Migration offers chance to learn new skills

Ishrat Husain says social remittances can contribute to increasing market productivity

LAHORE:

Former State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) governor Dr Ishrat Husain has said that relocating to other countries actually provides Pakistani migrants with an opportunity to acquire new skill sets to better serve their future and the country.

“As a developing country, Pakistan-based research in any field must link with implications for poverty alleviation and human development,” Husain remarked while speaking at a conference titled “Social remittances and social change”, organised by the Centre on Migration, Remittances and Diaspora, Lahore School of Economics on Wednesday.

He asserted that it was an opportunity for Pakistani migrants to acquire new skills from host markets. “Besides technical skills, social remittances in the form of efficiency-enhancing practices, principles and values can also contribute to increasing productivity of our local market and can even be exported to other migration destinations,” he added.

Scholars from different parts of the world also spoke at the conference and highlighted the role of Pakistani migrants in the country’s economy.

Wellesley College Chair of Sociology Department Dr Peggy Levitt focused on cultural globalisation and the role of technological advancement. Earlier, the exchange of ideas was limited to occasional home visits by the migrants, but family members could now virtually interact on a daily basis, Levitt stated.

Having studied migrant communities settled in Boston from Brazil, Ireland, Pakistan and India, she reflected that for migrants over time, there was a growing disjuncture between how they perceived their home country and how it may have actually evolved.

Migration Policy Centre Founding Director Dr Philippe Fargues argued that international migration and reduction in fertility were inseparable parts of social change and human development.

“Pakistan’s population is growing at a worrisome rate of 2.4% annually and it has current fertility rate of 3.6, putting a strain on its limited resources. Implications of social remittances for bringing down fertility rate are worth exploring from the policy point of view,” Fargues added.

“When migrants interact with other migrants in the host country, their exchange of ideas has the potential to transform the ways migration takes places,” University College London School Professor Dr Anne White highlighted.

Dr Bilesha Weeraratne from the Institute of Policy Studies, Sri Lanka and Froilan Malit Jr from the University of Glasgow underlined the role of social media and technology in the transfer of social remittances to home countries.

Malit discussed the case of Filipino diaspora in Gulf countries regarding the use of digital technology to impact the domestic electoral outcome, and how their political preferences were impacted by the governance system in host countries.

“The study has significant relevance for Pakistan given our diaspora’s active participation in Pakistan’s recent political landscape.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 23^rd, 2023.

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