Working Paper T10. Making Migration 'Development Friendly'?: Temporary Worker Schemes in the UK.

Abstract

Temporary worker schemes that bring migrants to the UK have expanded considerably in recent years. Whilst their merits continue to be debated by academics, development practitioners and labour activists, and they are seen by some as politically convenient ways of filling shortages in the UK labour market, these schemes seem unlikely to be suspended in the near future. This paper therefore takes the existence of temporary worker schemes as given, and focuses on specific aspects of their design, which affect their impact on development. Four policy areas are identified: governance of recruitment, legislation and enforcement of workers' rights, facilitation of financial flows, and return and reintegration programmes. Possible interventions to enhance the schemes' benefits - both for individual migrants and their countries of origin - are then discussed.

Citation

WP-T10, Sussex, UK, DRC on Migration, Globalisation and Poverty, 19 pp.

Working Paper T10. Making Migration ‘Development Friendly’?: Temporary Worker Schemes in the UK.

Published 1 January 2005