The movement of labor resources. International labor movement: essence, causes, main centers of labor migration International labor migration

06.03.2023

An important place in international economic relations is occupied by the migration of labor - the resource that represents the immanent component of the person himself. Therefore, when considering the causes and conditions of labor migration, not only economic, but also political, social, legal, religious, national, cultural, and demographic aspects should be taken into account. This is primarily about the cause of the demographic nature, which is associated with the so-called surplus population (labor force). It arises when the scale and structure of social production do not correspond to the supply of labor. As a result, part of the population emigrates in search of jobs and improvement of their social status to other countries. This is all the more possible as a result of low birth rates and subtle population growth dynamics in a number of countries. However, intensive flows of population migration are already causing serious socio-political and other problems in countries that receive immigrants. The EU countries can serve as an example.

Another reason for the international migration of labor resources is the difference in working conditions and wages, which also causes the flow of labor from one country to another. First of all, we are talking about highly qualified workers, specialists, scientists, scientific and technical personnel, scientific and pedagogical personnel. The countries from which such resources emigrate play the role of a donor, while the countries that receive such immigrants act as “vampires”, pumping out the best resources in terms of quality without spending any money on their formation and preparation.

Thus, at the beginning of the new century, according to the data of Academician N.P. Shmelev, approximately 200,000 Russian scientists and specialists worked in Silicon Valley (California, USA) alone. At the same time, development programs were imposed on Russia that provided for a sharp reduction in government spending on social needs under the threat of non-provision of loans. The Russian education system, science and culture have experienced and continue to experience the consequences of "charitable foreign aid" in the destruction of scientific schools, the destabilization of education and healthcare systems, and the decline in the level of culture.

Among other reasons for the migration of labor force, one should mention the cyclical nature of economic development and the structural changes taking place in the world capitalist system. During economic crises and structural transformations, cyclical and structural unemployment is formed in the national economy. Under these conditions, workers in the spheres and branches of the national economy, which have an excess of labor force, rush abroad in search of jobs that correspond to their professional training.

It is also necessary to take into account those qualitative changes that occur under the influence of scientific and technological progress. The use of new technologies, the widespread introduction of microprocessors and robots sharply reduce the role of human labor in production processes, reduce the scale of labor-intensive industries, which leads to a reassessment of the role of countries with so-called cheap labor markets. The use of fundamentally new technologies can significantly reduce the demand for raw materials, which will put developing countries in front of the problem of foreign exchange earnings and, accordingly, economic growth.

The process of population migration in each country is regulated and regulated by its legislation and international legal acts, if they are signed by the relevant state bodies. In the legal field of regulation of migration flows, two positions can be distinguished. One of them advocates the free movement of labor and population as one of the important conditions for an open economy. The other is associated with restrictions in the field of international migration and the implementation of a policy of protectionism in relation to both immigrants and emigrants. The choice depends on many components that determine the specifics of the country, primarily related to the population, the labor market, its structure and prospects for economic development. Each country develops a national migration policy, which is based on a set of legislative, organizational, financial and other measures aimed at regulating labor migration flows.

Migration flows of the population and labor resources can be classified in several directions or groups. These are primarily immigrants and non-immigrants admitted to the country in accordance with the legislation and other regulations governing the process of entry into the country.

Another direction is represented by illegal immigrants - persons who illegally crossed the border of the state or legally entered the country, but did not leave it after the granted period of stay in order to get a job. A significant part of this kind of persons is the so-called group of illegal workers. This is the most disadvantaged and disenfranchised part of the population of any country, since they are not subject to any rights and requirements to ensure decent living conditions.

The next direction is formed from contract workers who enter the country for the periods specified in contracts concluded with countries with excess labor. In particular, in the oil-producing countries of the Arab East, the number of attracted workers from abroad sometimes reaches 60-75% of their total population.

A significant share in migration is occupied by refugees who become victims of wars, exacerbation of ethnic, interreligious or other relations. This category of migrants increased at an increasing pace after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the United States, imagining itself the only center of world power, under the banner of democratization, freedom and human rights, began to commit aggressive acts against sovereign states, provoking “color revolutions” or directly or indirectly destabilizing the political situation in countries of Asia, North Africa, the Middle East and Europe (Yugoslavia, Ukraine). As a result, hundreds of thousands of people were forced to flee to other countries, not to mention the civil wars that turned once stable and relatively prosperous states into zones of devastation, disaster, poverty and death.

Export of capital

In the era of the formation and domination of big capital, in which financial capital begins to play a predominant role, there is a gradual reorientation from the international exchange of goods to the export of capital. As a result, international economic relations received an additional source of its development, when not a commodity is exported in order to realize its value and make a profit, but the value is exported in order to advance the production of goods in other countries, i.e. creating new values, their implementation and profit. Based on all of the above, we come to the conclusion that the export of capital is such a type of international economic relations, when value is exported abroad in cash or in another form for the purpose of production and profit, obtaining other economic and political benefits.

At the same time, this phenomenon in international economic relations does not mean the displacement of world trade itself. We are talking about the emergence of a qualitatively new phenomenon in international economic relations, which, on the one hand, developed in parallel with the international exchange of goods, on the other hand, became a new prerequisite and impetus for the further development of world trade. The fact is that quite often the export of capital is carried out with the aim of not only penetrating and opening the national markets of other countries, but also producing products in order to export them to other countries, including often the country that exports capital.

Initially, when the world was divided into metropolises and colonies, until the 60s. In the twentieth century, the export of capital performed mainly the function of ensuring the supply of raw or semi-finished materials from the colonies to the mother country in the interests of developing their own industry. As a result of this process, in the undeveloped part of the world, agricultural production (usually monoculture) and extractive industries developed, while in the metropolises attention was concentrated on processing and manufacturing industries.

Under ϶ᴛᴏm, sometimes entire regions were declared a zone of special interests of a particular country. This is actually one of the manifestations of colonialism. In this regard, the Monroe Doctrine, proclaimed in the first half of the 19th century, is well known. and legally fixed the expansion of the United States in Latin America with non-intervention, neutrality of European states.

