C.

GLOBAL POPULATION AND MOBILITY

IMPACTS OF GLOBAL MIGRATION

In this section, you will be familiarized with the
basic concepts that scholars use in the study of
international migration, as well as the factors that
affect the departure and arrival of people from one
country to another. We will also delve into the
reasons why they do so in relation to these. Finally,
a comparison of the benefits and detriments of
migration will be tackled, particularly in relation to
the OFW phenomenon.

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Intended Learning Outcomes
At the end of this section, you are expected to:
1.) become acquainted with the basic concepts in the study of migration;
2.) explain the factors that affect immigration and emigration;
3.) analyze the motivations behind the movement of migrants; and
4.) weigh in on the benefits and detriments of migration in the context of the OFW
phenomenon.

In the preceding topic, you have been already introduced to the basics of the first two areas of
demography: mortality and fertility. While this topic doesn’t have that much direct on why and
how people die or are being born, it does have significant effects on the quality of life of a given
population. Simply put, migration is the movement of people across a specified boundary for the
purpose of establishing a new or semi-permanent residence (Bogue 1969). Moreover, when
migration happens as an inflow of people into a country, it is called immigration, while
migration happening as an outflow from a country is emigration. For example, you decided to
leave the Philippines to live and work in the United Kingdom. From the perspective of someone
in the Philippines (your home country), you are an emigrant to the UK. Conversely, from the
perspective of someone in the UK (your destination country), you are an immigrant to their
country. From this example, we can see that any immigrant is an emigrant at the same time, vice-
versa.
To further familiarize ourselves with the basic concepts in the study of migration, here are some
key terms to remember from the International Organization for Migration 2:
1. Country of destination - a country where a migrant is going to; this may also be
called a receiving country.
2. Country of origin – a country of nationality or of former habitual residence of a
person or group of persons who have migrated abroad.
3. Integration – The two-way process of mutual adaptation between migrants and the
societies in which they live, whereby migrants are incorporated into the social,
economic, cultural and political life of the receiving community.
4. International migration – The movement of persons away from their place of usual
residence and across an international border to a country of which they are not
nationals.

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5. Irregular migration – Movement of persons that takes place outside the laws,
regulations, or international agreements governing the entry into or exit from the
country of origin or destination.
6. Labor migration – Movement of persons from one country to another, or within
their own country of residence, for the purpose of employment.
7. Migrant stock – For statistical purposes, the total number of international migrants
present in a given country at a particular point in time.
8. Migrant worker – A person who is to be engaged, is engaged or has been engaged in
a labor in a country of which he or she is not a national.
9. Regular migration – Migration that occurs in compliance with the laws of the
country of origin, transit and destination.
10. Reintegration – A process which enables individuals to re-establish the economic,
social and psychosocial relationships needed to maintain life, livelihood and dignity
and inclusion in civic life upon return to their country of origin.
11. Remittances – Private international monetary transfers that migrants make,
individually or collectively.
12. Social remittances – The transfer of ideas, skills, behaviors, identities and social
capital from migrants to their communities of origin.

The role of globalization on migration cannot be ignored. Globalization has, through the years,
changed the ways in which people live their lives. It increased access not only to various goods
and services around the globe but also different lifestyles. Parallel to this is the prompting of
businesses to be more competitive and productive in the face of the new global market. Various
innovations in technology improved information dissemination among people locally and
internationally. These in turn enabled exchanges between people of different nations and cultures
and in so doing induced changes to national borders and the frequency of people crossing them.
Finally, it facilitated various forms of population change not only in size but also in composition.
To better understand how this happens, it is important to look at the factors that contribute to
how migration happens in the first place.

6.A. Factors that Affect Immigration and Emigration

Most of the world’s international migration involves people from low-income countries moving
to ones with higher income (Human Development Report 2009). This means that the general
pattern of migration is asymmetrical. On the one hand, lower-income countries usually have low
levels of capital but possess a very abundant and potent labour force. These can be considered
significant push factors. On the other hand, higher-income countries have high levels of capital
but have a scarce labour force in terms of quantity, considerable pull factors that attract
migrants. Labor migrants leave the weakened labor market in their countries of origin in search
for better paying jobs overseas. (Semyonov and Gorodzeisky 2005). To better understand this,
look at the illustration below:

