Human Migration as The Current Trend

With the development of globalization and science technology, the distance between people has been greatly reduced, and the exchanges and interactions between countries become more frequent. Now, the means of transportation to foreign countries is so convenient that the time to move to other countries has also been significantly reduced, compared to the past. This change has not only promoted tourism in various countries, but also promoted population movement.

Before talking about migration, the first thing to notice is the change in the demographic composition of the country. The development of science in different fields has also encouraged the improvement of medical technology, reducing the mortality rate and prolonging the life of the population, which in turn has increased the elderly population. In addition, the economies of countries have gradually expanded after industrialization. At the end of World War II, the world returned to peace and post-war baby booms occurred. At that time, the number of young people was larger than that of the adult and elderly people, and the population distribution chart showed a triangular trend. However, our society are now facing the problem of population aging. There are several reasons that leads to this situation. One is the prolonging life due to medical progress, other is the low birth rate.

The birth rate is highly related to economic development. The economy has fluctuated over the past 100 years. In the twentieth century, under the development of capitalism, the economy improved, and people could have enough financial resources to support their families. Nonetheless, economic development does not always grow in a positive way. For example, during the 1930s, there was a several economic decline, called Great Depression. The Great Depression had devastating effects in countries both rich and poor. Personal income, tax revenue, profits and prices dropped, while international trade plunged by more than 50%. Unemployment in the U.S. rose to 25% and in some countries rose as high as 33%. Under this situation, the role of women became complicated. The primary role of women at that time was to work as housewives, but without a steady flow of family income, it became much harder for them to deal with food, clothing and medical care. Women must work for their families, too. It was also from that time that the number of female immigrants began to increase, and feminization of migration attracted attention. As having children were postponed until families could support them financially, birth rates fell everywhere. The average birth rate for 14 major countries fell 12% from 29.3 births per thousand population in 1930, to 17.0 in 1935. 

This is also the problem that modern society are now accepting. The current economic situation is not as good as expected. The birth rate of developed countries is usually lower than developing countries. People need to consider if the money they earned are enough to keep a balance between supporting their life and having a child. As the result, under realistic pressure, wives usually go out for work and young couples fear that the burden of raising children is unaffordable, which reduces fertility rate. This led to a society of a significant reduction in the future labor population. A society is mainly supported by adults. If the young people are less than adults and elderly people, not only is it difficult for a country's economy to develop, so will its social structure hard to keep up. Under this dilemma, immigration has more and more attention.

In Asia, the most well-known country with an aging population is Japan. As Japan entered the post-industrial society after the 20th century, the fertility rate decreased, and medical conditions improved. Coupled with the strict immigration controls in Japan, Japan has become one of the countries with the highest population aging in the world. Japan's population is aging faster than any other nation. In 2014, 26% of Japan's population was estimated to be 65 years or older, and the Health and Welfare Ministry has estimated that over-65s will account for 40% of the population by 2060. The demographic shift in Japan's age profile has triggered concerns about the nation's economic future and the viability of its welfare state. At present, Japan's total population and working population continue to decrease. In this case, young foreign workers could bring large benefits for Japan.

Nowadays, due to the comparably huge population of elderly, the elderly care issues cannot be ignored. Some elderly people need medical care in hospital, while some usually go to a center that take care of them in day. However, this is not as simple as we thought. Their children might not have time and money to take care of their old parents. Some elderlies have to rely on government and the welfare system. The problem is that elderly people are so many that the government might not have enough budget to take good care of everyone. The other problem that needs to mention is that the main revenue of government is the tax that younger people pay. The population composition of Japan in the future is like an inverted triangle that population of younger people are less than elderly people. It might lead to a situation called, “Parent-child mistrust.” To get enough money, government might set rules for elderly welfare. If it became an obligation that everyone must pay for the welfare, young people may face a problem that they have to pay more but receive less than they paid when they become old. This would turn into a vicious circle. If the social welfare system mainly serves the elderly, this will make young people feel unjust to the system and may lead to the collapse of the welfare system. Because without the burden of this welfare system, young people could have more income to take care of their lives. Especially when we are now in a world that finding a job and earning money become harder.

On the other hand, due to population aging, another issue raise attention to the public is the migrant. Taking Japan for example, the workforce is in desperate need of growth. Japan has been pressed to make the change because of a critical labor shortage that results from its rapidly aging society and low birth rate. Firms struggle to fill vacant jobs caused by the chronic labor shortage. There are 1.5 vacancies for every job applicant. The labor pinch will only intensify as the working population plummets in future years. Every year, there are about 50 thousand of workers in mainly blue-collar sectors will exit the workforce. Therefore, the only choice that government could do is to fill the gap with foreign workers. Not only skilled labor but also people with low skilled are in urgent need for the society.

