Labor Migration

Introduction

Latvia is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. The country is among the least populated and sparsely inhabited nation of the European Union. The country had tremendously improved its gross domestic product up to the time of global financial crisis. This period affected it development severely among the European Union state. The country is listed among those nations with Human Development Index. One of the issues affecting the development of this country is the problem of migration. This is linked to eminent and gross level of brain drain in the country. There are several factors, which are linked to the increased level of emigration from Latvia as delineated below.

Causes of Emigration in Latvia

The political system in the country has been associated with high influences on emigration from the country. Most individuals who have left the country have quoted political discrimination as one of the contributing factors for their departure. The political segregation and exclusion among the races and groups of people living in Latvia have caused most of the Russians and other non-Latvians to fill insecure. Consequently, they have moved to other nations for fear of being politically molested. The political exclusion has been reinforced by the social exclusion. Some of the races have been termed as non-rightful residents of this country. Therefore, those who return feel insecure and demoralized to associate with the so called real inhabitants of the country. This has resulted in seeking refuge outside the country (Woolfson 2009, p. 11).

There has been complaining of income inequalities among the workers in Latvia country. Despite the level of qualification of the job, the employees are not satisfied with the salary they are earning. There is no correspondence in the salary earned and the time dedicated to the work. Workers complain of long working hours with poor compensation system. For this reason, the workers just decide to quit and migrate to other countries in search for greener pastures.

The country is stricken with poverty where the average person earns below the European Union mark poverty line. This is caused by low wages that are not enough to support their families. Consequently, most of the individuals flee from the country in the hope for securing better jobs elsewhere in the world. There is also the reason of migrating in search for a better life in the western countries. The western countries such as the USA have minimal obligations for immigrants, different from those of Latvia. This causes most of the Latvia to migrate to such countries in the hope that they will secure better jobs thus better life (Woolfson 2009, p. 11-12).

In the beginning of 2007, about 10 % of Latvia residents’ workforce had migrated to other countries. This caused a significant drain on the market resulting in delayed development. Though the migration reduced the rate of unemployment, the negative consequences were detrimental to realize the positive sides of the emigration. The shortsighted valued the emigration in terms of foreign exchange and importation of oversee abilities and experiences. However, critical analysis has shown that this is not the case since the emigrants never return home. The attributed causes of failure to return to their home country are acquisition of better working conditions and adequate household income that is unavailable in Latvia.

Latvia Part in a Chain of Migration in the Global Economy

The emigration of individuals from Latvia creates a void in their country in terms of labor. For instance, emigration resulted into the creation of vacancies in the job market. In turn, this caused the country to export cheap laborers from the neighboring countries as well as from far countries. Among individuals who benefited from these vacancies are the Thais. In a more scrutiny approach, the emigration from Latvia caused the secondary migration in the surrounding country. Workers from countries where their government or the private sectors were poorly paying as compared to Latvia had an opportunity to migrate to Latvia, For example, the Thais. Therefore, this seems like a chain moving from economically poor country to a relatively stable country (Woolfson 2009, p. 13-15).

Moreover, Latvia migration created a wave among the European and Asian countries for migration. There were notable migrations from the east to the west in the hope of better living conditions. In a way, the migration can be said to be linked to the economic tread of the countries involved. The economic effects caused by Latvia migration can be either positive or negative. Migration reduced the number of competing workers aiming to secure jobs. This raised the wages for the workers thereby improving the condition of those who were left. In this way, the migration can be said to have revitalized the economy of the country.

There are speculations that the migration can result in improved labor force due to the exchange in ideas and experiences once in a foreign country. Unfortunately, this is not always the case since the emigrants never return home. Those who never left the country regard those who happen to return as a failure. This causes social instability that leads to complete brain drain. Unfortunately, the trend is always from a poor country to a well-established country. As a result, the poor countries are at a disadvantage since they are robbed their well trained employees who migrate to other countries to work. This creates a situation where the well-established economy continues to grow at the wake of the poorly established one (Woolfson 2009, p. 24-26).

Positivity of Latvians Response to Inward Migration

It is evidenced that most of the employees who secure jobs in Latvia are of lower qualification compared to those who leave the country. In this respect, the country surfer double loss i.e. educating its citizens only to end up benefiting other countries, as well a burden of immigrants. The vacancies created once the loyal Latvians have left the country need to be filled by qualified individuals whether immigrants or local individuals. However, there are regulations that prevent competitiveness in the filling of these vacancies. For instance, the government holds that a job vacancy should be advertised for one month to the local people before opening the chances to aliens (Woolfson 2009, p. 18). This may cause weakness in the labor forces as only those local who may be poorly qualified than the aliens are handed the job hence poor performance.

Through ensuring that only those individuals that have the necessary qualification are allowed in to the country, the government will ensure efficiency and effectiveness of the workers. However, precautions should be taken to avoid cases of aliens dominating the top positions in the market, while the inhabitants fall for the lesser jobs. The country needs to devise a plan on how to prevent emigration of professionals and other cadres to rejuvenate the economy of the country. Otherwise, the inflow of qualified individuals will cause saturation in the vacancies creating cases of unemployment. Despite the fact of this response, the government should revisit its policies regarding the treatment of emigrants in Latvia. Workers who have temporary permit should be allowed to reap the fruits of their tax. This will go a long way motivating them to be committed to their jobs, thus, improving production. The employees should also be given the right to select their employer and when to quit at will (Woolfson 2009, p. 17-20).

The issue of cheap labor can only affect the economy negatively if the top management terms are also weak. Considering a case of slaves and how they helped countries such as USA and Canada to grow economically, it is clear that what matter is the management and not the junior forces. The country has to mix the diversity of workers in terms of qualification level, to ensure continuity of activities at all levels. Otherwise, if the country is unable to pay its citizens who are qualified for the jobs, where will it get the finances to pay the qualified cadre? This step may create an extremely poor system of employment that would see closure of business due to the lack of workers or due to the poor management.