Robyn Iredale

The Migration of Professionals: Theories and Typologies

In an historical context, highly skilled migration typically involved the forced movement of professionals as a result of political conflicts, followed by the emergence of the “brain drain” in the 1960s. In the current situation, highly skilled migration represents an increasingly large component of global migration streams. The current state of theory in relation to highly skilled migration is far from adequate in terms of explaining what is occurring at the high skill end of the migration spectrum. Continuing growth of temporary skilled migration is heralding changes in the operation of professions. Formal procedures for recognizing the skills of permanent immigrant professionals are breaking down as “fast-track” processes for assessing the skills of temporary professional migrants are put in place. The increasing globalization of firms and the internationalization of higher education are encouraging professions to internationalize. In this article, four professions are cited as case studies to show that professional inclusion/exclusion is no longer defined by national professional bodies alone. The operation of professions has become a transnational matter although the extent of internationalization varies with professions. Typologies for analysing professional migration flows are discussed and a sixth means of categorization, by profession or industry, is introduced to allow for the nature of interactions between the market, the state and the profession/industry. The question whether states should continue to be concerned about self-sufficiency in national professional labour markets in an increasingly globalized environment is also addressed.

Migration policies for the highly skilled in the Asia-Pacific region.

In relation to the increase in population movement in the Asia-Pacific region in the last decade, research and policy interest has focused on the increase in contract labor migration, mostly for unskilled work. The movement of skilled migrants, either temporarily or permanently, has also increased significantly. The major trends and patterns are examined within the various policy frameworks that enable such movements to occur. Issues of transferability of skills and protection of jobs for nationals are examined within this context. Regional agreements and the possible creation of a regional labor market under APEC are discussed. Finally, the issues facing policymakers in sending and receiving countries and the need for greater regional dialogue and cooperation are canvassed.

Immigrant Qualifications: Recognition and Relative Wage Outcomes.

Australian society is most unusual in that it is characterized by relatively large numbers of immigrants, many of whom are ostensibly skilled workers. This empirical exercise used a data set compiled under the auspices of the Commonwealth Government. The data revealed that around 39 percent of skilled immigrants chose to subject their overseas qualifications to local assessment and, of these, 42 percent were recognized as being equivalent to their Australian counterpart. The econometric wage estimations reveal that immigrants from non-English-speaking countries, as a whole, received low increments as a consequence of overseas qualifications compared to those having Australian qualifications.

The Impact of Hukou Status on Migrants' Employment: Findings from the 1997 Beijing Migrant Census

This article uses new data to analyze whether the 1990s brought a change in terms of migrants’ access to urban jobs. The November 1997 “Beijing Migrant Census” provides a unique data set that enables a quantitative assessment of non-locally registered migrants’ access to the formal sector, and more specifically to “white-collar” occupations. The results show that a university degree and a nonagricultural registration status are both means of increasing access to employment in the formal sector. The “formal” sector is defined as employment with five types of large, relatively stable employers – government organizations, state-owned enterprises, joint ventures, shareholding enterprises, and enterprises owned/invested in by foreign, Hong Kong, or Taiwanese capital (San Zi). White collar jobs, in particular, are only available to migrants with a university degree, with hukou status having a limited relative effect. This article shows that qualified migrants are penetrating the formal job market while the majority of migrants are still taking low level jobs in the informal sector. This dichotomy represents a recent change that could reflect a new stream of migrants and/or more open urban employment. At the same time, the continuing segregation or marginalization of most migrants is clearly evident from the data.

The Impact of Immigration on School Education in New South Wales, Australia.

Australias immigration policies have had a dramatic effect on school populations, especially in the state of New South Wales which receives about 40 percent of the intake. This article is based on a study that was carried out for the Bureau of Immigration, Multicultural and Population Research and the NSW Ministry of Education. The study revealed that many non-English-speaking background pupils miss out on English as a second language instruction, community languages are allowed to lapse, and aspects of the school environment, such as relations between different groups, are not given the attention that they deserve.

Migration, identity and wellbeing in China: recent developments and new research

The economic, social and demographic changes that are occurring in China are unprecedented. They are happening on a scale that has never occurred anywhere before and the implications will be felt all over the world. They have set in train massive population movements – both internally and globally. At the same time, the decadeslong institutional legacy from the prereform era, especially the household registration system (hukou), still plays an important role in determining people’s migration behaviour and settlement patterns, as well as their integration, or lack of, into host communities. Since the late 1970s, a large number of migrant workers from the countryside have lived and worked in Chinese cities, contributing to China’s rapid urbanization. The proportion of the population that was in urban areas was 18 per cent in the late 1970s, 36 per cent in 2000 and close to 50 per cent in 2010. That is, among the total population of 1.339 billion in China in 2010, 665.6 million were counted as urban population (Qin and Zhang 2014; World Bank 2014; Chan 2013). It should be noted that the urban population count in the 2010 census was de facto urban population: that is, it included both urban residents with local urban household registration status (hukou) and migrants who had been residing in urban areas for six months or more at the time of census (but without local urban hukou). More than half of the de facto urban population growth was contributed by rural–urban migration in the decade of 2000–2010 (Chen and Song 2014). The share of netmigration in total urban population growth in the previous two decades was even higher, ranging from 72 per cent to 90 per cent (Chen Guo and Wu 2011). However, China’s urbanization is often regarded as ‘incomplete urbanization’, indicating the failure to transform rural migrant workers into urban citizens. One of the unique features of the ‘incomplete urbanization’ approach is that it encouraged the temporary migration of rural people to cities to facilitate industrialization and economic growth without enabling

Australia's Population and the Global Links

The population ofAustralia has increased rapidly from 7.5 million at the end ofWorld War II, and will reach the 18 million mark in 1995. This is small by international standards. Nevertheless population, aswell as immigration, is the subject of considerable debate. In 1991, the National Population Councils report Population Issues and Australids Future (Population Issues Committee, 1991) highlighted the need for more attention to population, rather than just immigration, issues. This recommendation was reflected in the incorporation of Population into the name and research activities of the former Bureau of Immigration Research (BIR). In May 1993, the national BIR became the Bureau ofImmigration and Population Research. In late 1994, the name was again changed to reflect the inclusion of Multiculturalism in the Bureaus activities. Hence by the time ofthe conference of February 1995, this peak research agency was known as the Bureau of Immigration, Multicultural and Population Research (BIMPR). This was reflected in the three themes of the Third National Immigration and Population Outlook Conference: • Population change; • Immigration: impact and implications; and • Settlement and identity. Naturally there was overlap between the three as is reflected in this report of the Conference, held February 22-24, 1995, Adelaide, Australia.