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Approximately 20 million workers are presently living in countries other than their homelands in order to find better job opportunities. This labor migration is determined mainly by an income gap between the sending and receiving countries. Less important determinants are historical ties, cultural or linguistic affinity, and proximity. Emigrants include highly educated professionals such as doctors and engineers, and unskilled laborers who can assume low-paying jobs in agriculture and industry, for example. Countries from which the workers emigrate benefit in that unemployment rates drop and their economies are boosted by foreign money which the emigrees send back to relatives staying at home. However, the loss of human capital in selected areas often retards national development. Countries to which the workers immigrate benefit from incoming professionals whose training has been financed elsewhere, and from an availability of unskilled laborers willing to work for low wages. But at the same time countries of immigration suffer competition for jobs among the newcomers and indigenous minority groups, as well as effects of social tension among cultural groups. Problems caused by migration can be solved by restructuring economic relations so that people can earn a decent living in their home countries. Countries of emigration must emphasize labor-intensive development with egalitarian income distribution. Countries of immigration must restructure their labor markets to make exclusive use of indigenous worker populations. (Author/AV)

Because of the vital elements of economic life that national accounts often leave out, great skepticism should be attached to the use of GNP as a measure of country's well-being. National accounts in both developed and developing nations consistently overlook and undervalue work done by women, whether in the subsistence sector, the informal labor market, or the household. As a result, many hardworking women are classified as "not economically active." During the past three decades women have entered the formal labor force in unprecedented numbers. However, women workers in both rich and poor countries are subject to occupational segregation which fragments the labor market into stereotypically masculine and feminine jobs. The trend toward greater participation in paid labor on the part of women has not been matched by an increased involvement of men in unpaid work. Women have campaigned for equality in the labor force and public life, but men have not made an issue of equal access to housework and home life. Numerous serveys have examined the way men and women spend their time and findings on working women's disproportionate share of the total work load are remarkably uniform, whether one examines developed or developing countries, capitalist or socialist economies, agricultural, or industrial societies. For families in which both adults work for pay, solutions to the problem of the woman's double day include delegating some household responsibilities to persons outside the family and sharing the total workload more equitably among family members. (Author/RM)

Employment potential in developed and developing nations is analyzed from an economic viewpoint. Estimates by the International Labor Office are that the global labor force will grow by about 900 million people from 1980 to 2000. It is projected that these 900 million people will join the current labor force including approximately 50 million unemployed and about 300 million underemployed. Accurate measures of employment are difficult because different countries count employment in different ways and often employ statistics of poor quality. The employment problems of poor countries center of low productivity and low earnings--both problems related to lack of technological advancement. In industrial nations, on the other hand, employment problems are exemplified by accelerating wage costs, inflation, and unit labor costs which are too high to compete with production from developing nations. To deal with these employment problems, policy makers must tailor economic strategies to meet specific needs. For example, policy makers in industrial nations might stress adjusting to long term trends such as slower growth, slowing the inflation rate, and targeting more funds to employment programs. In developing nations, policies should emphasize productivity, capital investment in labor-intensive industries, and massive agricultural aid. (DB)

Separate sections of this document deal with refugee concerns in terms of a global approach, definitions of a refugee, alternatives for refugees, the international response, and long-term prospects. The booklet states that the present number of 16 million refugees is bound to increase given increasing rivalry over land and resources. The global community must improve its ability to anticipate conflicts that have a high potential for generating refugees. In the international community, however, the definition of the term refugee is constantly evolving. It now extends beyond the persecuted individual to whole groups of people fleeing from dangerous circumstances. According to the United Nations High Commissioner, the task of the international community is to see that those who become refugees cease to be refugees within a reasonable amount of time. The three routes to this end are voluntary repatriation, settlement in the country of first asylum, or resettlement in a third country. International support takes the form of United Nations support, bilateral aid, and private, voluntary organizations. In the long term, a new consensus among nations must be made explicitly: that a government has an obligation to protect the interests of all its citizens. If not, it sacrifices its claim to sovereignty over them. Legally establishing a fundamental right of asylum and ensuring that neutral relief operations have guaranteed access to refugees are high priorities for the United Nations. (Author/KC)

Worldwide economic productivity is examined in this paper. There are seven major sections. Section 1 is an introduction which discusses how as the seventies came to a close without producing a strong and sustained recovery from global economic recession, the spotlight of public concern focused on the problem of productivity. Trends which have affected productivity are discussed and ways of measuring productivity are examined. Section 2 discusses why productivity is important. Higher productivity is a mechanism for improving the material quality of life. A rise in output per hour of work can finance increases in income, help restrain inflation, and enhance the competitiveness of products in the international market place. Structural shifts in the economy are the focus of the third section. For national economies, the major cause of higher productivity has been structural change, the wholesale movement of workers out of less productive sectors of the economy into more productive ones. The fourth section examines changing relationships among the factors of production. At the root of the current crisis in labor productivity is an abrupt change in the relative prices of the factors of production. Productivity and employment are the topic of section 5. The major impact of microelectronics on labor productivity and hence on jobs is examined. Section 6 discusses distributing the gains from higher productivity. Examined are the ideas of a guaranteed income, labor displacement because of automation, shorter work weeks, longer vacation time, and early retirement. The concluding section looks at "The Productivity Prospect." (RM)