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Simply put, push factors are characteristics that make it difficult or impossible to live in
countries of origin, whereas pull factors are conditions that make living in destination countries
a more attractive place to live 2. Some examples of the former are political corruption, poverty,
violence, gender inequality, inaccessibility of healthcare, substandard education, and climate
change; while some examples of the latter are better economic opportunities, supportive
institutions, possibility of family reunification, better healthcare, quality education and gender
equity. We may look at push and pull factors as economic, political, cultural and environmental
in nature.
However, there are also differences among populations in terms of age and sex that affect
migration and are being affected by it at the same time. These are called demographic factors.
Populations in the lower-income countries have a wider, younger base while the higher-income
countries are usually composed of an older populace compared to the former. This means that the
latter have more employment opportunities to the younger generations from lower-income
countries. As an example, let’s look at the population pyramids below:

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The figures above show us the age-sex structure of the population of the Philippines and that of
one of the top destinations for Filipino migrants: Canada. If you would look at any world map,
you’d know that the Philippines is a very small country compared to Canada, and yet our
population size is almost triple than that of theirs! Aside from the fact that lower-income
countries like ours are overpopulated, the largest section of our population (40%) is very young
(0-19 years old); almost all are below the legal working age. In comparison, Canada’s largest
sections of the population, around 50%, are definitely of working age (25-34 and 55-59 years
old). This translates into a strong and healthy working group as the majority of population; one
of the explanations for the country’s prosperity. Moreover, by percentage, there are more senior
citizens (60 years old onwards) in Canada compared to ours, which means that the quality of life
over there is better, which means more people get to live longer past their retirement age. No
wonder a lot of Filipinos want to come and live in the Great White North.
At first glance, it might seem that migrants from poorer countries really need the higher-income
ones. While that is true, high-income countries also need more migrants from lower-income
ones. How so? This is because higher income countries also need more manpower to work in
their territories to prevent their economy from stagnating. Again, as reference, the remarkably
fewer number of children in Canada—although a sign of good healthcare and family planning—
would become a problem decades later because there would be less workers. It is a common
occurrence that citizens in high-income countries postpone and limit having children because it
is economically taxing for the parents. In other words, when having a family, people prioritize
the quality of their lives over quantity. As a response to the problem of having fewer workers in
the future, high-income countries like Canada implement policies to attract more migrants so that
their economy can still be prosperous. More workers  more people with income  increased
production and consumption of products  better circulation of money  good economy.

Halt! Exercise 1: Let us assess your understanding of migration so far. Identify the following
statements if they can be classified as Push, Pull, or Demographic factors. Write your answer
on the spaces provided before each number.
_______________1.) A chance to be reunited with one’s own family overseas.
_______________2.) Higher percentage of old or ageing population.
_______________3.) Better treatment for the LGBTQ community.
_______________4.) Extra-judicial killings and human rights violations.
_______________5.) Violent invasion of one country by another resulting to war.
_______________6.) Policies that implement a more generous maternity leave.
_______________7.) A population with a large, working force aged 20-60 years old.
_______________8.) Women of child-bearing age who postpone having children.
_______________9.) The PhilHealth 15 billion-peso scandal.
______________10.) A more conducive business climate for aspiring entrepreneurs.

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6.B. Motivations for Movement

So far, we have acquainted with the fundamental factors that influence migration. If you have
noticed, these factors rarely mention anything about the individual migrants themselves, which if
you might wonder, is a little strange. Barring wars, pandemics or other calamities, it’s usually the
migrant’s decision if he/she leaves, right? Well, you are right, but the abovementioned factors
are ones that are macro or large scale in nature. Now, we will look into factors that influence the
decision-making of migrants or potential migrants on the micro level; their motivations.
1.) Marital status is one of the most common motivations that drive individuals to migrate.
People who marry opt to transfer to another place to live their new lives or to give their
new family a better life. Conversely, being single could also encourage one to migrate,
since he/she is not tied to family life 3.

2.) Life cycle pertains to motivations that stem from or are related to a person’s
development. Retirement, parental ties or children’s education may encourage a migrant
to leave one’s country of origin or return to it (Haour-Knipe and Davies 2008). The age
and health of the migrant and his/her loved ones may also be one of the reasons behind
leaving for another country or returning from foreign lands, as considerations are made if
being a migrant would be or still worth it.

3.) The Household is also a very significant motivation for people as they participate mainly
in the decision making. The household may also decide who is fit to leave their home in
consideration of their economic well-being4. This results to new living arrangements and
tasking on the people who will be left behind, which in turn is a significant part of the
potential migrant’s decision.

