everyone involved. They bring trauma and loss, but also powerful new beginnings.

Now imagine if the house move happens across thousands of kilometres and an international border, as it does for most migrants. Or if it involves family separation, as it does for millions of labour migrants. Or if it involves escape from war, as it does for many refugees.

All of these forms of migration can transform lives and bring benefits to individuals, their home countries and their new homes. But there are real risks for all involved that demand careful management.

A country defined by high immigration, Australia experiences both benefits and success stories as well as some of the downside risks.

In the lead-up to an election where immigration will be a central debate, it’s important to talk about the risks and rewards of migration frankly and accurately, so that people can make informed decisions about the political choices facing them.

How migrants fare

Migration radically boosts living standards for the migrants. In 2023, moving from Haiti to the US increased a migrant’s expected annual income from US$1,272 to about US$70,000.

Migrants from Afghanistan to Germany, from Mozambique to Portugal and from Ethiopia to Norway experience a doubling of their overall Human Development Index — a UN measure of the quality of life, which includes living conditions, employment opportunities and social services.

Migration also affirms the right to move — a basic freedom denied in repressive regimes.

But it can expose people to grave hazards. Home countries are meant to protect their citizens, but that duty fades once people leave and destination countries may not feel responsible.

It is a gap that leaves migrants open to exploitation by shady recruitment agents, unscrupulous employers and human smugglers who promise much but deliver danger. In extreme cases, migrants become trapped in human trafficking or modern slavery.

These risks increase when migrants are unseen, uncounted and unincluded within their destination communities.

What they bring

Migrants also change their new homes, boosting diversity by adding new lifestyles, cuisines, traditions and ideas that can enrich local culture.

It takes only a walk around the restaurants and cafes of Melbourne or a look at the influence of Italian immigrants on the wine, fruit and vegetables of the New South Wales’ Riverina to understand some of those changes.

And they fuel the economy. Highly skilled migrants spark innovation and start businesses, while low-skilled migrants fill jobs that locals often avoid. Employers gain from hiring flexibility although the problems start when they pay migrants less than local workers.

Surprisingly, migrants themselves are sometimes not concerned about this. For many people from less-developed countries, even what would be called ‘exploitative’ wages and working conditions represent a big improvement on their previous situation.

There is a saying among many Mexican farmworkers: there’s only one thing worse than being exploited in California — and that’s not being exploited in California.

However, unions in more developed countries have fought for generations to secure fair wages and working conditions. They often worry that immigrants are ‘stealing jobs’ from local workers by undercutting them.

Those fears are largely unfounded and scores of studies have shown that immigration does not reduce local wages by much, if at all. Migrants are not substitutes for homegrown workers, they complement them by doing the jobs that local workers can’t or won’t do.

Social tensions can still arise from the belief — even if it is mistaken — that migrants are an economic threat. Often this disguises a deeper, less rational and less publicly palatable fear of migrants as a cultural threat.

Some locals fear that migrants won’t blend in. Instead of adopting local values and norms, they might cluster in ethnic enclaves with festering social problems.

Such ill-founded fears often trigger paranoia over everything from housing — “Immigrants are driving up house prices!” — to congestion — “Immigrants are causing traffic jams!” — through to regulating women’s fashion — “Immigrant headscarves are hate symbols!”.

Eight years ago Senator Pauline Hanson amplified that style of argument when she wore a burqa to federal parliament.

The real risk is less that any of these fears might partly come true, and more that they will ignite social divisions that cause conflict and other more substantial problems down the line.

Dispelling unfounded fears with the real facts is therefore a crucial part of managing migration and maintaining social cohesion.

What happens back home

In the world’s few migrant destination countries, public debates focus mainly on the impacts of immigration.

But for the many migrant origin countries, there is equal or even greater concern about the impacts of emigration.

For home countries, emigration is rarely a cause for celebration. It can feel like a wholesale rejection of the homeland and, in rural areas, might even trigger fears of depopulation.

More worrying is the loss of skilled workers. When the best minds leave, economic progress slows, a cycle known as brain drain.

But emigration has its silver linings.

Migrant remittances — the money sent to families back home — have grown dramatically over the past 25 years. This money provides a steady income for households and helps national economies.

In 2024, the World Bank estimated that remittance flows to low and middle-income countries would rise to US$685 billion, larger than overseas aid and foreign direct investment combined.

The UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development expects that global remittances will reach US$5.4 trillion by the year 2030.

Migration carries risks and rewards for everyone involved.

If shielded from the worst vulnerabilities, migrants themselves transform their lives for the better.

Their homelands can share in their successes if they cultivate positive ties to their migrant diasporas.

And if destination states carefully navigate social tensions, they make huge economic and social gains from immigration.

Migration can benefit everyone if it is well managed. And the key to good management is knowing the facts first.

Professor Alan Gamlen is the Director of the ANU Migration Hub and a professor in the School of Regulation and Global Governance at The Australian National University. He is an expert on human migration and mobility.

Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™.