Does migrant contribute to social development in Canada?
Introduction
A migrant is simply a person who moves from one country to another can be by chance, out of plan or just instincts. In another definition, a migrant is someone who crosses the national boundaries or has left his or her native land just for economic reasons and not out of fear for politics or ethical persecution (Everette 1996). The profound effect of migration has stirred a giant leap forward in terms of social development, in the recent years. This is especially through the labor mobility which leads to remittances. Migration has a two way side effect, first for the sending country and secondly for the country where the migrant settles. According to the studies, remittances have led to high level of income as well as eradication of poverty. The economic impact has been substantially positive though the darker side could be that family structures are generally weakened as children may lack adequate parental care from both parents (Pattenden, 2011). Economic migrants benefit from the increased level of production, while the destination countries which are still developing are hard hit when it comes to integrating the migrants with the native workers in relation to the job market as well as the fiscal costs provided to the migrants. In a broader perspective, migration can hugely impact on the environmental degradation, institutions which have democratic values or gender norms (Actionaid International, 2007). In a bid to generate both social and economic stability that comes with migration and mitigate the harmful effect as well, migration needs to be integrated in the development policies for both the receiving and sending countries. The government should be able to plan on the strategies that will help in labor mobility and also ensure the rights of the migrants are protected (Conway, & Norton, 2002). Social development basically refers to the perpetual change in the social and economic structure, it is social evolution. For a social change to occur, some forces like culture, religion, economy, technology or science should be in existence. Any significant social development needs to have the basic requirements which involve government which is stable and flexible, the resources as well. As a matter of fact, the history of mankind rotates around the struggle of the social classes (Hatton & Williamson, 2003). The most obvious change that is evident today is the change in the global distribution among countries. In the recent years, the developing countries have recorded a larger component of world population. However, population in the developed countries continues to decline and Canada is just among them (Johnson & Krishnamurthy, 2010). Development is social change and not a set of programs or policies. When a society identifies new or ideal opportunities for the purpose of progress, new form of organization are developed in order to fully exploit the new openings. These new forms of organizations should eventually be able to harness social energies, skills and the resources in order to achieve the desired results. Development requires infrastructure, capital and technology, in fact, development comes as a result of the country’s capacity to integrate human energy as well as the available resources in order to meet the targets (Harald, 2006).
Reasons for Migration in Canada
Canada is among the developed countries in the world. Canada is known to have the highest immigration rate in the world according to the country’s immigration program in 2004. The immigration policy has been so far justified for economic purposes (Gentilini, 2009). There is need for skilled workers and at the same time, the aging population needs to be replaced. Historically, the large immigration rate to Canada can be associated to the stable economy of the country. It has the largest supply of natural resources and yet the population is sparse compared to the large landscape. Consequently, there has been serious labor shortage and this explains why the search for migrants is still on. Another reason is because Canada has low birth rate. The fact is that migrants may not necessarily keep the population younger; in fact it will lead to population ageing in the near future (UNDESA, 2002).
Migrant Impact to Social Development in Canada
In a close comparison between immigrants in US and Canada, it is evident that those from Canada get higher wages and are more skilled than those from the U.S. however the striking challenges that faces the migrants is they don’t embrace the foreign credentials and this has become a perpetual problem. Consequently, immigrants find jobs far below their credentials and yet their counterparts of Canadian origin earn more (Passel Capps & Fix, 2004). The social development of Canada’s economy has taken diversified channels in regard to the number of migrants. The significant effect of migration can also be felt y both parties. For instance, the remittance which is received from the families of the migrants can cater for health, education, medical services among other factors. In simple words, migration has facilitated the eradication of poverty especially from the developing countries (Booth, 2011). Canada has been able to benefit from the skilled workforce and enlarged its economic prospects within a short period of time; this is because of the significant amount collected from the migrants as tax (Yates, Cooper & Holland, 2006).
