Labor Mobility #28
Indian Factories Woo Back Migrant Workers With Food, Air Tickets.
Vrishti Beniwal and P R Sanjai | Bloomberg | July 6, 2020
A mass exodus of workers that followed India’s harsh lockdown is forcing businesses to review their labor policies as they try to lure the people back with incentives as the economy reopens. While some companies are promising benefits such as free travel tickets, housing, and food to draw workers to urban areas, others are managing by hiring new faces from nearby locations. Some are trying a mix of both.
Developing World Loses Billions in Money From Migrant Workers.
Jon Emont | New York Times | July 5, 2020
Migrant workers—from Polish farmhands working the fields of southern France to Filipino cruise-ship workers in the Caribbean—who lost their jobs because of the pandemic’s economic impact are running out of cash to send home, dealing a blow to the fragile economic health of the developing world.
Replacing Zarobitchany.
Vasyl Voskoboinyk | Interfax Ukraine | July 9, 2020
Migration is a powerful element of global economic growth. It has facilitated the evolution of many societies and enriched a lot of cultures and civilizations. Migrant workers are among the most dynamic members of the society in which they live. Therefore, the name "zarobitchany" — poor people — used in Ukraine does not reflect who the migrant workers are, and it is essentially incorrect.
As Malaysia’s Coronavirus Lockdown Lifts, Migrant Workers Return to Life in ‘3D’.
Tashny Sukumaran | South China Morning Post | June 26, 2020
“Employers are not willing to take them on for work if no tests are done. This means that they must bear the costs and they are also still vulnerable to arrest,” said Sumitha Shaanthinni Kishna, director of migrant legal rights group Our Journey. Undocumented workers have to pay for tests themselves, activists say, despite many workers losing legal status due to unscrupulous employers failing to renew their work permits. In Malaysia, a Covid-19 test can cost up to 400 ringgit (US$93).
Trump’s Migration Ban Could Affect Up To 545,500 If Consulates Reopen—Fewer Than 18,000 Otherwise.
David J. Bier | Cato Institute | July 7, 2020
The White House estimated that a ban would block about 525,000 work-authorized immigrants from working in the United States. It did not reveal its methodology for estimating this figure, but if consulates were open, and world migration returned to normal, it would likely ban more than that—about 545,000—but with consulates closed, other travel restrictions in place, and demand for visas generally low, it would probably affect fewer than 18,000, nearly all H-2B temporary workers.
