MIGRANT WORKERS AND EXPATRIATES

Retrieved from May 2011: http://www.cv-library.co.uk/news/893/Small-firms-'struggle'-on-migrant-worker-recruitment-.html

 

The term Migrant Worker has different official meanings and connotations in different parts of the world.

 

The "United Nations Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families" (1) defines migrant worker as follows:
The term "Migrant Worker" refers to a person who is engaged or has been engaged in a remunerated activity in a State of which he or she is not a national.
 

The term can also be used to describe someone who migrates within a country, possibly their own, in order to pursue work such as seasonal work.

 

A distinction must be made between a migrant worker and an immigrant. The latter seek to stay permanently in the host country while the first one is only temporary. The categories of migrant workers are:

- Job seekers, who look for a better job and opportunities.

- Students who are looking for better educational opportunities.

- Family members of migrants who want to be reunited with their family.

 

 

 

Expatriates are workers who leave their home country to work in another but they are usually sent by their employer to perform an important job or as a part of the Company’s policy which is all about sending employees abroad for them to have the experience of working in another country with different people and then go back to apply what he/she had learned in the benefit of the company.

 

This category of migrant workers is treated separately because of the nature of the movement itself. Normal migrants move because they want to find better opportunities and sometimes that’s not the case and because of their low level of training and skills they find themselves working in worst conditions as they would be in their home country. Expatriates on the other hand leave their home country with all the guarantees and the support of the company who sends them. They don’t have to worry about what job will they find or if they’ll even find one, they have their accommodation arranged for them and usually with the same or more comforts than they have at home.

There are several motivations to be a migrant or expatriate according to the main interests or current situation of people around the world. Some aspects are:

- Violence.

- Political and Economical instability.

- Environment.

- Freedom in various aspects.

- Working opportunities.

- Education

 

 

 

There are glaring differences between Migrant workers and Expatriates 

 

Migrant workers

 
Often cheated. Contracts usually not worth the paper they are written on.
Compulsory Fomema medical checks.
Harassed on the streets and often asked for papers.
Passports usually held by employers. Thus, they are “trapped” and suffer in silence.
Usually negative media coverage – frequently linked to crime or social problems.
Little recourse to justice or access to legal representation if employers fail to live up to terms of employment.
Deplorable, crammed accommodation.
Usually paid sub-poverty line or poverty-line wages.
Unlikely to be given much annual leave.
Often not medically insured – have to pay much higher medical bills at general hospitals.
Agents and middlemen make fat profits from various “commissions”.

 

 

Expatriates

 
Usually have proper enforceable contracts.
Unlikely to be whipped or sent to immigration detention centres.
Usually in possession of their own passports.
Favourable media coverage especially in the business press.
Legal options and representation more readily available. Can leave if dissatisfied with employers.
Usually above average accommodation provided.
Usually highly paid.
Usually given generous perks – including annual leave and medical insurance coverage.
Usually no agents or middlemen involved. Employers deal directly with the workers concerned.

 

Retrieved from May 2011: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71G7sF1qun4&feature=player_embedded

Retrieved from May 2011: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql1FEP0aWaM

 

 

Explain how easy is it for Colombian companies to employ expatriates locally? Give examples. 

 

Employment experts have claimed that the recruitment of migrant workers is often beneficial to smaller companies, but involved a lengthier and more complex recruitment process.

The recruiting migrant workers was easier for bigger firms who had the tools to recognise foreign qualifications, while for smaller firms their skills sometimes remained an unknown quantity.

Colombia is a country that don't have a big industries and It is not an Industrialized country. If you see this situation, you can say that is hard for an Expatriate obtain a job in Colombia. In addition, the situation for colombian workers is so hard, because everyday there are more and more unemployed people.
However, despite this situation, I think that is possible to an Expatriate obtain a Job in Colombia, even, he can create a new companies.

In Colombia there are a lot of companies that was founded for foreing people, giving more oportunities for Colombian people.

And, I also consider that for a person from a country with a less development to Colombia or less industrialized, is so easy obtain a job, because he has a less conditions than a Colombian.

 

SOURCES

 

(1) "United Nations Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families". United Nations

Piette, Jean-Jacques. 2004. “Understanding Management German style”. Les Amis de L’ecole de Paris.

Business dictionary online. Definition of Brain Drain. Retrieved on january the 5th2011 from: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/brain-drain.html

The Inmigration debate: Supernews! (2006). Retrieved on April 8th, 2011 from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhEl6HdfqWM&feature=fvsr