The effects of migration are divided between the sending and hosting countries. The secret lies in the integration of these workers in the market. The sending countries in return benefit from the remittance. According to the experts, remittances are more predictable than any other form of financial flow. They also act as buffers against any form of economic shock (Barrientos &Hulme, 2009). Apart from just providing for the household support, this remittance can be used for supporting small scale businesses as well as savings in other financial institutions and this means job opportunities are created. In a broader perspective, the credit worthiness of the countries that send this remittance is enhanced and therefore the access for expansion in the capital market is created (Conway & Norton, 2002).There is however one detrimental effect that has adversely affected the developing countries: brain drain- A significant number of skilled professionals who are migrants in Canada have expanded the business prospects and improved the general image of the capital market through their skilled services though this is critical for the sending countries as they remain incapacitated when it comes to the experienced workforce. Being a developed country, Canada attracts a large number of immigrants who are eager to be incorporated in the labor market (Gentilini, 2009). This has significantly improved the cost of production in many companies due to sufficient workforce. Social development is still evolving and the cultural aspect is a major concern. The issue of migration has not been well received by some European countries, in most cases; insecurity and unemployment are normally linked with migration. There is no doubt however that the increasing number of migrants in Canada have not only generated enough workforce to occupy the labor market, but Canada gains more from the new talents, skills, technology as well as culture (Munro, 2008).
Migration in Canada is mostly sensitized in skilled immigrants. According to the studies about 38% of the immigrants are in possession of post graduate degrees which adds credit on the government since they will not invest much on training the semi skilled workforce (Barrientos & Hulme, 2008). Immigration in Canada has affected the wage levels in a way that for every increase in population, there is a reduction in wage and this has affected the skilled immigrants whose wages are reduced to as far as 7%. This makes them to seek for jobs lower than their credentials and for lower wages, as all this happens, the fact remains that the economic stability of the country remains stable (Standing, 2007). In the recent years, the economic capacity of the newcomers in Canada has generally declined simply because of some government policies which move the immigrants to secondary occupations that have low pay, poor working conditions as well as instability. Due to their inability to access broader networks, the Canadian natives have an upper hand when it comes to accessing jobs than the immigrants (Hanlon, 2004).
The presence of many people representing different forms of culture in Canada has strengthened the ties among different countries. It’s obvious that international migrants will develop the skills and expertise and connections with their own countries in order to strengthen the trade ties. According to the recent studies, it is clear that Canada has great relations in terms of trade especially from the countries where the largest group of immigrants come from. This has well impacted on the economy of the country (Haferkamp & Neil, 2001).
Social development is the integration of man energies together with activities to get better results. In this regard, it is obvious that migration facilitates the utilization of the skills, talents and potentials of the human beings. In this case economic social, political and cultural aspects have grown as a result of the interaction with human beings and their intellectual environment. A great room for innovation and expansion has been created; knowledge from the migrants has relatively increased the level of productivity and development as well (Ratha, 2004).
Migration has solved a number of serious disasters affecting the world as a whole. For instance, the living standards have been improved since the migrants can be able to send to their native countries what they earn and this is one way of eradication poverty which remains a threat to humanity. When small businesses are established from the remittance funds they facilitate the growth of the society and also create an enabling environment for many jobs to be created consequently, this raises the living standards of the individuals (ODI, 2007). It has been established that remittance is a sure way of stabilizing the economy of any country. These services provide hope for the poor households especially when it’s done through the timely payments. It has been able to address the gender issues especially in the cases where women have been marginalized since they can access these funds and initiate their own projects that can sustain them (Barrientos, &. Hulme 2008).
The net fiscal is estimated as the difference of what the migrants pay as taxes and other contributions in relation to what they receive from the government in terms of benefits and other services. To get the clear figure, it depends on the characteristics of the migrants, the nature of the labor market as well as well as the rules surrounding the welfare system (Slater, 2004). Young, skilled migrants with well paying jobs contribute to a better fiscal contribution compared to those with lower rates. This explains why Canada insists on selecting on the highly skilled workforce than any other country. However, it’s not easy to determine the fiscal impact of migrants in Canada since due to lack of accurate data in a number of factors. Due to this, the choice left is to base on assumptions (Manning, 2005).
Conclusion
Migration decreases the ratio of dependency. This is in terms of migrants who are in the labor market compared to those whoa re not in. as the year’s progress; these migrants will retire and still accrue even more financial costs. In this perspective, it is important to maintain balance to reduce the cases of dependency ratio. According to the recent studies, high net of migration in Canada has slowly reduced the pressure since the incoming migrants are more productive than the general population. Migrants have therefore contributed to the social development in Canada (Holborn, 2004).
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