International Labor Migration.

The article comments on international labor migration. In a spontaneous permanent migration, the ties between the migrant and his country of origin are drastically cut, at least in economic terms. The human capital the worker represents may be considered a total loss to the country. In a systematic temporary labor migration, however, the ties remain. Even if the majority of the workers going abroad were previously unemployed or underemployed, and their departure relieves domestic unemployment pressures, the relief is only temporary, as the worker will need employment upon his return. The systematic import of temporarily recruited labor is not a new phenomenon. The effects of the export of labor on the countries of emigration are more complicated than has generally been assumed. The effects on the economy are bound to vary among the individual countries of emigration depending, among other factors, on the numbers, employment, and occupation of the emigrants, on the structure of the economy of the country of emigration, and on the effectiveness of the government's economic policy in organizing and controlling flows of labor and remittances.