Concept Note
In the contemporary globalised world, international migration and particularly, the mobility of workers is an essential driver of the global economy. In the context of India, international migration is particularly important as the remittances India receives from its workers abroad contributes significantly to its economy and India’s vast diaspora is an instrument for socio-economic diplomacy. In 2019, India was the top recipient of remittances, estimated to be about 83.3 billion USD. In 2020, in spite of the shrinkage in the global remittance economy, Indian workers sent home 76 billion USD. India is a major supplier of low/medium skilled labourers to the Gulf region and high-skilled professionals to many of the OECD countries. However, there are newer destination that remain to be explored vis a vis India’s skilled manpower. East Asian countries offer immense potential in this regard.
With respect to the East Asian countries, the rapid economic growth and the rapid transformation of economies, inclined towards a more skill-intensive workplace, has led to a strong demand for a skilled workforce that the country’s native population may not be able to fill. Further, depressed birth rates as well as an ageing population in these countries, particularly in Japan, South Korea among others, has increased their reliance on foreign labour. The domestic labour shortage has meant that the national governments have had to frame coherent strategies to allow for foreign workers to come into the country for employment purposes. The recent labour mobility agreement signed between India and Japan on the transfer of ‘Specified Skilled Workers’ from India is the latest example of how India can benefit from the gaps in the labour markets of these newer destinations of international migration. The aforementioned agreement protects specified skilled workers by establishing a basic framework for a smooth and proper promotion of the mobility between the two countries. The Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) also seeks to enhance the mutual benefits of both countries through cooperation for proper operation of the system.
Further, in the context of South Korea, a comprehensive program - the Employment Permit System - regulates the mobility of foreign labour in the country for the key small and medium-sized enterprises experiencing shortages of labour due to demographic factors. South Korea, under the EPS, has signed MOUs with Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Uzbekistan, Viet Nam, and Sri Lanka. In this case, India can also seek to benefit from establishing a labour mobility agreement with South Korea, which is increasingly requiring people for its understaffed SMEs sector.
The labour market in these new destinations is suffering from labour gaps in key sectors and India can play a pivotal role by fulfilling this demand. Additionally, the nationalisation schemes followed by the Gulf countries in the recent years necessitate a further examination of new corridors for mobility of labour, which India can benefit from. Apart from this, India has the potential to skill its youth according to international standards in the healthcare sector, which is experiencing a severe labour gap, even in the East Asian countries. This shortage has come under particular focus because of the pandemic. In these settings, it becomes pertinent to deliberate on the new opportunities for mobility of skilled workforce from India, which can provide a further boost to its remittance economy.
In this backdrop, the India Centre for Migration (ICM) seeks to organise a virtual panel discussion titled, Emerging Destinations for International Migration: Looking at EastAsia on 17 February 2021 from 1500 to 1630 hrs.
The discussion aims to deliberate on (but will not be limited to) the following issues –