4.) Networks are basically social connections that facilitate the experiences of migrants.
They can be in the form of a family, relatives or migrant stocks. The presence of family
or friends at home and abroad also help the migrant in his/her decision-making, migration
expenses, job seeking, place to stay abroad, how to adjust to a new culture overseas to
make the integration process smoother, allocation of both financial and social
remittances and many more (Haug 2008).
The above list is just the fundamental motivations for movement of migrants. There are many
more motivations behind their movement and may combine to further motivate or modify the
migrant’s experiences overseas or upon return. Even though this is a rather short list, what is
important is for us to know that the main difference of motivations from factors is that
motivations are more immediately seen, felt and utilized by migrants compared to the rather
distant macro level factors. In other words, migrants are more aware of motivations and hence
are more in control of them.
The Philippines has a culture of migration, and it is no surprise that a considerable number of us
have parents or relatives that are currently overseas to work. It’s also very probable that some of
us will be OFWs or permanent migrants in another country in the future. Therefore, it is very
useful for us to be knowledgeable, at least aware, of the factors that influence
immigration/emigration and the motivation or movement of migrants. After having studied such
topics, we ought to realize that neither factors nor motivations singularly account for the actions
of a migrant; it is always a combination of the interaction between large scale factors small scale
motivations. The illustration below serves to simplify this point.

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6.C. Benefits and Detriments

After looking at the factors that affect emigration and immigration as well as the motivations for
migrants’ movement, we will now delve into the good things that come out of it, as well as the
not-so-good ones. Like any phenomena in contemporary times, migration can be viewed in many
different angles in order to be able to see its many facets. Also, since some of you face a
possibility of being migrants in the future, you might as well look at the potential benefits of
harms of migration in general and of being a migrant in particular. This will be viewed through
the lens of the OFW phenomenon later in this section. However, for simplicity’s sake, let us
look at the table below (Nabi 2014; Virupaksha et al. 2014)4, 5, 6:

Issues of Benefits Detriments

Migration
and
Migrants
- Economic growth in countries of
destination from filling up job
vacancies and skill gaps
- Countries of origin will benefit
Economic largely from increased remittances
from migrants
- Reduction of unemployment
- Tax deficits can be addressed
because of new tax payers
- Immigration and emigration
policies may be improved
- Institutionalization: more and more
government agencies participate in
the facilitation migration
- Increase in number of workers may lead
to lowering of wages
- Brain drain (highly trained or intelligent
people emigrate)
- Care drain (emigration of women as
healthcare workers)
- Income gap in communities may worsen
as more people increase their wealth
compared to those who do not benefit
from migration
- Improvement of policies may leave out
irregular migrants
- Institutionalization may become more
expensive and cumbersome for poorer
people; more opportunities for corruption

Political - Diplomacy and international - Increased diversity may breed conflict

relations may be improved to sustain
growth brought about by migration
- Aversion of possible conflicts,
even wars, due to the presence of
migrants
and make peacekeeping more difficult and
complicated in countries of destination
- Governments may be too dependent on
the benefits of migration instead of
pursuing development programs.

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- Migrants can develop new - Problems with integration like

perspectives and improved doing of
things in their lives
- Cultural diversity is developed in
countries of destination
Socio-cultural
- Families left behind are able to
experience or consume new things
- Social remittances such as
innovations, skills, new ways of
thinking, or even development
initiatives in countries of origin
- Possibility for migrants to improve
their skill sets and identity
- Resilience in the presence of
foreigners
- Migrants may develop new
Psychological worldviews due to increased contact
with a diverse group of people
- Family reunification may improve
mental health due to feelings of
belongingness and better community
relations upon return
racism, prejudice and discrimination
- Exploitation, especially of
irregular migrants who are less
protected by the law
- Care drain as more mothers leave
their children back at home
- Erosion of local cultures due to
foreign influences in the form of
financial and social remittances
- Role confusion and identity crisis
leading to low levels of self-esteem
- Fear and anxiety over xenophobia
and discrimination
- Feelings of homesickness or
nostalgia
- Insecurity or possibility of trauma
due to the needed adjustments to a
new life abroad, which may impede
integration
- Feelings of estrangement upon
return which makes reintegration
more difficult and stressful

Although not an exhaustive list, the table above gives us a good overview on the pros and cons
of migration as a phenomenon and the positive and negative experiences of migrants. For a better
learning experience from which we can relate to, let us now look at the issues of migration
through the lens of the OFW phenomenon. But before we go to there, let us assess what you have
learned so far in this section by completing the exercise below.
Exercise 2. Odd One Out: Encircle the one that does not belong to the group (10 pts).
1.) Improving his/her Joining one’s spouse to Not being tied to Taking one’s family
children’s lives live in another place family life to a wealthier country

