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Let Their People Come
Expand guest worker programs so that more people from the developing world can benefit from emigrants’ remittances and the new ideas, and investments they make on their return from the U.S.
Increasing labor mobility could bring huge benefits to both ends of the economic spectrum. Easing restrictions by just 3 percent would result in a net annual gain of $56 billion for rich countries, and $305 billion a year for residents of poor countries – almost twice the combined annual benefits of full trade liberalization, foreign aid and debt relief.
But the issue is highly contentious. Despite the need for tax-paying, unskilled workers to keep the economy running, anti-immigration sentiments in rich countries have largely prevented increases in labor mobility.
The international community needs to adopt labor policies that are as beneficial as possible to poor people in developing countries, but still politically acceptable to voters in rich countries. An innovative solution would be temporary legal work programs negotiated bilaterally, wherein rich countries take responsibility for certifying labor shortages in specific industries, and the countries sending workers take responsibility for ensuring that they actually return home.
Rich countries would get the temporary labor they need, and poor countries would benefit from the wages sent home by workers who return with skills and resources to help transform their communities. Everybody wins.
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