This work is devoted to the conceptual and categorical analysis of the labor migration as one of the main phenomena of the global world both today and in the past. Migration movements shape the current state of territorial and quantitative location of the population, while showing the level of socio-economic development of countries, its competitiveness and quality of life.
To do this, the author of the article conducted an etymological analysis of the word "migration" and analyzed on the basis of thorough scientific papers its essence in terms of interdisciplinary approach, namely in terms of geography, demography, philosophy, law and jurisprudence, economics. Given the economic direction of this research, the author focuses on the essence and differences of such concepts as economic migration, labor migration, migration of labor and labor resources, external employment. As a result, it was found that economic migration is the broadest among the analyzed concepts, as it includes all the economic motives with which the subject (migrant) can cross the borders of countries. Migration of labor and labor resources differ in their distribution, but in the economic literature and statistical surveys are usually used as synonyms for labor migration. Speaking of external employment, scientific sources note the state control of this process, in contrast to the spontaneous nature of labor migration. For a more thorough analysis, the author analyzes the main classification features that distinguish labor migration, while highlighting specific (qualification level, areas of activity, legal status) and universal features (depending on the method of organization and desire of migration actors, distance or nature of borders, temporal sign). Separately, the author noted the existence of a link between labor migration and the labor market as one of the main categories of economics, which is associated with the formation of labor supply. The conducted research makes a thorough theoretical basis for further work in this direction.