2.) Relatives abroad Migrant stocks Friends abroad Being single

3.) Flows of social Exploitation of Homesickness and Cultures become more
remittances irregular migrants nostalgia diverse

4.) New living Education of the Decision over who in Tasking of people left
arrangements migrant’s children the family will leave behind

5.) Stay home Invest in a business Return home Leave to migrate

6.) Improvement of Progress in Institutionalization of Lowering of wages
migration policies international relations migration due to competition

7.) Brain drain Fear of discrimination Development of Feelings of

resilience belongingness

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8.) Growth from Filling up skill gaps in Occurrence of Increase of

increased remittances the labor force brain drain employment
9.) Social remittances Age Health Retirement
10.) Immediately seen Migrants have more Micro-level Macro-level
and felt control phenomena phenomena

So, what happens to the fundamental unit of society, the family, when one of its heads becomes
an OFW? As you may have already thought after reading the texts above and from what you’ve
heard or personally experienced, it’s not that good.

Let’s focus on the issues of husband-wife relationship first.

1.) Psychological Issues - You
see, one of the fundamental
reasons why people marry is that
they try to achieve the ideal of
being and growing together
physically, emotionally,
psychologically and spiritually for
the rest of their lives. Labor
migration disrupts this
arrangement and results in the
www.teenhealthsource.com
emergence of psychological issues
that could plague their marriage. We must always keep in mind that separation driven by
the need to work abroad is ALWAYS a painful decision for both husband and wife.

1.) Marital Infidelity Issues – One of the cornerstones of a married relationship is intimacy,
and labor migration makes this very difficult to sustain because the husband and wife are
physically apart. Being left alone is the most common reason for marital infidelity, which
is quite common among spouses of migrant workers (Santamaria 1992).

2.) Gender Role Issues –When the husband leaves, the wife takes most of her husband’s
roles in their household; when the wife leaves, the husband tries to assume most of his
wife’s roles in the family. Pretty neat, right? Well, not really, since the wife has originally
more roles in their household compared to the husband. This means that the man of the
house usually finds it more difficult to assume the role of a mother compared to when his
wife assumes the role of a father. In doing so, the “ideal houseband” needs to face
challenges to his and his community’s concept of manhood aside from the workload in
the house (Añonuevo and Añonuevo 2002). This, when not handled well, can cause
unbearable strain not only on their marriage but their whole family.

Now, let’s talk about the problems of parent-child relationship.

1.) Psychological strain on parents and children – When a parent leaves as a migrant,
he/she has already considered the trade-off between economic well-being and family
proximity. This becomes a source of anxiety and guilt for parents and children because
they long for each other’s presence, especially if it is the mother who leaves (Ohara-
Hirano 2000). On the one hand, parents may feel anxious of their children’s safety back
home, or if they are providing them enough, but at the same time feel guilty of leaving
them behind. On the other hand, children may feel anxious of their parents return while

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at the same time feel guilty about such negative emotions because their parents leaving is
just for their family’s sake.
2.) Caregiving arrangements - The 3 main forms of care in parenting are moral care,
emotional care and material care. Migration disrupts and rearranges these forms in the
common household (Parrenas 2003). When a parent migrates, he/she is usually forced to
just focus on material care (sending money and products from abroad). This results into a
few issues like the following:
a. Incomplete involvement of left-behind husbands if the wife is the migrant; rarely
happens when the wife is the one left behind.
b. Proxy caretakers in the form of relatives
or sometimes, trusted friends. Degrees
of strictness may vary, so feelings of
discontent may appear in the children
which may cause bad behavior.
c. Other people taking care of the children
left-behind may disrupt the values that
were previously taught to them by the
parent.
d. To compensate and fill the gaps,
parenting from afar is done. This may
be accomplished by using mobile
phones, increasing information
technology social media and literacy, or
the traditional padala and pasalubong.
www.newyorker.com

Evidently, temporary labor migration for the common Filipino family is neither all about
glamour and prosperity abroad nor new gadgets and boxes of chocolates back home. It is a very
intricate and complicated matter that is rife with problems and issues that a lot of us or our
loved ones face every day. This section hopefully made you cognizant about some of the issues
that migrant families face, their motivations behind leaving, and the factors that drive them to
undertake very difficult decisions—all for the sake of having a better life that seems very elusive
in our own country. The OFW phenomenon would not disappear, at least for the next several
decades to come. Participation from the government, NGOs, schools and individual households
is needed to help family members cope up with the challenges brought about by migration so that
we could minimize the social costs of it and maximize the economic benefits.

