Theodora Xenogiani

Report on Informal Employment in Romania

Informal employment is one of the key features of the Romanian labour market and the main concerns of the Romanian government. Informal employment is not new in Romania. This study attempts to shed light on the issue of informal work in Romania.

Effects of Migration on Sending Countries

This report evaluates the evidence on how migration may promote or hinder development in countries of origin, and explores possible win-win solutions for both sending and receiving countries. The analysis of recent OECD data of foreign-born nationals into Europe documents the presence of multiple migration patterns and reveals that the EU lags significantly behind the United States in attracting highly-skilled migrants who originate mostly from Africa. Reviewing the analytical and empirical evidence on the economic and social costs and benefits of migration and remittances for sending countries reveals that migration can generate substantial direct and indirect gains for sending countries via employment generation, human capital accumulation, remittances, diaspora networks and return migration. Policy coherence across various policies including migration, trade, investment and development cooperation can augment these gains. Major challenges for EU policymaking to maximise the gains from migration for both sending and receiving countries could include better management of migration and human resources, smart visa policies to facilitate circular migration and greater synergies between migration and development assistance programmes in the context of poverty reduction strategy initiatives. Comment les migrations peuvent-elles favoriser ou faire obstacle au developpement dans les pays d’origine ? Ce rapport explore les solutions qui pourraient etre gagnantes a la fois pour les pays d’envoi et d’accueil. L’analyse des donnees recentes de l’OCDE sur les ressortissants etrangers en Europe rend compte de l’existence de nombreux facteurs de migration. Elle demontre que l’Europe est sensiblement en retard par rapport aux Etats-Unis pour attirer des migrants hautement qualifies, principalement originaires d’Afrique. Les preuves analytiques et empiriques des couts et des benefices economiques et sociaux provoques par les migrations ainsi que des transferts de fonds des pays revelent que les migrations peuvent generer des gains substantiels directs et indirects pour les pays via les creations d’emploi, l’accumulation de capital, les transferts de fonds, les reseaux de dispersion et les retours de migrations. Pour augmenter ces gains, il faut une coherence entre les nombreuses politiques qui touchent aux migrations, au commerce, a l’investissement et a la cooperation pour le developpement. Les principaux defis des politiques europeennes pour maximiser les gains des migrations pour les pays d’origine et d’accueil pourraient ainsi passer par une meilleure gestion des ressources humaines, par des politiques de visa intelligentes en vue de faciliter les migrations circulaires et par une meilleure synergie entre les migrations et les programmes d’aide au developpement, et ce dans le cadre des initiatives prises autour de la strategie actuelle de reduction de la pauvrete.

Are all Migrants Really Worse off in Urban Labour Markets

The rapid and massive increase in rural-to-urban worker flows to the coast of China has drawn recent attention to the welfare of migrants working in urban regions, particularly to their working conditions and pay; serious concern is raised regarding pay discrimination against rural migrants. This paper uses data from a random draw of the 2005 Chinese national census survey to shed more light on the discrimination issue, by making comparisons of earnings and the sector of work between rural migrants on one hand, and urban residents and urban migrants on the other. Contrary to popular belief, we find no earnings discrimination against rural migrants compared to urban residents. However, rural migrants are found to be discriminated in terms of the sector in which they work, with a vast majority working in the informal sector lacking adequate social protection.

Migration, a Negative or a Positive Driver for Development?

The effects of migration on development depends on who leaves, where they go, and how home countries adjust to their leaving. Migration and development policies are comlements, not substitutes. Smart visa policies, coupled with capacity building at home can maximise the positive impact of migration

Migration Policy and its Interactions with Aid, Trade, and Foreign Direct Investment Policies

It is recognised that migration can, under certain conditions, generate important net gains for the migrants’ home countries. These gains may be in terms of growth, poverty reduction, insurance against risk and accumulation of human capital. Moreover migration may interact in various and complex ways with other policy vectors such as trade, investment and development assistance and they may have various joint impacts on development. This paper reviews the literature on the impact of migration on development. It also identifies the major methodological issues in terms of data use, data availability and econometric techniques. Moreover it investigates the joint development impact of migration, trade, investment and development assistance and assesses the degree of substitutability and/or complementarity among them. It shows that there is a great degree of heterogeneity of outcomes across countries and regions of the world and across time. The paper concludes by drawing some main lessons from the literature. Les migrations peuvent, dans certaines conditions, etre source de gains importants pour les pays d’origine des migrants. Ces benefices peuvent etre sous forme de croissance economique, de reduction de la pauvrete, d’assurance contre le risque et d’accumulation de capital humain. De surcroit, les migrations peuvent interagir de maniere diverse et plus ou moins complexe avec d’autres determinants politiques tels que le commerce, l’investissement ou encore l’Aide publique au developpement, et ils peuvent alors avoir divers effets conjugues sur le developpement. Ce document explore la litterature sur l’impact des migrations sur le developpement. Il identifie egalement les principales problematiques methodologiques liees au traitement des donnees, a leur accessibilite et aux techniques econometriques. En outre, l’ouvrage etudie l’impact conjugue des migrations, du commerce, de l’investissement et de l’APD sur le developpement, et evalue leur degre de substituabilite et/ou de complementarite. Il met ainsi en exergue l’extreme heterogeneite des resultats pour tous les pays et toutes les regions du monde, mais egalement a travers le temps. Le document tire enfin les lecons importantes de ce fonds de litterature.

The Two Faces of Informal Employment in Romania

Informal employment is a widespread phenomenon in Romania and a key challenge for the country’s development. Policies should target two distinct groups: those who voluntarily opt out of the formal system and those with no alternative. Transforming people’s attitudes towards the state and strengthening their trust in public institutions is key.

Policies for Migration and Development

Managing migration has become a priority for policy makers both in developed and developing countries; it is a difficult challenge indeed. Large immigration or emigration flows relative to domestic population’s impact on almost all aspects of an economy and society: family structures, community life, educational and health systems, labour markets, security systems, governance and institutions. Despite the inherent difficulties in policy making, there is a growing awareness that if management can be improved, important gains for both migrant-receiving (“host”) and migrant-sending (“home”) countries may be generated. Effective management can furthermore mitigate the risks associated with migration....

Les deux visages de l'emploi informel en Roumanie

L’emploi informel – extremement frequent en Roumanie – freine son developpement. Les politiques doivent viser deux groupes distincts : ceux qui quittent deliberement le systeme formel et ceux qui n’ont pas d’autre alternative. L’Etat doit faire evoluer l’attitude des populations a son egard et renforcer leur confiance dans les institutions.

Peut-on maîtriser l'emploi informel ?

Alors meme que la croissance est la, l’emploi informel se maintient. Il faut comprendre ce phenomene si l’on veut le « dompter ». Seules des politiques coherentes fourniront des emplois decents et une protection sociale.

Politiques migratoires et développement

La gestion des migrations – probleme complexe s’il en est – fait desormais partie des priorites des decideurs, dans les pays developpes comme dans les pays en developpement. Lorsque les flux migratoires – emigration ou immigration – sont importants pour la population d’un pays, pratiquement tous les aspects d’une economie et d’une societe s’en ressentent : structures familiales, vie communautaire, systemes d’education et de sante, marches du travail, systemes de securite, gouvernance et institutions. Malgre les difficultes inherentes a l’elaboration de politiques, les decideurs prennent davantage conscience de l’interet d’une gestion amelioree de ces flux, dont beneficieraient autant les pays d’accueil que les pays d’origine des migrants. Une gestion efficace peut en outre attenuer les risques associes aux migrations....