The article reviews the nature of international labor migration today and the economic and political rationale for its occurrence. It suggests that while the developed economies will continue to attract and exchange highly skilled labor, they will have little need for mass immigration by those with low skill levels. In contrast, poorer countries with rapid population growth and low living standards will encourage emigration, except by the highly skilled. One consequence will be more illegal immigration. Geographical patterns will continue to be dominated by a set of macroregional networks, among which the Asia-Pacific region is the most recently developed. China and the former Soviet Union (as senders) and Japan (as receiver) constitute the main enigmas.
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