Exercise 3. Modified True or False: Write TRUE if the statement is true. Otherwise, ENCIRCLE
the word/s that made it so and write the correct word/s on the space provided before each number
(2 points each).
_______________1.) When a country’s population structure has a large base, it is usually poor.
_______________2.) Regular migration occurs outside the laws, governing the entry into or exit
from the country of origin or destination.
_______________3.) The existence of migrant stocks is one of the main features of life cycle as
a
motivation for movement.

_______________4.) When an individual is single and not tied down to family life, he/she is free
to

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move around through migration.

_______________5.) Migration inevitably disrupts the relationship of husband and wife.

_______________6.) The three main forms of care in parenting are moral, social and material.
_______________7.) Brain drain happens when there is an abundance of emigrating care
workers,
particularly women, who also leave their children behind.

_______________8.) When parents leave to work abroad and leave their children behind, they
are
forced to focus solely on material care.

_______________9.) Being in a long distance relationship is usually the reason behind marital
infidelity among married migrant couples.

_______________10.) One of the most prevalent political detriments of migration is feelings of

homesickness and nostalgia.

Exercise 4. Essay A: Below are the population pyramids of New Zealand, Japan and South
Korea, three of the top 10 dream destinations of aspiring OFWs according to JobStreet.com.
Choose ONLY ONE and study it carefully. Answer the questions that follow in a concise
manner.

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Questions:
1.) What does the base and peak of the pyramid that you have chosen tell you about the quality
of life of its citizens? Why do you think so? Use the youngest and oldest sections of the
population as basis. 5 points.

2.) Why do you think OFWs would really want to work temporarily or stay permanently in the country
that you have chosen? Explain by using the working section of the population as your basis. 5 points.

3.) Personally, would you want to migrate to this country? Give two reasons why you would love
to stay there and one reason why you would not. 5 points.

Essay B: After reading (and personally seeing or hearing stories) about the pros and cons of
being a migrant worker, do you think it is still advisable to look for better paying jobs overseas?
Or do you think the risks largely outweigh the benefits? Explain your answer. 10 points.

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References:

Bogue, Donald Joseph. (1969). Principles of Demography. United States of America: Wiley and Sons Inc.

Estrella Dizon-Aonuevo and Augustus T. Aonuevo, Coming Home: Women, Migration and Reintegration
(Manila: Balikkabayani Foundation, 2002)

Haour-Knipe, M. & Davies, A. (2008). Return migration of Nurses. Geneva and Philadelphia:
International
Centre on Nurse Migration.

Haug, Sonja. (2008). Migration Networks and Migration Decision-Making. Journal of Ethnic and
Migration
Studies, 34: 4, 585-605. Retrieved from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13691830801961605

Human Development Report 2009, United Nations Development Programme.

Nabi Fatahi. (2014). The Impact of the Migration on Psychosocial Well-Being: A Study of Kurdish
Refugees
in Resettlement Country. J Community Med Health Educ 4:273. doi:10.4172/2161-0711.1000273

Ohara-Hirano, Yuko. “Cognitive Life Strains and Family Relationships of Filipino MigrantWorkers in
Japan,” Asian and Pacific Migration Journal 9, no. 3 (2000): 372.

Santamaria, Francis. “Problems Regarding Family Relations and Children of Migrant Workers,”
in Filipino
Women Overseas Contract Workers: At What Cost? , eds. Mary Ruby Palma-Beltran and Aurora
Javate
De Dios (Quezon City: JMC Press, Inc., 1992), 71.

Semyonov, M. and A. Gorodzeisky. 2008. Labor Migration, Remittances and Economic Well-being of
Households in the Philippines. Population Research and Policy Review. 27. 619-pp. 637

Virupaksha, H. G., Kumar, A., & Nirmala, B. P. (2014). Migration and mental health: An
interface. Journal
of natural science, biology, and medicine, 5(2), 233–239. https://doi.org/10.4103/0976-9668.136141
1
https://www.iom.int/key-migration-terms
2
https://immigrationforum.org/article/push-or-pull-factors-what-drives-central-american-migrants-
to-the-u-s/#_ftn1
3
https://www.kullabs.com/classes/subjects/units/lessons/notes/note-detail/991
4
https://wol.iza.org/articles/demographic-and-economic-determinants-of-migration/long#izawol.
373-div-000038
5
https://www.embraceni.org/migration/the-pros-and-cons-of-migration/
6
https://www.apa.org/topics/immigration/immigration-psychology

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