Reasons for the export of capital

There are a number of reasons behind the outflow of capital. These include, first of all, ensuring access to raw materials and guaranteeing their stable supplies. At the same time, the exported capital could use cheap labor on a large scale, which made it possible to significantly reduce production costs and increase the competitiveness of manufactured products.

Excluding the above, it is extremely important to take into account the fact that the unfolding competition within the national markets of industrialized countries led to a reduction in the cost of manufactured products, a decrease in the level of profitability, and ϶ᴛᴏ cast doubt on new capital investments. As a result, an excess of capital arose, which was looking for a more profitable ϲʙᴏ of its application abroad. The export of capital became that “vent” through which capital flowed to other countries due to the difficulties of its advance into the national economy.

An important role in the development of capital exports was played by the protectionist import policy pursued by almost all countries of the world, which ensured, on the one hand, the protection of the national industry, on the other hand, the influx of foreign capital in the interests of the development of those industries and industries for which there was not enough national capital or they possessed sufficient technological capabilities, experience and knowledge in organizing the production of certain types of products.

The export of capital performed a dual economic and political role in relation to the countries - recipients of capital. First of all, the formation of transnational corporations or transnational associations of capital, not to mention the growth of foreign trade turnover between countries, tied such countries financially and economically to one or another industrialized country. Secondly, economic dependence was the tool with the help of which political influence was exercised.

The next reason for the further increase in the export of capital was the differences in the national conditions for the development of technology and technology, the total labor force. It must be borne in mind that there are two, sometimes opposite, flows of capital.
From one point of view, we are talking about the export of capital in order to penetrate another national market based on the possession of technology, organization, experience and knowledge in the production of a product. In this case, the country - the recipient of capital gets the opportunity to develop production within the country on the basis of the best achievements in the field of technology, technology, organization and management. The exporting country receives an additional source of financial resources in the form of re-export of corporate profits from abroad.

On the other hand, the export of capital can be carried out precisely due to the lack of national technical, technological, organizational and managerial achievements. In this case, financial capital rushes to those countries, firms and corporations that have such achievements. By interacting with the domestic capital of these countries, foreign capital receives the necessary technical and technological knowledge, experience and other practical information and information in order to re-export them to the ϲʙᴏ country and thus increase the technical and economic level of national production.

A huge role in the export of capital was played by the formation and development of international infrastructure, primarily transport and information systems, which significantly "brought together" countries and provided conditions for further deepening and expanding the internationalization of production not only of finished products, but also of partial products, semi-finished products, assemblies and parts . This became the basis for the development of international specialization and cooperative production.

Capital outflow and ecology

Since the end of the 60s. there has been a clear trend of moving the so-called dirty industries from industrialized countries to developing countries. This process was accelerated by the adoption by Western countries of strict environmental protection standards. As a result, the environmental situation has softened in the developed part of the world and worsened in developing countries. It should be noted that the West has a dual approach to environmental problems: one - to itself, the other - to developing countries. Moreover, he advocates rather harshly for ensuring environmental security, often blaming developing countries, as well as former socialist countries, including Russia, for all the sins. At the same time, firstly, the developed countries of the West, with the help of their private capital, moved dirty production to the less developed part of the world.

Secondly, if these countries are so concerned about the global environmental situation, then they should really provide financial and other means to help transform "dirty" industries into "clean" ones. Indeed, in most, if not all, Western countries, there are virtually no zones left unaffected by anthropogenic activity. It is worth noting that they remained in another part of the world (more than 30% fall on Russia). requests for the import of resources from these countries, on the other hand, to provide financial and other assistance to countries that do not involve the existing ecologically clean zones in economic circulation. Non-compliance and ignoring of these requirements will have a consequent deterioration in the environmental situation. Without certain compensations, no country will be willing to work for the benefit of all, infringing on their own and national interests. Excluding the above, these countries have the right to demand compensation from the West for environmental degradation as a result of the functioning of foreign capital.

Forms of capital export

The export of capital is carried out in two forms: entrepreneurial and loan. The entrepreneurial form of capital export is the investment of capital in various sectors and areas of economic activity in order to make a profit. By the way, this form of capital investment is carried out in the form of direct and portfolio investments.

Direct investments - ϶ᴛᴏ such investments of foreign capital, which provide its owner with control over the activities of a foreign enterprise. Direct investments can be carried out in the form of both direct investments in fixed capital (real capital) and buying up blocks of shares of already operating enterprises abroad (fictitious capital)

Portfolio investments are capital investments in real or fictitious form, which do not provide the owner of foreign capital with the right to control the activities of the enterprise. According to the IMF, investments are classified as direct if a foreign investor has at least 25% of the company's shares, and according to US statistics - at least 10%.

The loan form of the export of capital consists in granting loans to individual states, cities, banks, enterprises and their associations at agreed interest rates. The source of the loan form of capital export can also be a variety of business entities: states, international financial and economic organizations, banks, corporations, companies.

The advantages of the entrepreneurial form of export of capital in comparison with the loan are determined by: unlimited time of its operation; maintaining ownership of capital; management of the exported capital. At the same time, it should be noted that when using the loan form of capital import, the subject of import has much broader rights regarding its use, disposal and control.

Excluding the above, the advantage of the entrepreneurial form of capital outflow, especially direct investment, is essentially that it is accompanied by the import of new technologies and equipment, foreign experience and knowledge in technical, production and organizational and managerial activities, raising the level of skills of domestic specialists, training and retraining of the workforce.

Indicators of participation in international capital migration

The participation of the country in the international movement of capital is assessed by a number of indicators. It is important to note that one of them will be the volume of foreign assets (investments) of a given country, referred to its GDP (GNP), i.e. share of foreign investment in GDP (I′):

where Izar are the country's investment assets abroad.

Another indicator will be the ratio of the volume of direct investments of a given country abroad and the volume of foreign direct investments in its territory (R p):

where I salary – foreign direct investments of the given country; And in.p. - foreign direct investment in the territory of the country.

If the value of the indicator is greater than one, then ϶ᴛᴏ indicates a positive balance in the migration flows of capital from country to country, if less than one, then it indicates an excess of foreign capital inflow over the export of domestic capital from the country.

