Remittances for Decent Work

Remittances of labor migrants to their families are often invested in income-generating activities, thus contributing to economic development and employment creation in peripheral regions. This effect is enhanced if the migrants, in addition, remit the knowledge and skills that they have acquired in their host country. Furthermore, remittances could stimulate employment in the migrants’ home regions if spent on local goods. However, the absence of the migrant might also bring about negative consequences for the distribution of labor in the family. This project thus exemplarily assesses migration and remittance strategies as well as their impact on employment, with a particular focus on the quality of work.

Research on the impact of remittances on migrant home regions mainly focuses on questions of economic growth (at the macro-level) and livelihood security (at the micro-level). Implications for the kind of employment created or destroyed through that process have hardly been investigated, in spite of their far-reaching consequences. There are arguments which emphasize increasing child labor and work-overload for women left behind, while others stress the positive impact on wages. The project will provide policy-relevant knowledge in this area.