Concept Notes
International mobility has been recognised as a key factor contributing to the economic development of both the origin and the host nations. India is one of the leading countries when it comes to international migration; the country has a numerically strong labour force present around the globe and its migrants bring home the highest remittances in the world, at around 83.332 billion as of 2019. With a large number of Indians already forming a vibrant diaspora, there still remains potential to leverage India’s demographic dividend. Newer opportunities need to be identified for an advantageous global mobility of Indian migrants. As such, the Scandinavian/Nordic countries have the potential to be an attractive destination for India’s skilled labour.
In the Scandinavian/Nordic region, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland are appealing countries for students and skilled migrants. This region not only tops the Human Development Index but provides a safe and peaceful region consisting of countries with good welfare systems and well-regulated employment relationships. The labour market in these countries is expected to experience a reshuffle and areas of opportunities must be distinguished for successful policy making with regard to prospective migration. For instance, ageing and migration is expected to shrink the workforce and increase the dependent elderly in Finland, with relatively milder changes in the demography of the rest of the Scandinavian/Nordic region after 2030. The working age population in EU/EEA is estimated to reduce by 45 million between 2016–2080, mostly before 2050, and the elderly will increase by over 50 million. Due to such changes, there are many areas of opportunities for Indian workers in the Scandinavian/Nordic countries. Healthcare is one such sector. Sweden, for instance, has a short supply of healthcare professionals, ICT professionals, and education professionals. Similarly, Denmark is facing shortages in education, engineering, IT, medicine and healthcare sectors. Such gaps in the areas mentioned above are complementary to the existing skills of Indians and would allow migrants to easily take advantage of such sectoral opportunities.
India has rolled out several G2G initiatives to ease the mobility of its migrants and upskill them. A case in point is the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Labour Mobility Partnership between India and Denmark to promote orderly migration of Indian workers to meet the growing demand of in the Danish economy A similar MoU was signed between India and Sweden to promote mobility of trained personnel from India to Sweden, for which India will impart vocational training to its citizens for certain job roles. Another MoU with Finland promotes skill development and vocational training. Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland also have Social Security Agreements with India which provide benefits to migrants in the host country. These labour mobility frameworks provide for orderly and convenient mobility between India and the host country, helping in identifying occupational possibilities with the countries which can subsequently shape appropriate skilling programmes. It can be advantageous for India to deliberate on how to realise the full potential take advantage of such mobility agreements with the Scandinavian/Nordic countries.
There are certain sectors which may offer significant potential. In a post-covid world, shortage of healthcare workers has been accelerated. Additionally, due to climate change- which may lead to humanitarian crisis- it will become essential to mitigate global warming. This will require restructuring of various industries and will involve an overhaul of existing infrastructure and workforce. ILO claims that responses of climate change may create new employment opportunities between 0.2% and 2% globally by 2030. As more Indians seek to migrate to these countries, India can utilise its professional potential to meet labour shortages. It is therefore fitting to deliberate on these emerging regions for smooth mobility of skilled migrants.
In this context, the India Centre for Migration (ICM) seeks to organise a virtual panel discussion titled ‘International Labour Market Opportunities: Assessing the Scandinavian/Nordic region’ on 12th August, 2021 from 1500 to 1630 hours (IST).
The discussion aims to examine (but will not be limited to) the following issues–