The next indicator for assessing capital migration will be the ratio of a country's external debt to GDP or the volume of exports of a given country, i.e. indicator of external debt (E′ ext)

where Zin - the volume of external debt; exp is the volume of exports.

This indicator is important for assessing the solvency of the country in relation to foreign partners, as well as for determining the level of financial and economic dependence of the country and the possibility of pursuing an independent foreign and domestic economic policy.

Changes in the international movement of capital

In the postwar years, new forms of internationalization of capital and production emerged.

Among them, first of all, it is extremely important to single out the export of patents and licenses, know-how, consulting services in the engineering field, and organizational and managerial services. Licensing agreements occupy the largest place in terms of the volume of international transactions. Under ϶ᴛᴏm, initially, traditionally, the transfer of licenses was carried out through intra-company channels of TNCs. However, since the 1970s the share of intercompany agreements (including small firms) of different nationality grew rapidly. Their share in license agreements for the period 1975-1990. increased from 17 to 40%. A variety of licensing agreements will be international "franchising" - agreements that allow an enterprise in one country to use the trademark or trade name of a foreign company, as well as to receive technical assistance, services to improve the skills of the workforce, trade organization and management from it for a fee.

Apart from the above, contracts for technical assistance, marketing services and other intellectual assistance have become widespread. An important place in the export of capital is occupied by contracts (agreements) on the delivery of turnkey enterprises; they are divided into "light" and "heavy". "Heavy" contracts differ from "light" ones in that after the commissioning of the facility, they provide for the further transfer of managerial, technological and production experience, training of employees, and assistance in the sale of products manufactured by this enterprise.

Turning to the trends in the export of capital, it is extremely important to note that in the second half of the twentieth century. Significant changes have taken place in the ϶ᴛᴏ sector. First of all, there was a sharp change in the balance of power in the ϶ᴛᴏth region between the countries - exporters of capital. On the eve of the First World War, Great Britain occupied the first place in the export of capital, followed by France and Belgium. In the mid 90s. Approximately 40% of world financial assets were already controlled by Japanese capital, while American capital was about half as much.

There has also been a significant change in the direction of capital movement. Until the middle of the twentieth century, the bulk of capital was exported to developing countries. The industrialized countries accounted for less than 1/3 of direct investment at that time. At the same time, by the end of the century, the lion's share in the export of capital accounted for the mutual investment of industrialized countries.

The role of the mining and manufacturing industry as a sphere of foreign capital investment has also changed. There was a sharp increase in the share of the manufacturing industry in the total volume of foreign investment and an equally sharp reduction in the raw materials industries.

In the second half of the twentieth century. there was a growing gap between the growth of foreign production based on exported capital and the export of goods. Overall, the ϶ᴛᴏt gap in relation to industrialized countries has increased by about three times.

Closely related to the above trend is another one - the growth of reinvestment, i.e. an increasing part of the profit received from the functioning of the exported capital is not repatriated, but reinvested in the development of production abroad. It should be noted that since the 1980s the share of reinvested profits began to exceed the 50% threshold in the total volume of foreign investment. In connection with the foregoing, it is extremely important to distinguish between the "export of capital", i.e. inflow of investments from abroad, and "investments spent", which include reinvestment.

An important role in the expansion of capital is played by the state foreign economic policy aimed at stimulating investment abroad. A whole system of incentives operates in the ϶ᴛᴏ direction. It is important to note that one of them will be the issuance of state guarantees in case of loss of ownership of capital or damage from unforeseen circumstances. These guarantees are issued for up to 20 years at various percentages of the initial value of the exported capital (at least 70%) and 100% compensation for the loss of reinvested profits.

Another tool to stimulate the export of capital will be financial and credit assistance, which is traditionally provided in the form of soft loans and subsidies. This will be an important help for those companies that wish to make foreign investments, but do not have sufficient financial resources to implement the investment project.

The next way to intensify investment activity abroad is the provision of tax rebates and other benefits from the amounts of foreign capital investments.

Government incentives can be selective. The essence of such a selective policy regarding the export of capital lies in the establishment by the state of certain priorities of its geographical orientation, industry affiliation, and scope of application. In particular, such a policy was typical for France in the 80s - early 90s, the five-year plans for economic, social and cultural development of which contained measures to provide loans to corporations penetrating into the advanced industries of the United States, as well as benefits for overseas activities of small and medium-sized firms.

International labor movement

An independent process in international economic relations will be the migration of labor. At the same time, taking into account the specifics of this resource, which is directly related to the person himself as its immanent component, when considering the causes and conditions of labor migration, not only economic, but also political, social, legal, religious, national, cultural, demographic prerequisites should be taken into account. and consequences.

Causes of labor migration

Without going into the socio-data area of population migration, we will focus mainly on the modern socio-economic causes that cause the international movement of labor resources.

First of all, it is extremely important to point out the cause of the demographic state, with which the surplus population and labor force are associated. It is worth noting that it occurs when the scale and structure of social production does not match the supply of labor. As a result, part of the population emigrates in search of jobs and improvement of its social status to other countries. This is all the more possible as a result of low birth rates and subtle population growth dynamics in a number of countries. At the same time, intensive flows of population migration are already generating socio-political and other problems in countries that receive immigrants. Examples of this are industrialized countries such as France and Germany.

Another reason for the international migration of labor resources is the difference in wage levels, which also causes the flow of labor from one country to another. We are talking primarily about highly qualified workers, specialists, scientific and technical personnel, scientific and pedagogical personnel. Countries from which such resources emigrate play the role of a donor, while countries that receive these immigrants “pump out” resources of the highest quality without spending any money on their formation and preparation.

Moreover, the “vampire” states pursue a rather flexible immigration policy in terms of forms, methods, and timing. The United States and the former socialist countries can serve as a clear demonstration. For example, in the United States from 1990 to 1994. the immigration quota was increased by 1.5 times. This made it possible to "pump brains" from these countries, since the latter began to experience enormous difficulties in financing science, education, culture, professional growth, etc. Moreover, development programs are being imposed on Russia and other countries that provide for a sharp reduction in public spending on social needs under the threat of non-provision of loans. The Russian education system, science and culture have experienced and continue to experience the consequences of "charitable" foreign assistance in the fight against inflation and the formation of a market economy. In our country, many scientific schools have been destroyed, especially in the field of fundamental sciences, the education system has deteriorated sharply, and the level of culture has declined.

