Migrant workers: push and pull factors

This post is going to be dedicated to the migration and the forces driving it. The first thing to do is to define and classify the migrant workers. The second part will try to elaborate on what are the forces diving people to migrate, for this purpose I will resort to the "Migration theory" from Everett Lee.
How can we define the migrant workers? as seen in class are those people who voluntarily or involuntarily go from one place to another to work. This sets a difference between the migrant worker and the refugees or the displaced people who are mainly driven out of their home countries by the fear of persecution.

How can we differentiate the types of migrant workers? they can be divided in two categories: 1) voluntary or involuntary and 2) skilled and non-skilled workers. In the first category we find the workers that want to leave their home countries because they believe they will have better opportunities abroad, these are the voluntary migrant workers. At the same time we may find others that had to leave their countries because of social or economic problems that forces that worker to leave, these are the involuntary migration workers.

The second categories differentiate the ones that have no actual education and will perform low-qualification jobs in their host countries, basically these workers migrate from developing countries to developed ones. The opposite can also happen; highly prepared professionals who go abroad looking for a better work conditions or promotion, often occupying high positions within companies, requiring qualified workers.

So what are the factors driving migration? let's take a look at the following chart:

Taken From: BBC. URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/images/pop_002a.gif

It shows some push and pull factors that drive the migration flows. But what are the push and pull factors? Everett Lee's text never states such wording as push-pull factors, he refers to "that hold and attract or repel people" which he defines as:

"In every area there are countless factors which act to hold people within the area or attract people to it, and there are others which tend to repel them. (...) There are others, (...), to which people are essentially indifferent. Some of these factors affect most people in much the same way, while others affect different people in different ways."                                             (Lee, Everett. 1966)

So the pull factors are those factors that attract someone to a territory and the push factors those that drive someone out from a territory. According to Mr. Lee, the territories will often present these push and pull factors that, at some point, the potential migrant worker will assess on its decision to go abroad. What will finally influence the decision of the potential migrant worker are the perceptions and the obstacles related to the migration process, meaning that if the combinations of the push-pull factors are strong enough to justify going through the difficulties inherent to the process the potential migrant will migrate. Despite the rational this process seems Mr. Lee recognizes that there are personal non-rational influences to the decision.

Now is question and answer time, the proposed question for this module is: Do you think the Points System in Canada is meant to protect the country’s sovereignity?, or is it just a deliberated form of discrimination? why?

In order to start answering the question let's explain a little bit what is the Canadian point system. As defined by the official web site for immigration of Rosenblatt Associates:

"Canada uses a point system to assess all Independent/Skilled Worker applicants. To be eligible for permanent residence in Canada, you must obtain at least 67 points in the point assessment."

This means is basically a selection process on weather you fulfill the requirements of knowledge, language, and experience in order to go and reside permanently in Canada.

Once I have set this straight, I can give you my opinion. In general I believe that every immigration policy is by definition discriminative. This ranges from visas to giving nationality to someone, and is not exclusive of developed countries: Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela and other apply the visa criteria, even amongst themselves.

The matter is now why I do consider that these practices are discriminatory. I would like to resort to the definition given to discriminate in the Oxford Dictionary:

"verb 1 recognize a distinction. 2 make an unjust distinction in the treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of race, sex, or age."

Do the two previous definitions apply to the immigration policies? from my point of view they do; at first I may say that every immigration policy is designed to recognize a difference, let's take for instance visas, how many countries ask tourist visa to the U.S. citizens and how many do ask the same for Haiti citizens? The answer, even without knowledge of the actual numbers, is clear. 

So this policy "recognizes a distinction" (1)  of the people that comes from one country or another and "makes a (unjust) distinction" in their treatment. In other words it discriminates on the grounds of nationality. The unjust part is open to discussion but in most cases I think it is.

I am not trying to say it is wrong or bad, I think that States Per Se have no moral, only ethic responsibilities of the people that direct them (also open to discussion). So these policies are needed because otherwise they will be letting anyone enter the country. Try to answer: do you let anyone enter in your house? The answer is the same. 

In this order the rest of measures taken, such as interviews, exams and the point system are designed to set a difference between the people which you desire in your house/country, meaning choosing those that will contribute effectively to the economic growth and prosperity and will not post additional problems from those you don't want in. 

So, to conclude, I want to say that this is a discriminatory practice, but it should not be regarded as bad, all the opposite it contributes to foster an acceptance climate in the host countries, and ensures that the nationals and immigrants can effectively contribute to the country, by keeping nationals in and letting only the needed immigrants come. In fact, I must state that this is just as fair as positive discrimination.

For further readings on the topic check:

BBC. (s.f.). Push-Pull factors. Retrieved March the 7, 2010, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/images/pop_002a.gif
Lee, E. S. (1966). A Theory of Migration. Retrieved March the 7, 2010, from Jstore Database, Published by: Population Association of America: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2060063
Rosenblatt Associates. (s.f.). Point System. Retrieved March the 7, 2010, from http://www.immigrate.net/law/en/Visaslaws/PointSystem.asp
Oxford Dictionary. (s.f.). Definition of Discriminate. Retrieved March the 7, 2010, from http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/discriminate?view=uk
Verbeeten, David. 2007. The Past and Future of Immigration to Canada. Journal of International Migration & Integration, 8(1): 1-10.