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Expanding job opportunities for islanders through properly coordinated & managed Labor Mobility |
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Properly coordinated and managed Labor Mobility could be another equation to addressing the issues of elevating poverty in small island states, and the developing countries of the world, according the World Bank. A report produced by the World Bank says despite restrictions, labor-migration is on the rise globally. |
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The report says stringent restrictions on international labor mobility only impose a far burden on the global economy than trade restrictions.
It points out the need to “explicitly incorporate the economic impact of migration to both the host and sending nations, in addition to security and social issues that traditionally dominate such assessments”.
The introductory statement to the document explains that “the purpose of the report is to enable a more meaningful discussion of the economic issues of migration in the Pacific context that has been possible to date”.
Dr. Manjula Luthria, who is Senior Economist for the Pacific Region’s Department at the World Bank office in Sydney, Australia, says regionally, Polynesia is already providing some products as far as labor mobility is concerned, and household data collected from countries in that region have indicated very positive impact on the livelihood of the families of those with migrant relatives.
On the other hand, Dr. Luthria says Melanesia has nothing at all compared to Polynesia. Accordingly, the World Bank has decided to use Vanuatu as a trial case for implementing the findings of its report.
As a result, representatives of the World Bank office in Sydney held a one day dialogue meeting with the Vanuatu government in Port Vila on Thursday.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, Dr. Luthria explains why Vanuatu was chosen…
Well we wanted to start with Vanuatu because we were very clear about the fact that while labor mobility is no way near what the potential of it is, but between Polynesian and Melanesia, clearly Melanesian has nothing and Polynesian has something. Even Polynesian has a good case to enhance labor mobility, but there is no question that Melanesia has nothing. And given the Vanuatu government’s strong commitment, we are happy to start facilitating the dialogue with Vanuatu. And the idea is to set up a model in the region so that it can be scaled up…, so that it can be emulated by other countries, so there is no reason why when Vanuatu succeeds in setting up a system in place that other countries cannot do the same. So it’s really in a way, it’s a regional public good.
Meanwhile, Vanuatu Commissioner of Labor Lionel Kalwat, says the process would require a lot of work on the Vanuatu side.
He says a system in place would not only enhance a properly coordinated service for local job-seekers, but should prepare, especially unskilled laborers, to take up jobs even in other countries.