Among other reasons for the migration of the labor force, one should mention the cyclical nature of economic development and the structural shifts taking place in the national economy. During economic crises and structural transformations, cyclical and structural unemployment is formed in the national economy. Under these conditions, workers in the spheres and sectors of the national economy, which have an excess of labor force, rush abroad in search of jobs that will provide them with professional training.

We note the fact that in modern conditions a significant role in the migration of labor resources is played by scientific and technical progress and the movement of real capital, followed by a flow of specialists, scientists, teaching staff, engineers, and highly skilled workers. Moreover, in parallel, there is a training of specialists and workers from national personnel capable of performing certain professional functions during the operation of newly commissioned facilities.

It is also necessary to take into account those qualitative changes that occur under the influence of a frontal scientific and technological revolution. The use of new technologies, the widespread introduction of microprocessors and robots sharply reduce the role of human labor in production processes, reduce the scale of labor-intensive industries, which leads to a reassessment of the role of countries with so-called cheap labor markets. The use of fundamentally new technologies can significantly reduce the demand for raw materials, which will put developing countries in front of the problem of foreign exchange earnings and, in particular, the problem of economic growth.

The process of migration of the population in each country is regulated and regulated by its legislation and international legal acts, if they are signed by the state authorities. Two trends can be identified in the legal framework for regulating migration flows. It is important to note that one of them advocates the free movement of labor and population as one of the important conditions for an open economy. The other is associated with restrictions in the field of international migration and the implementation of a policy of protectionism in relation to both immigrants and emigrants. Sometimes it is only unidirectional. Everything depends on many components that determine the specifics of the country, primarily related to the population, the labor market, its structure and prospects for economic development.

It is worth saying that each country develops a national migration policy, which is based on a set of legislative, organizational, financial and other measures aimed at regulating emigration and immigration flows: granting and depriving citizenship or other status of residence in the country, attracting foreign labor resources, creating a system social protection of their workers during their stay abroad, regulation of refugee flows and their social protection.

Regulation of international labor flows

Migration flows of the population and labor resources can be classified in several directions or groups. These are primarily immigrants and non-immigrants admitted to the country in ϲᴏᴏᴛʙᴇᴛϲᴛʙ and with legislation and other regulatory documents governing the process of entering the country.

A significant share in migration is occupied by refugees who become victims of wars, exacerbation of ethnic, interreligious or other relations. According to the UN at the beginning of the 90s. There were about 16 million refugees in the world. The fate of refugees in the expanses of the former Soviet Union is tragic. The unconstitutional abolition of a great power led to the fact that more than 25 million of the so-called Russian-speaking population turned out to be outside Russia, the bulk of whom are Russians. As a result, the number of migrants who have replenished the population of Russia exceeds 6 million people, most of whom can be safely classified as refugees.

Laws and regulations on the regulation of migration flows, having secured the rights of citizens to freely travel, live and work abroad, in the conditions of the political and economic crisis, have become an important prerequisite for the emigration of scientific and technical personnel from Russia. Given the underfunding of the education, science, and healthcare systems, Russia cannot allow the process of “brain stealing” to be extended. It turns out that for decades society has been carrying the burden of ϲᴏᴏᴛʙᴇᴛϲᴛʙ expenses in order to benefit the prosperous countries of the West in the most difficult time for the country. In recent years, thanks to "brain stealing", the United States annually saves about 7 billion dollars in education and scientific activities alone. This is the real economic rationale for the struggle for "human rights".

How politicized the US struggle for human rights is evidenced by their ambiguous and inadequate reaction to the situation of the Russian-speaking population in Latvia and the Kurds in Turkey, as well as to a purely internal affair of Yugoslavia - the situation in Kosovo. In the first case, when the rights of the Russians, who historically cannot but be considered the indigenous population of the Baltic region, are violated, some vague wishes are heard from the United States and no reaction is heard - to the genocide against the Kurds in Turkey, the number of which exceeds 20 million people. In the second case, when an Albanian ethnic group was formed on the primordially Serbian lands, which has much broader rights than the Russians in Latvia, the United States achieved the introduction of severe economic sanctions and carried out aggression against the sovereign state, Yugoslavia.

It is necessary to realize that along with human rights, there are also the rights of the people, society, state, whose interests have always been and should be priority in Rus', especially in the difficult and formidable time of socio-economic upheavals experienced by our Motherland, as well as in the context of a changing geopolitical situation in the world.

Economic integration

It is worth saying - the political and economic nature of integration

Economic integration is a new stage and form of internationalization of the economic life of various countries, expressing a combination of two interrelated processes: the mutual interweaving of economies and the pursuit of a coordinated policy in economic relations between the countries included in this grouping, and in relations with third countries. Therefore, economic integration is a political and economic process to create a single economic space of countries included in the integration group, with a single mechanism for regulating economic and social relations between them.

It is a way and form of resolving the contradiction between national economic isolation and the gigantically grown productive forces that have gone beyond national boundaries. Considering the fact that all processes of internationalization of economic life and the movement of factors of production associated with them require the creation of certain conditions, the adoption of legal norms and the conclusion of political agreements between states, economic integration objectively develops into political integration.

The latter finds its ϲʙᴏe manifestation in the creation of interstate and supranational bodies of control and power. In particular, in European integration - ϶ᴛᴏ the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers, or the Council of the European Union (EU), various kinds of commissions to address certain socio-economic problems of the grouping countries. At the same time, it is a difficult path, since the movement along it affects the most diverse national interests of countries, which can often come into conflict. In addition, the process of political and economic integration in one way or another concerns the problem of sovereignty, independence, self-sufficiency. Material published on http: // site
Therefore, in these matters, countries have to make mutual concessions.

Factors Determining Economic Integration

The main goal of integration will be to provide the most favorable conditions for the functioning of national capitals within the framework of the single economic space of the united countries. Such conditions include, first of all, measures to eliminate quotas and licensing of mutual deliveries of goods. A quota is understood as the allowable amount of goods imported into a given country, expressed in natural or value terms, under licensing - obtaining permission to export certain goods and services to a certain country. Quite often, a license also contains an element of quota.

