Migration, human capital and social capital: lessons for the EU neighbouring countries

Abstract

Purpose:The European Union and its European Neighbourhood are mutually dependent. In the next decades, the European Union (EU) will need to import foreign labour in response to different challenges. The geographical proximity, economic, cultural and historical links with EU Neighbouring countries make them an important potential source of labour force and, moreover, they are the main countries of origin and transit of legal and illegal migration towards Europe. The purpose of this special issue is to analyse the impact of different EU policies on future migration flows, and to evaluate the current effect of immigration from neighbouring countries on EU labour markets.Design/methodology/approach: The articles in this special issue combine different macro and micro approaches, and have been produced in the context of the 7 th Framework Programme EU-funded SEARCH project. The main objective of this project is to strengthen the integration process by analysing current and future trends in several areas covering trade, migration or institutional reforms among others. The first three articles focus on the analysis of the determinants of migration flows, the next four are related to immigrants' integration and the last one explores the trade-migration link. Findings:The evidence gathered in this special issue is of interest to academics and policy makers. For instance, at the aggregate level there is a need to coordinate EU migration policies with reforms in other areas such as labour market institutions or welfare systems, but also to take into account developments in immigrants' countries of origin. Policy should focus on assessing the skills levels of immigrants and providing assistance in transferring their skills, but also on providing better information of the current needs in the EU labour markets. Originality/value:The special issue adds to the literature on the determinants of migration and on the integration of immigrants into EU labour markets. These articles contribute to a better understanding of the complex link between the European Union and the Neighbouring countries. They also leave open many questions that should clearly stimulate future research.

Impact of Social Capital on Chinese Migrant Workers' Poverty during COVID-19: The Mediation of Social Protection

“…Our study demonstrates that social protection can weaken the relationship between social capital and poverty level. Consistent with the previous studies (Beenstock et al, 2015;Chan and Wong, 2020;Wang, 2021), this result highlights the importance of public policy in reducing inequality. For migrant workers in China, the household registration system, informal work, and prejudice from local people limit their children's rights in education, social security and medical services (Wang, 2021).…”

“…Public or formal social protection can empower people to reduce vulnerability, risk, and economic shocks at the macro level (Devereux and Getu, 2016). Previous studies have found that individuals have the higher social capital to get out of poverty if they can access social protection, such as education (or professional training) (Pillai et al, 2021;Rea et al, 2013), health and safety protection (Moyce and Schenker, 2018) and unemployment bene ts (Beenstock et al, 2015;Wang, 2021). For example, Osabohien et al (2020) found that social protection, such as building human resources and equality of public resources, is a vital strategy to reduce poverty and inequality in Africa.…”

“…For migrant workers in China, the household registration system, informal work, and prejudice from local people limit their children's rights in education, social security and medical services (Wang, 2021). Legal public social protection can mitigate this situation by empowering migrant workers to enjoy social bene ts (Beenstock et al, 2015;Wang, 2021). These ndings illustrate that if the government provides migrant workers with access to more social protection services, the "elite capture" phenomenon can be relieved.…”

Migration and comparative advantages: new evidence on the EU-MENA region

“…It is reasonable to suppose, indeed, that if immigrants (emigrants) end up working in the sector in which the country of origin (destination) has comparative advantage, it is more likely for them to channel the information to the destination (origin) country about this comparative advantage. Besides, we would like to measure the knowledge transmission channel by considering the skill level of migrants following previous studies (Beenstock et al , 2015; Giovannetti and Lanati, 2017; Giovannetti et al , 2019). Both improvements can only be realized by adopting other data sources as in our data from UN we only have international migrant stock by age, sex and origin.…”

Innovative potential for development of Europe’s neighbouring countries and regions

“…From a different perspective, several key findings and overall policy conclusions from the SEARCH project were geared to a non-scientific policy-oriented readership (Sinozic et al 2015). Focusing their special issue on human capital, migration and social capital, Beenstock et al (2015) stress the importance of ENCs as a key source of future labour force and economic growth in the European Union. The traditional channels of integration (trade and FDI) comprise another special issue that stresses the importance of collateral developments in governance, quality of institutions, human capital and technological upgrading to truly deepen economic and trade relations among neighbours (Crescenzi and Petrakos 2016).…”