Editorial
| Author | Howard Duncan |
| Date | 01 June 2016 |
| Published date | 01 June 2016 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12258 |
Editorial
Controversial as they may be, recent political developments in the European refugee crisis have
offered some breathing space for those on the management front lines. The flows of refugees and
other migrants from Turkey into Europe by way of Greece have slowed markedly, and although
one might be forgiven for expecting to see this human traffic shift trajectories, perhaps back
through Lampedusa, the discussion for now has relaxed somewhat and in some countries has
turned to matters of integration. Attending to the long-run effects of this large-scale migration is
welcome, and much of it concerns the labour market, particularly in Germany where so many of
the migrants completed their journeys. The integration of migrants into labour markets is highly
complex but discussions are often dominated by considerations of the migrants’language abilities,
the recognition of their qualifications, how their incomes compare with those of nationals, and
whether their rights are adequately respected. Although these are unquestionably of great impor-
tance to labour market integration, there are many more nuances, and this issue of International
Migration will explore some of them.
Edwin Mel
endez, M. Anne Visser, Abel Valenzuela Jr. and Nik Theodore explore whether day
labourers’elevated wages, used as compensating incentives for high risk work in the United States,
increase the frequency of workplace injuries and warrant government policy protections. We all
know that money talks; but does it speak too loudly here? We shift from concerns about the
well-being of those in low-skilled risky employment to the less-often considered well-being of the
high-skilled who are usually seen as at a much lower risk of poorer integration. Micheline van
Riemsdijk, Scott Basford and Alana Burnham found, however, that this is not always the case, and
they offer suggestions for how non-state actors including employers can contribute to the socio-
cultural integration of those at the higher-skills end of the spectrum. Finding one’s place in the
labour market of a country of destination is not the only integration concern for migrant workers.
Those workers returning to their homelands, perhaps with higher skill levels than they left with,
can find a less-than-smooth transition to the labour market. Egidijus Barcevi
cius explores how
returning high-skilled Lithuanians fare back home and whether they intend to stay for long.
Why people move and to where is a growing area of research interest. We have long-surmised
that higher levels of human capital increase one’s mobility, and C
esar Rodr
ıguez-Guti
errez and
Juan Francisco Canal-Dom
ınguez show us how foreign language skills affect people’s motivations
to migrate as well as their choice of destination. Also looking at the motivations to move in this
issue are Saime Ozcurumez and Deniz Yetkin Aker who compare the motives of Turks who moved
to Germany with those who moved to Canada. It’s more than the money, they discover. Maintain-
ing our focus on Canada, Garnett Picot, Feng Hou and Hanqing Qiu look at the recent income per-
formance of those selected to come to Canada through its celebrated points system, which strongly
favours high human capital. Although they find that those selected in this way fare better than
others, they also find that a good amount of patience is required by both the migrants and those
who administer the policy. Australia has long been Canada’s main competitor in the selection sys-
tem contest, with both countries continually refining their systems for ever greater advantage. Asad
Islam and Jaai Parasnis offer the results of a study into which of the immigrants’human capital
characteristics are currently best rewarded in the Australian labour market.
It is always good to be reminded that labour migrants, regardless of skill level, are fully human
beings. Karin Amit and Shirly Bar-Lev look at the how French migrants in French-speaking
Dr. Howard Duncan, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
doi: 10.1111/imig.12258
©2016 The Author
International Migration ©2016 IOM
International Migration Vol. 54 (3) 2016
ISSN 0020-7985Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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