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The paper assesses the costs and household level benefits of migrating overseas from Bangladesh. We survey households who have had overseas migrants to assess their characteristics compared to non-migrants. We also compute various types of migration and remittance related transaction costs and discuss the channels by which overseas migration is financed, remittances sent and the constraints faced by the poorest. Using the Propensity Score Matching method to address household level selection bias, the paper finds that overseas migration conveys substantial benefits to families as measured by household consumption, use of modern agricultural inputs, and the level of household savings. We also offer some possible policy directions to strengthen the returns from migration as well as reduce some of the costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes as a reference, empirical analyses conducted in northern European countries and the United States which associate socioeconomic factors to the location patterns of immigrants. It has been suggested that the socioeconomic context of southern Europe could impact immigrants' location choices. We analyze data on the location of immigrants in municipalities of the Andalusian region in southern Spain with respect to the factors that most influence immigrants' location preferences as discussed in the literature: a pre-existing immigrant community, economic dynamism, population size and other scarcely investigated factors such as the territorial characteristics of the municipality and its productive structure. We conclude that immigrant location patterns in Andalusia are very similar to those found in geographical areas outside Spain, with the exception of specific characteristics related to the social and labor model of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the overeducation of recent immigrants in the Canadian labour market. Data from the 1999 Workplace and Employee Survey are used to explore the determinants and earnings consequences of overeducation. Although a well-developed body of literature examines the earnings consequences of overeducation, this paper presents the first Canadian estimates of returns to years of schooling that are contingent upon perceived job requirements. Compared with Canadian-born workers, recent immigrants are found to have a relatively high incidence of overeducation and to earn relatively low returns for surplus schooling. These are shown to be major contributors to the earnings gap between recent immigrants and workers born in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a gender analysis of the South African government's proposed new policy on international migration, identifying a number of areas of implicit gender discrimination. Such "discrimination by default" is of more than academic relevance, having important implications for national and regional development. Research undertaken by the Southern African Migration Project indicates a growing "feminization" of migration to South Africa from the Southern African region, as well as gender-specific motives and patterns of migration. If migration is to be effectively managed, such realities must be taken into account. The paper concludes by advocating a development-centered, "household strategies" approach, both in understanding international migration to South Africa and in the further development and implementation of legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

La población magrebí ha sido uno de los colectivos inmigrantes más numerosos en el territorio español desde finales del siglo XX, lo que ha motivado que posea una notable representación en sus medios de comunicación. Por ello, este trabajo ha tenido como objetivo examinar el tratamiento de las informaciones publicadas sobre la población magrebí y los aspectos teóricos del binomio framing-mundo araboislámico en los periódicos de tirada nacional y regional en España durante la crisis. Para llevar a cabo el estudio, se empleó una metodología mixta basada en el análisis de contenido cuantitativo y cualitativo. El análisis concluye que el frame más habitual es el de interés humano, aunque se ofrezca una representación negativa de este colectivo, un hecho que puede derivar en actitudes y discursos críticos con lo araboislámico. The Maghreb population has been one of the largest groups of immigrants in Spain since the end of the 20th century. This has led to a noteworthy representation in the Spanish media. By focusing on national and regional newspapers during the economic crisis in Spain, the paper aims at examining the treatment of the Maghreb population and certain theoretical aspects of binomial framing of the Arab-Islamic world. A mixed methodology based on quantitative and qualitative analysis of content was used to carry out this study. The analysis concludes that the most common frame is human interest, although a negative representation of this group is offered, a fact that may lead to critical discourse and attitudes towards the Arab-Islamic world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has four aims. First, it defines the extent to which skilled migration to Australia has changed in recent decades in terms of scale, source country, and entry mode. Second, it describes Australia's federally driven foreign qualification recognition (FQR) reform strategy, including the pressure imposed by successive parliamentary reviews to improve outcomes. Third, it reports the growing engagement of select health regulators in reform, at a time when temporary workers constitute three-quarters of skilled migrants, and the question increasingly asked is whether regulatory bodies have the agility to facilitate twenty-first century labour migration flows. Finally, it assesses the contribution of qualification recognition reform to skilled migrants' recognition and early employment outcomes. Key learnings from Australia's FQR experience are then highlighted, of potential policy relevance to Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using sampling techniques to obtain demographic and social information on the immigrant population requires a specifically designed survey. To guarantee the reliability of results, the sample design should not be limited to commonly used demographic variables, but should also consider the immigrants' year of arrival. If this variable is not included in the initial design or subsequent adjustments of the survey, there is a high risk that its estimate will be biased, thereby affecting the estimates of all variables correlated with the year of arrival. The paper analyses the Spanish case for two reasons. Firstly, because Spain has an administrative source-the Municipal Population Register-which records migrants irrespective of their legal situation, so the figures it provides may be a good reference for comparing the estimates generated from the surveys. Secondly, in addition to the migration information provided by the Spanishlabour Force Survey, data from a new specific survey of the immigration population- the National Immigrants Survey-2007-were also available to us. The existence of these three separate sources makes Spain the best testing ground in Europe for evaluating the reliability of sampling techniques to measure migration flows. Although the analysis is carried out essentially with Spanish statistical information, it will be shown that the problems are also common to other European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite increasing measures to control and regulate migration flows, irregular migration has grown in the last few years in Spain, Malaysia and the United States. This increase in irregular immigration has mainly been explained in relation to socio-economic factors. However, while these factors explain the presence of migration flows towards these countries, they do not succeed in explaining why an important part of these flows takes place on a non-regular basis. This can only be considered by taking into account the State and its immigration policies. Starting out from this statement, this research paper analyses to what extent, how and why the immigration policies of Spain, Malaysia and the United States produce «illegals«. This means not only analysing how and why immigration policies contribute to the increase in the number of irregular immigrants, but also how and why, by denying their rights and often their existence, they create the figure of the «illegal immigrant». As this research note demonstrates for the Malaysian case, irregular immigration is not despite immigration policies but because of them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]