To stimulate mutual trade, measures are being taken to abolish customs tariffs, i. foreign trade taxation. In particular, in the EU, customs taxation has actually been eliminated, as well as quotas and licensing.

Another condition for the development of integration will be the mitigation and removal of obstacles to the free movement of capital and labor, as well as the free movement of citizens of the integrated countries. Ensuring this condition opens the way to such a migration of capital and labor, which allows not only to eliminate the disproportions of these factors of production in individual countries, but also to form the prerequisites for their more effective interaction in time and space.

At the state and interstate levels, we are talking primarily about the gradual unification of economic policy by the countries - members of the integration group. Excluding the above, at the same levels, a single customs policy (primarily the establishment of a single tariff) in relation to third countries is agreed upon. Moreover, it should be noted that the so-called unified customs policy is selective and differentiated in relation to both entire groups of countries and certain commodity groups, individual goods. There will be both economic and political moments, which are guided by the countries - participants of the integration bloc.

In addition to economic reasons, other factors also influence the process of countries' integration. Among them, first of all, the territorial and geographical proximity of countries, the national characteristics of individual countries and their different positions in the world economy system should be mentioned. The integration of countries allows them to strengthen their economic and political positions in the world community and protect their regional interests. Apart from the above, integration allows the united countries to compete more successfully in the world economy with stronger partners for the spheres of its political and economic influence in the developing part of the world.

At the same time, the deployment of integration processes creates optimal conditions for the organization of large-scale industries oriented to a large regional market, opens up access to various kinds of resources, new technologies, accumulated experience and knowledge in certain areas and industries of various national economies. Integration provides space for solving regional (on a national and integrated scale) acute social problems, primarily employment, social protection, security and guarantees.

The integration association of countries at the same time allows you to create privileged conditions for business entities operating within the economic group, and protect industry, agriculture and other areas and sectors of the national economy from external competitors. Integration enables the united countries to act as a cohesive group in solving emerging international economic, financial, monetary, social, political and military-strategic problems, more confidently defend both national and regional interests, as well as pursue a unified scientific and technological policy, which opens up new opportunities for accelerating scientific and technical progress, access to new technologies.

With all this, integration processes are contradictory. These are contradictions between the national and international interests of the participating countries, national and supranational approaches to solving economic, social and political problems, the foreign economic and foreign policy interests of each participating country, between international groupings and other countries. It is important to consider these contradictions from the standpoint of not only integrating countries, but also all participants in the world economy and the world community. It is no secret that the world is constantly undergoing processes leading to a change in the balance of power in the international arena. Vivid evidence of this are the examples of Japan, China, the Soviet Union (Russia), the countries of the Asia-Pacific region.

By the way, the stages of economic integration

From the point of view of organizational and legal forms, integration in its development goes through several stages. The free trade zone seems to be the most simple form, within the framework of which it will announce the gradual abolition of trade restrictions, the reduction and elimination of customs tariffs for participating countries.

The next stage will be a customs union, in which free trade is supplemented by the introduction of a single foreign trade tariff in relation to third countries and the implementation of a coordinated foreign economic policy.
It is interesting to note that the customs union is often supplemented by a payment union that ensures the mutual convertibility of the currencies of the member countries of the economic group and the introduction of a single unit of account.

These forms of economic integration of countries cover exclusively the sphere of interstate commodity exchange and financial settlements. It is important to note that, however, despite all this, regardless of the goals announced by the integrating countries, they are tested for the seriousness of their intentions by measures to streamline mutual exchange, settlements, and currency conversion. And only then proceed to the implementation of production and economic integration processes.

Economic integration is ultimately focused on creating conditions for the free movement of factors of production, which opens the way to interweaving the production and economic relations of economic entities of the countries participating in the integration group and requires coordination of not only external, but also internal economic policy of the state.

At the final stage of economic integration, countries come to unite in an economic and monetary union, which involves not only the creation of a single economic space, but also the unification of legislative and other legal norms that regulate not only economic activity, but also social, political, humanitarian issues of these countries. With ϶ᴛᴏm, the currency fragmentation of the common market is eliminated by not just introducing a single unit of account, but by abolishing national currencies and switching to a single monetary unit for all countries. It should be noted that the greatest success (so far the only one) in this area has been achieved by the member countries of the EEC, which have already introduced the euro as a single unit of account, and in two years it will replace most of the national currencies of the countries that are members of the union.

Until November 1, 1993, the Western European integration grouping was called the European Economic Community.

Among the major integration groupings, one should also mention the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which unites the USA, Canada and Mexico; Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which includes Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam; Latin American Integration Association (LAI); Economic Community of West African Countries (ECOWAS); Asia-Pacific Economic Community (APEC), etc.

conclusions

1. The limited nature of world trade, the overcoming of protectionist barriers to exported goods, the use of relatively cheap national resources of other countries led to the export of not goods, but capital for the purpose of their production in such countries. If the export of goods embodies the export of value for the purpose of its realization and profit, then when exporting capital, value is exported in order to “create” profit through the production and sale of goods abroad.

2. The export of capital is carried out either in business or in loan forms. In the entrepreneurial form of capital export, it is supposed to be invested in production in order to make a profit. In the loan form of the export of capital, there are credit relations carried out on the basis of loans at pre-agreed interest rates. At the same time, the entrepreneurial form of capital export can be represented by direct or portfolio investments. Direct investment allows you to establish control over a foreign enterprise, while portfolio investment does not provide the right to such control.

3. In the movement of capital in the second half of the XX century. there have been significant changes. If earlier the bulk of capital was exported to developing countries, now a large share in the export of capital falls on the mutual investment of industrialized countries. A structural shift has also taken place in relation to its sectoral orientation: an increasing part of the capital is directed to the secondary and tertiary sectors of social production.

4. Do not forget that the international movement of labor resources with its positive and negative consequences is of great importance. Among the latter - ϶ᴛᴏ, first of all, the "pumping of minds" to the highly developed countries of the world from developing and post-socialist countries. The migration of labor resources is regulated both by international law and interstate agreements, and by national legislation.

