International migration is considered to be the act of people moving into another country from their homeland, by virtue of work, health or education opportunities, family reunification, asylum-seeking, retirement, and holiday purposes for a certain amount of time. International migration has always been one of the most controversial and vital topics among both international and national policies regarding its demographic, economic, and sociological consequences which shape the country’s composition.
The causes of this particular behaviour are illustrated as new or better opportunities for labour as well as escaping from poverty, education purposes and entrepreneurship. Thus, it can clearly be seen that emigrating decisions of the individuals are most likely driven by economic concerns. Also, as the general cause of this asylum-seeking purpose created serious inner conflicts and violence which threatens human rights, native people are forced to flee their countries.
One of the controversial main issues of the general labour force, employment, and microeconomic business is its economic sustainability in the long run. It is no different when it comes to large waves of immigrants entering through the borders of a country since the immigrants will be involved in the country’s economy. Many countries suffer from many issues related to each other due to the immigration process. These issues drastically change the composition of the socio-economic structure, income structure and, mostly, the low-skill jobs with their sector’s composition . Furthermore, because of the increasing population of “in need” individuals, also most of the social security systems begin to overload as the applications increase drastically, adding up to the expenses in the health sector and social security systems of the country.
The first of many harmful effects of the topic is that there is more competition for jobs. By increasing the number of available workers in the economy, immigration decreases the salary of native workers. Harvard economist George Borjas states as follows: “In the end, all labourers, regardless of where they live, are worse off because there are now many more of them.” Furthermore, it is mentioned that low-skill migrations also damage the labourers’ composition of skill, thus affecting productivity.
Of course, the security and peace of every individual and country are vital, and so are the refugees or the immigrants. But this cannot be, and shouldn’t be, a responsibility of a single government, organization or country. Regional alliances, corporations with organizations like the UN and EU, must be made to divide the macroeconomic expenses of the situation as soon as possible. The cause of the migration, the issue, must be fixed either by the sharing of trade and aid or peacekeeping or diplomatic relations since not only single but multiple countries are being affected. I honestly think that the refugee crisis between any two countries could be handled better in terms of both internal/external politics to avoid the current negative effects of the issue on the demographics, and the economic sustainability of any nation. Many countries’ education must be enhanced to educate brighter minds that can contribute to their community and nation, therefore to the planet we live on.