Migration

Why People Migrate

Migration can be forced or voluntary. Forced migration movements (displacement) are, by and large, related to political or environmental factors. Every year, millions of people at the global scale become, or continue to be, refugees, having fled wars, political instability, ethnic violence, or environmental hazards. For example, recent studies show that in the United States, Hurricane Katrina (2005) has caused the most significant internal migration in recent history, where tens of thousands of people fled New Orleans for different regions of the country, thus, putting pressure on host regions’ housing markets. While some who fled have returned, others have gone from being temporarily displaced (movement) to permanently relocated (migration). Furthermore, new populations were attracted to job opportunities in New Orleans due to rebuilding activities. In sum, this event considerably altered the population distribution and changed its profile. It is still too early to measure the extent of the impact of such change on local culture and identity of the place.

As for voluntary decisions, it is generally agreed that they are usually based on the evaluation of the trade-off between the place of origin and the destination. Different reasons, or factors, can “push” individuals, families, and groups away from—or “pull” them toward—a region and/or country. These push and pull factors were long thought to explain employment mobility from an economic perspective using different theoretical approaches. Some are based on supply and demand (in this case, employment opportunities); others are based on the international division of labor and job market imperfections at the regional and national scale. Economic [Page 445]migrants are generally young adults, better educated than the average fellow citizen, who have appraised the costs and benefits of migrating depending on job opportunities both in the place of origin and at the destination. Host communities gain by recruiting well-educated immigrants in whom they did not have to invest in health and education, while communities of origin lose not only their investment but also the potential contribution of these individuals to the economy and community development.

...