5. The highest level of internationalization of economic life is economic integration. It is worth noting that it goes through a number of stages, from the removal of customs barriers to the formation of economic unions with a single currency for the united countries.

An independent process in international economic relations is the migration of labor. However, taking into account the specifics of this resource, which is directly related to the person himself as its immanent component, when considering the causes and conditions of labor migration, not only economic, but also political, social, legal, religious, national, cultural, demographic prerequisites and consequences.

Causes of labor migration

Without going into the socio-ethical field of population migration, we will focus mainly on the modern socio-economic causes that cause the international movement of labor resources.

First of all, it is necessary to point out the reason for the demographic nature, which is associated with excess population and labor force. It arises when the scale and structure of social production do not correspond to the supply of labor. As a result, part of the population emigrates in search of jobs and improvement of their social status to other countries. This is all the more possible as a result of low birth rates and subtle population growth dynamics in a number of countries. However, intensive flows of population migration are already generating socio-political and other problems in countries that receive immigrants. Examples of this are industrialized countries such as France and Germany.

Another reason for the international migration of labor resources is the difference in wage levels, which also causes the flow of labor from one country to another. We are talking primarily about highly qualified workers, specialists, scientific and technical personnel, scientific and pedagogical personnel. The countries from which such resources emigrate play the role of a donor, while the countries that receive these immigrants “pump out” resources of the highest quality without spending any money on their formation and preparation.

Moreover, the “vampire” states pursue a rather flexible immigration policy in terms of forms, methods, and timing. The United States and the former socialist countries can serve as a clear demonstration. For example, in the United States from 1990 to 1994. the immigration quota was increased by 1.5 times. This made it possible to "pump brains" from these countries, since the latter began to experience enormous difficulties in the field of financing science, education, culture, professional growth, etc. Moreover, development programs are being imposed on Russia and other countries that provide for a sharp reduction in public spending on social needs under the threat of non-provision of loans. The Russian education system, science and culture have experienced and continue to experience the consequences of "charitable" foreign assistance in the fight against inflation and the formation of a market economy. In our country, many scientific schools have been destroyed, especially in the field of fundamental sciences, the education system has deteriorated sharply, and the level of culture has declined.

Among other reasons for the migration of the labor force, one should mention the cyclical nature of economic development and the structural shifts taking place in the national economy. During economic crises and structural transformations, cyclical and structural unemployment is formed in the national economy. Under these conditions, workers in the spheres and branches of the national economy, which have an excess of labor force, rush abroad in search of jobs that correspond to their professional training.

In modern conditions, a significant role in the migration of labor resources is played by scientific and technical progress and the movement of real capital, followed by

the flow of specialists, scientists, teaching staff, engineers, highly skilled workers. Moreover, in parallel, there is a training of specialists and workers from national personnel capable of performing certain professional functions during the operation of newly commissioned facilities.

It is also necessary to take into account the qualitative changes that occur under the influence of the frontal scientific and technological revolution. The use of new technologies, the widespread introduction of microprocessors and robots sharply reduce the role of human labor in production processes, reduce the scale of labor-intensive industries, which leads to a reassessment of the role of countries with so-called cheap labor markets. The use of fundamentally new technologies can also significantly reduce the demand for raw materials, which will put developing countries in front of the problem of foreign exchange earnings and, accordingly, the problem of economic growth.

The process of population migration in each country is regulated and regulated by its legislation and international legal acts, if they are signed by the relevant state bodies. Two trends can be identified in the legal framework for regulating migration flows. One of them advocates the free movement of labor and population as one of the important conditions for an open economy. The other is associated with restrictions in the field of international migration and the implementation of a policy of protectionism in relation to both immigrants and emigrants. Sometimes it is only unidirectional. Everything depends on many components that determine the specifics of the country, primarily related to the population, the labor market, its structure and prospects for economic development.

Each country develops a national migration policy, which is based on a set of legislative, organizational and

financial and other measures aimed at regulating emigration and immigration flows: granting and depriving citizenship or other status of residence in the country, attracting foreign labor resources, creating a system of social protection for its employees during their stay abroad, regulating refugee flows and their social protection.

The concept and content of international labor migration of labor force

Labor is one of the main factors of production. Economic growth in a generalized form is characterized by the magnitude of the change in two indicators - an increase in the population and an increase in available resources. The size and structure of the population of the countries of the world, material security, the development of science, education, culture, society, labor reserves and migration - these (and not only these) issues are directly related to the economic growth of countries and the world economy as a whole. Population growth and the dynamics of the number of workers, the quality of their labor functions and the emerging labor relations for centuries served as the main source of economic growth and development of the countries of the world.

Concept, essence. Factors of production, including labor, have the ability to move internationally and thus, to a certain extent, can replace international trade relations. From the material discussed in this chapter, it follows that many important aspects of international labor migration and its consequences are similar to the effects of countries' foreign trade. The labor force moves from countries where there is a clear surplus of it to those countries where there is a clear shortage of it. Such relocation undoubtedly increases the efficiency of the national economy, which uses foreign workers and their labor. This additional labor force expands the output of goods for the world market and at the same time causes the effect of income redistribution, which affects the interests of certain groups of the population.

International cooperation based on the international division of labor is carried out in two main forms:

1) commodity exchange;
2) labor migration.

From the point of view of conceptual understanding of the problem, there is "internal" migration of the labor force, which occurs within the country, between its different regions, and "external" - between two or (and) a large number of countries. Sometimes political emigration is transformed into labor migration, as political emigrants find employment, turning into migrant workers; This is a kind of forced external emigration.

International labor migration – This is the migration of the population of working age from one state to another for a period of more than a year, caused by economic reasons (the intention of employment).

Emigration– departure of the able-bodied population from the given country to other countries; immigration- Entry of the able-bodied population into the country from other countries. "Brain drain"is the international migration of highly qualified specialists.

Re-emigration return of emigrants to their homeland for permanent residence.

Labor migration is a phenomenon that existed even in very distant times. Therefore, it is important to know in what forms and types this phenomenon was observed in previous periods. The forms of social mobility are changeable, but this phenomenon itself is organically inherent in human societies.