Developed countries have completed basic construction in industry and are developing towards innovation and breakthroughs. As the evaluation of various industries, labors from developing countries prefer migrating to developed countries to seek for a better working opportunity, causing fluctuations in society. People in Japan attach importance to the problem caused by shrinking working-age population, especially in domestic health care. Elderly patients require healthcare workers to help them with medical care. But, all industries face the same dilemma. Young generation are less than elderlies, so they might not have enough health care workers to take care of them. The best way that can quickly solvent the shortage of human resource is to hire foreign workers. However, people may have concerned toward foreigner due to many reasons, such as misunderstanding and untrusty caused by unfamiliarity with foreign culture and language. Correspondingly, this is a challenging for foreign workers to work in an unfriendly environment.

For Japan, recruiting overseas manpower is a top priority, but restrictions on foreigners in Japanese society will affect the situation of workers working in Japan. For instants, requirements for low-skilled foreign workers to obtain work qualifications are under rigorous scrutiny. Besides, low-skilled employees cannot bring their wives and children to work abroad. Some even get picked on when asking for issuing a visa or treating terribly by employers. In Taiwan, foreign workers are separated to 11 kinds by their job categories and is regulated by a chapter of Employment Service Act. These various kinds of categories can be concluded in two type: white collar and blue collar. Furthermore, to those professionals, for the purpose of raising national competitiveness, Taiwan made an Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals to enhance recruiting those talents. To provide inducement, Taiwan deregulate the work, visa and residence regulation to not only to the party, but also their family. Nevertheless, Taiwan government provide retirement bonus, taxes exemption and rent exemption.

Language barriers also cause misunderstandings between employers and employees. In Japanese business companies, fluent English skills do not help much in the workplace. When everyone talks in Japanese, foreigners who do not speak Japanese can sometimes become a burden on their colleagues and even be discriminated against and excluded. Fortunately, some people noticed this problem and created an organization to try to solve this plight. In 2014, Entrepreneur Misa Matsuzaki, the youngest female entrepreneur who spent Childhood living in South Africa, publicly list a company on the Tokyo Stock Exchange aims to solve Japan’s labor shortfall through increased migration. It was her background that let her realize the different between nations and the difficulty that foreigner might face with when doing jobs in Japan. Matsuzaki started People Worldwide Co., a cross-border recruiting company that helps Japanese employers recruit overseas trainees under the government’s Technical Intern Training Program. The program was launched in 1993 with intentions to improve the skills of people from developing nations. In 2017, she even formed WORK JAPAN Co.,Ltd providing services dedicated to foreigners living in Japan. She yearned to alleviate the problem of exploitation by creating a more transparent platform for workers to find jobs matching their interests, skills, and location, cutting out exploitative and expensive middlemen in the process.

In addition to providing training to foreign workers, employers should also learn diversity management to respond to such trends. Since that the gender, ethnicity, religion, age, culture, professional field, and many other personal characteristics of business people are becoming more diverse. The diverse workforce directly reflects the rapid changes in society and economic instability. It is of priority to improve management practices for organization using different types of human resources. A fixed mode of management is no longer appropriate, so diversity management has emerged. Diversity management is the key to growth in today’s fiercely competitive global marketplace. Organizations that looking for labors oversea must embrace diversity – in how they think, act and innovate. Diversified workplaces have proven to create a competitive advantage and increase work productivity. With positive diversity management, employees could be benefited by creating a fair and non-discriminatory environment where everyone has access to opportunities and challenges. In this way, not only can foreign workers perform efficiently but also achieve a win-win situation for the companies. Diversity can no longer just be about making the numbers, but rather how an organization treats its people authentically down to the roots of its business model. The government can act as a coordinator to help promote management between employers and foreign workers. The company and foreign employees must have an equal relationship, and the companies should provide a mutually respectful working environment to promote the sustainable development of the association.

In the past, most people thought that foreign immigrants were mainly men. While women have traditionally been considered companions to their husbands in the migratory process, most adult migrant women today are employed. Among the immigrant population in recent years, such as in 2017, of the 168 million migrant workers, over 68 million were women. In one sense this is accurate: between 1960 and 2015, the number of female migrants doubled. Female immigrants are not a minority, and there is an increasing trend. Scholars have declared feminization to be a core dimension of the new age of international migration and globalization.

'Feminization of migration' has already been an important trend in the migration of Asian countries since the 1990s, too. Although in recent years, the number of immigrants who have migrated to other countries due to business, employment, study abroad, marriage, and other factors has increased; however, the migration of internal populations in Asia has two significant characteristics: one is female labor immigration, and the other is female marriage immigration. A substantial increase. The former is a typical female employed by the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, and other countries to engage in housework, care, restaurant services, ready-to-wear, and electronic assembly in response to the service manpower needs of some emerging industrial countries in Asia such as Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong. The latter are mostly married to spouses of Japan and Taiwan from Southeast Asia or China through intermediaries or introductions by others.

