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RECESSION EXPELS MIGRANT WORKERS WORLDWIDE
Supachai Panitchpakdi
DECEMBER 2008 (IPS) - As the global financial crisis evolves, more and more migrants will
lose their jobs. Because migrants are a key component of the workforce
in both developed and developing countries, addressing their plight is
a major concern, writes Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary-General of
the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
In Europe, the latest data indicate that migrants working in
construction and consumer services have been packing up and leaving in
droves in the past few weeks. About half the one million Eastern
Europeans who moved to the United Kingdom since 2004 have returned
home as jobs in construction and related sectors dry up.
In the United States, unemployment is at the highest level in 14
years, expected to reach 7%. It may surpass 11% before the end of the
crisis. Not surprisingly, US officials report that illegal immigration
is down 40% from 2005.
In China, factories are closing as export orders fall sharply. Nearly
10 million migrant workers have returned to their hometowns in the
past six months. This will expand income inequality. This slowdown is
spreading throughout Asia, as production supply chains are affected.
//NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN CANADA, NEW ZEALAND, CZECH REPUBLIC, IRELAND,
POLAND, THE UNITED STATES, AND THE UNITED KINGDOM// (END/2008)
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