According to Pitirim Sorokin, social mobility is the natural state of society. It implies not only social movements of individuals, groups, but also social objects - everything that mankind has created in the course of its activity. Sorokin opposed the theory of classes and for the first time introduced the concept of "economic stratification", implying by this stable social groups-societies in terms of their income and occupation. At the same time, he concludes that the main structural groups, changing only the name, continue to exist throughout the life of all known civilizations, from the deepest antiquity to the present in all systems of states: democratic, communist, dictatorial, etc. "And if, for a moment, some forms of stratification are destroyed, they reappear in an old or modified form and are often created by the hands of the equalizers themselves." Wars and other social conflicts inflict the most powerful blows on these stratification groups, explosively giving rise to flows of refugees. As a result, the age-old traditions of the people quickly break down, the processes of degradation of the structure of the ethnos are formed, and new non-civilizational conflicts arise (Fig. 13.1).

Rice. 13.1.

On fig. 13.1 presents a rather complex structure of modern migration; the concepts presented here contain the motivational reasons for a whole classification group of migrations that are directly or indirectly related to labor migrations.

Common reasons for migrations. The history of mankind knows many major territorial movements, one of which is called the great migration of peoples. At the first stages, the population was removed from traditional habitats under the influence of a complex of reasons, when natural circumstances played a decisive role. Later, a period of endless wars began, when the main form of remuneration for the winners was captured people, destined for sale into slavery. Further, demographic and economic reasons began to play the main role, and in modern times, to a greater extent, economic reasons. A deviation from this rule were two periods of world wars - 1914-1918. and 1939-1945, when tens of millions of people were displaced from one country to another, and the consequences of such movements were no less impressive than in the era of the great migration. At the end of the XX century. in connection with the increasing regional conflicts, regional-international forced migration appeared, which is not related to job searches (this question arises later, when the refugee, having made sure that he is safe and sound, begins to look for shelter and food). These are, for example, migrants from Vietnam, Kampuchea, Chile, Cuba, Haiti, Greece (after the coup of the "black colonels" in the 1950s-1970s), as well as US intellectuals during the time of the fascist Senator McCarthy (late 1940s - early 1950s), etc. – all of them were forced to flee their country of persecution and repression. The military conflicts in Africa and Latin America that took place in the 1960s–1990s resulted in millions of refugees. The ethnic war in the former Yugoslavia, and then the bombing of Serbia by NATO armed forces, became a huge tragedy for millions of people, many hundreds of thousands of them were forced to flee their homeland.

Like a fire in a forest, local conflicts began to flare up, turning into hostilities throughout the USSR (Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, the Baltic States, Moldova, South Ossetia, Ingushetia and North Ossetia, Abkhazia, and finally Chechnya). Military conflicts and the consequences of the collapse of the USSR directly contributed to the fact that about 10 million people became refugees.

New flows of refugees are generated by the NATO operation in Libya.

It should be noted that the basis of post-war international migrations of labor resources are actually economic reasons, and not only the indicated military-political conflicts. International labor migration has brought about major changes in both recipient and donor countries. The changes are multifaceted, so they attract the attention of not only economists, but also sociologists, demographers, and so on.

International migration has become relevant for all countries, peoples and continents. The UN defines migration as "any movement of people across national borders with a change of place of residence for a period of more than 12 months." According to official UN data, in 1994 the number of refugees amounted to more than 24 million people (in 1980 - less than 10 million). In 2010, the number of migrants in the world amounted to about 214 million people; apparently not by chance in the 20th century. called the "age of refugees".

Immigrants from developing countries. Unemployment, low living standards, the desire to escape poverty - these are the main motives for immigration from developing countries to developed regions of the world. Along with the pronounced economic reasons for the mobility of the population, political, social and demographic factors arose and intensified, which in one way or another contributed to the change of residence for a certain time or forever. The degree of their impact varied in developing countries, but sometimes it was very significant.

The mobility of the population should be more associated not so much with density, but rather with its property polarization and the rapid growth in the number of inhabitants of developing countries. A common feature of the poor countries of Asia and Africa, and to a lesser extent the countries of Latin America, is high population growth, which affects all aspects of life in these countries. It is known that from 1950 to 2005 the population of Asia increased by 1.8 billion people, i.e. much larger than the current population of all economically developed countries of the world.

As a result of the population explosion in almost all countries of Asia and Africa, population density has increased markedly and, more importantly, the amount of cultivated area per rural family has decreased. For example, in India for 1950-1995. the size of the land plot has decreased by three times, and in Pakistan since independence - by 2.7 times; in Turkey, per capita rural population in 1950 accounted for 0.7 hectares of cultivated land, in 1960 as a result of the development of previously unused land - 0.8 hectares, then this figure systematically decreased and by 1995 amounted to less than 0.4 hectares .

As the population grows, so does the need for food, housing, cultivated land, water, energy, and jobs. The objective possibilities of such provision of the population are declining. All this gives grounds to assert that the rapid growth of the population of countries is one of the most important reasons for emigration in poor countries. The causes and consequences of the international movement of labor resources are ambiguous, they are constantly studied by specialists in relation to each country (or group of similar countries).

Poverty – the main reason for labor migration. The main reasons for labor migration (with all the importance of other components that we mentioned) is the search for a job that would give an opportunity for a decent life for a person (and his family, if any). In developed countries, there is a certain tendency among specialists to change the situation, country, work, moving, for example, from the UK to the USA, Canada or Australia - or vice versa. But these motives are not the basis of modern labor migration as the most important socio-economic and international phenomenon. The basis of this phenomenon is poverty, so typical for most countries of the world, which are economically underdeveloped countries, where, firstly, the unemployment rate is high, and secondly, even having a job does not always satisfy a person due to poor conditions or low wages.

Therefore, the main source of origin of modern labor migration is economically underdeveloped countries. Moreover, the picture is quite complex. For example, many scientists, analysts, and highly skilled workers leave Russia for Western European countries in search of better living and working conditions. But, in turn, migrants from the former Soviet republics, where these conditions are much worse, rush to Russia in droves. This situation is typical for a whole group of countries, including those in transition, which are developing quite successfully, but still lag far behind the group of developed countries in terms of social parameters.

