The recession that began in the United States two years ago and spread to most other parts of the world has had a deeper and more global effect on migration than any other economic downturn in the post-World War II era.
And while flows of temporary migrants and the unauthorized have dipped, few countries have seen signs of mass return migration.
For some countries, as unemployment rates have risen significantly, the recession has spurred initiatives to persuade unemployed immigrants to go home and to restrict flows of new immigrants, as well as to raise the bar for the highly skilled.
Among the immigrants most affected are those in North America, Asia, and Europe. Across the world's largest economies, immigrants during this recession generally have higher unemployment rates than the native born. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, tens of thousands of Eastern Europeans who lost their jobs have chosen to leave, in part because their status as European Union citizens means they can easily return.
Not surprisingly, remittances to immigrants' families in Latin America, the Middle East, and North Africa have decreased as well — although they have risen in Asia.
As a rule, however, and despite higher unemployment rates, immigrants are hunkering down and waiting for the economy to improve.
Source: http://www.migrationinformation.org/
Read full article: http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?id=757
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