In Asia, women migrant workers play an important role in the economic development of Southeast Asia. For decades, countries in the region have sent or received large numbers of women migrant workers. The governments of some Southeast Asian countries have actively promoted the migration of women workers to reduce unemployment and increase remittances. Women migrants often take responsibility of health-related tasks throughout the work industry. In terms of female domestic helpers and care worker, Japan has begun receiving foreign care worker from the Philippines in 2004, then expanded to include paramedics from Vietnam and Indonesia.

Most of country in Asia, such as Taiwan and Korea, are patriarchal societies. Men are supposed to be success the family, and women are supposed to support their husband without complaint. In this unequal situation, women have no choice but to leave her original family and move into husband’s family. There is an interesting phenomenon that, with rapid urbanization, high education and improved job opportunities, many 'modern' Japanese, Taiwanese and Korean women have financial resources to get rid of the burden of 'traditional' - a society requiring women to take care of all domestic chores and care for the parent-in-law. Statistical data suggests that Asian women generally prefer marrying with a spouse of equal or high socioeconomic status. Men with a low socioeconomic status (non and less skilled jobs) are more likely to have a migrant wife, rather than a native one.

For example, in the 21st century Taiwan, science, technology and economic development have a global place. But some of the traditional concept such as succession is still deeply rooted in today's society. Under the traditional values, people wish to sustain the family's life through new generations. Therefore, men in Taiwan are also shouldering the mission of succession and promote the formation of transnational marriage in Taiwan.

The Taiwanese government implemented a 'Southbound Policy' in the 1980s, opening the gate to their Southeast Asian neighbors, and Taiwanese businessmen indirectly discovered the potential market for international intermarriage and became marriage intermediaries. After 1980, some Taiwanese men with a weaker socioeconomic status who could not find a suitable target in Taiwan marry Southeast Asian women through marriage agencies. Therefore, the proportion of Taiwan's foreign spouses has grown rapidly. Since the 1990s, the number of foreign spouses in Taiwan has gradually increased. The Taiwanese media often refers to the female spouse as 'bride'. For example, Indonesians call 'Indonesian brides', and Taiwan government officially call these people “foreign spouses”. For example: 'Indonesian spouse', 'China spouse', etc. Later, some people thought that these terms might be discriminatory and should not be given stereotyped names because of their nationality. Therefore, in the 2003 Women's New Knowledge Foundation event, these women hoped that the society could call them 'new immigrants women ', and the second generation of these new immigrant women is what the media today calls' the son of New Taiwan'.

But, as stated above, people who need intermarriage intermediaries mostly have a weak socioeconomic status and a low education level. So, when the immigrant spouses come to a totally different environment, they are struck by adapting problem such like language, traditions, laws, relationship and food habit etc. Foreign spouses themselves and their children might face the discrimination and become Underprivileged Groups due to inability to adjust culturally. Therefore, government must face these problems and figure out solutions. For example, give these foreign spouses lectures on the mother language of the country and culture. At the same time, government should also advocate and educate people to be respect to people of different nationalities, embracing the diversity of different cultures.

Although women have become the mainstream of immigration in many regions, women are also more likely to experience personal frustration than men. Especially with the change of women's life stages, female immigrants at different stages of life have different issues and challenges. Women usually regard the process of movement as a 'breakthrough' in personal development. Such as breaking worldly norms, gaining more personal freedom and space, and gaining better economic and social status. They even use it as a method to escape marriage and stay away from violence.

Migration is the current trend. People in developing countries yearn for better job opportunities, so they come to developed countries. On the other hand, developed countries are facing aging populations and insufficient labor resources, so foreign workers are also required for them to fill the gap. This is an interdependent relationship. In order to achieve long-term development, it must also be an equal relationship not only between employees and employers, but also between women and men, and therefore promote social harmony and progress. Eventually, we can realize the true meaning of Global village.

References

1. Frank, Robert H.; Bernanke, Ben S. (2007). Principles of Macroeconomics (3rd ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-07-319397-7.
2. W. S. Woytinsky and E. S. Woytinsky, World population and production: trends and outlook (1953) p. 148
3. Japan's demography: The incredible shrinking country'. The Economist. 25 March 2014.
4. Japan population to shrink by a third by 2060'. The Guardian. 30 January 2014.
5. Jorge A. Gonzalez, Azadeh Zamanian, Diversity in organizations, International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (Second Edition),2015, 595-600
6. Marinucci, Roberto (2007). 'Feminization of migration?' . Revista Interdisciplinar da Mobilidade Humana. 15: 5–22.
7. Ford, Michele; Piper, Nicola (2001), 'Southern sites of female agency: informal regimes and female migrant labour resistance in East and Southeast Asia', Everyday Politics of the World Economy, Cambridge University Press, pp. 63–80