Around 120% surge in income has been recorded among Indians working overseas as compared to a 40% increase due to internal migration, according to a study by the World Development Report. The study found that low-skilled Indians who migrated to the United States tend to see a significant gain in their income of around 500%, followed by those from United Arab Emirates (UAE). However, people migrating to the Gulf Cooperating Council (GCC) nations – Oman, Kuwait, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain are likely to see a lesser income gain.
The report titled Migrants, Refugees and Societies noted that apart from skills, other factors including destination, language ability and age also play crucial role in deciding the income. The gains for highly-skilled workers such as engineers or doctors are much higher, however, low-skilled workers are also finding themselves in having multi-fold jump in their income.
“Migration leads to large wage increases for most people whose skills and attributes are a strong match with the needs of the destination society. These gains often exceed what could be achieved in the country of origin, even from internal migration to relatively better-off locations. The gains are so large that at current rates of economic growth it would take decades for the average low-skilled person working in some countries of origin to earn the income they achieve by migrating to a highincome country. These gains are then shared with families and communities in the countries of origin through remittances,” the report said.
The study found that there are 184 million migrants around the world with around 37 million refugees. It categorised the migrants into four types – Refugees with skills in demand, economic migrants with skills that match with demand, distressed migrants and refugees. India-US, India-Bangladesh and India-GCC have been considered among the top migrant corridors.
The WDR further noted that the migration comes at a cost for people moving countries in search of employment. Indians moving to Qatar spend their two months’ earnings on an average to meet the migration cost. Similarly, the cost is a little higher to settle in Kuwait. A Bangladeshi migrant will have to spend approximately nine month.
The study found that remittances of some countries contributing to large migrant population including India have increased. Indian migrants in the UAE send around 70% of their income to their family.