Member-only story
Time will tell whether Asia-Pacific’s increasing trend toward regional integration extend further into labor markets.
The US government recently endured a month-long partial shutdown due to a partisan dispute over funding to build a wall on the country’s southern border with Mexico. While those on both sides of the issue were digging in their heels, I got to thinking about migration trends in Asia.
According to the most recent edition of ADB’s Asian Economic Integration Report, Asia remains the world’s largest continental source of international migrants. Indeed, one in three migrants worldwide comes from the region.
The number of Asian migrants has grown steadily to about 87 million, and the report notes that leading source countries of migrants to Asia are the People’s Republic of China (PRC) with 5.2 million, the Russian Federation (3.8 million), and Bangladesh (3.7 million).
Primary drivers for the movement of such large numbers of people include conflict and the desire for better educational and economic opportunities. Another emerging driver of migration that has received more attention of late is climate change, the subject of a landmark ADB study.
The majority of Asian migrants are semi- and low-skilled workers such as maids, caregivers and manual laborers…