As we found out, the main reason that people leave the country in search of work is the search for a livelihood. The uneven socio-economic development led to an increase in per capita national income, first in industrial states, and then in oil-producing states (more precisely, exporting oil in large volumes), which gave rise to powerful internal shifts in traditional societies, contributing to their modernization and the formation of motives for moving some people. Of course, national income is also increasing in developing countries, but in many of them it is growing slowly, in contrast to the gap in per capita income levels between the rich and the poor. A low standard of living, sometimes hopeless poverty, is expressed in a low level of consumption, primarily of food, not to mention durable goods. Another group of reasons for migration is predominantly social in nature. The underdevelopment of the local education system, the network of healthcare institutions, uncertainty about the future, dissatisfaction with the primitive way of life - all this contributes to the formation of emigration capital, causes a desire to leave for those countries where living conditions are better. In some cases, specific forms of labor migration can be identified. These include, for example, the movement of young Pakistanis to Oman, where they serve for hire in the army of the Sultan. Another, relatively rare, form can be considered moving for the purpose of marriage. For example, in Germany until recently there were about 500 marriage agencies that supplied meek and obedient brides from Southeast Asia for wealthy men. In conditions of low wages, a weak industrial base, and the impossibility of using the acquired knowledge in the country, many highly qualified specialists in developing and new capitalist countries also prefer to leave their countries. Thus, a migration flow was formed in the field of "brain drain" - the departure from the country of highly qualified national personnel and young promising scientists.

Another reason is the exceptional mobility (or elasticity) of foreign workers, which manifests itself mainly in two cases:

1) when moving from unpromising industries to new, more promising ones. In particular, in all industrial and in many oil-producing states, immigrants worked mainly in the service sector;
2) when faced with the threat of unemployment or deportation, they quickly moved from one country to another, especially since immigrants, having lost their jobs, did not receive unemployment benefits in Western countries until the mid-1980s, and in oil-producing countries even now .

To a certain extent, immigrants contribute to the reduction of unemployment: foreign workers, consuming various goods and services, thereby increase demand. The expansion of production requires additional employment, including through both foreign and domestic labor. As a result, thanks to the labor of immigrants, employment has steadily increased in all recipient countries, while maintaining stable unemployment of both indigenous people and migrants.

Krugman-Obstfeld plot. Based on the general trends in international labor migration (wage equalization, growth in world production, contradictory impact on different groups of the population) as a factor in the redistribution of world labor resources, P. R. Krugman and M. Obstfeld built a graph illustrating the causes and consequences of labor mobility (mobility) (Fig. 13.2).

Researchers of issues of international labor migration, as a rule, refer to the ongoing process of leveling (leveling) the wage levels of the emigrant country and the immigrant country. This conclusion is correct only when analyzing labor migration within the group of developed countries of the world and is in no way confirmed by the facts when it comes to labor migration flows "developing countries - developed countries", if we do not mean the situation in a relatively small group of Arab oil-producing countries, which, however, does not affect the emerging general trends.

The effect of immigration. Clearly, migration flows have a profound and multidimensional impact on the livelihoods of host societies. We note the following areas of influence:

The effect of immigration is largely determined by its scale. According to the UN, the number of US migrants reaches 35 million, followed by: Russia -

Rice. 13.2.

13 million, Germany - 7.3, France - 6.2, Canada - 5.8, Australia - 4.7 million : in Australia - 24%, Switzerland - 19, Canada - 17, USA - 11%;
along with purely quantitative parameters, structural indicators of migration flows are also important, in particular ratio of different categories of migrants. With the exception of a small group of countries (Switzerland, Australia, Portugal and the UK), the share of economic migrants purposefully accepted in accordance with the needs of the economy and the social sphere in total migration flows is small. The vast majority of migrants are still accepted for humanitarian rather than economic reasons. Through family reunification channels, 70-80% of newcomers arrive in the USA, Sweden, and Denmark. Refugees account for about 20% of foreigners living in Norway, France and Sweden. The share of immigrants in Belgium and the Netherlands is even more significant. Such migrants increase the number of dependents and create an additional burden on society;
plays an increasingly important role in modern times level of education and professional qualifications migrants. As a rule, the level of education of immigrants is generally lower than that of local residents. However, in Canada and some countries of Southern and Central Europe, reverse trends have recently been observed: in Canada in 2000–2005. almost 26% of immigrants aged 25–44 had a tertiary education, compared to 20% of natives of the same age. Among newly arrived workers, their share is even higher. In Canada, among immigrants admitted in 2001-2004. permanent residence under the skilled worker program, 46% had a tertiary education, including 15% with at least a master's degree. At the same time, the professional and qualification composition of immigrants is highly polarized, reflecting the current demand for foreign labor and the existence of special programs that, on the one hand, encourage the influx of certain categories of highly qualified specialists, and, on the other hand, provide for their needs in temporary, including seasonal , low-skilled workers for agriculture, tourism, etc. In recent years, the share of engineers, scientists and managers in the EU accounted for about 40% of the newly arrived foreign economically active population, in the US - about 35%. High-skilled migrants tend to bring higher economic returns, go through the process of socio-economic integration more easily and more quickly assimilate the standards of social behavior of the local population, while the reception of low-skilled migrants can have negative socio-political consequences;
relevant question about national composition immigration. About a third of immigrants in Germany are Turks, in France - Moroccans and Algerians, in the USA - Mexicans. The increase in the number of alien ethnic alien population, the formation of ethnic enclaves, the transformation of host societies into multicultural ones sharpen the problems of interethnic relations in them, which is accompanied by an increase in xenophobia and helps to strengthen the position of extremist forces;
the destructive effect of immigration is largely determined by illegal character most of its streams. The number of illegal immigrants reaches, according to some estimates, in European countries from 2.5 to 7 million, in the USA - up to 9-10 million. of all terrorism, worsening of the criminogenic, sanitary and epidemiological situation, etc.

Why migrants are needed ? The reduction and aging of the population, the change in the proportions between its able-bodied and disabled parts are now characteristic of many developed countries. It is expected that in the next 50 years the population of the EU will decrease by about 12%. With increasing life expectancy, one in six people in the EU is now over 65, and by 2050 it will be one in four (perhaps even three), with only 10% of the population aged 65-69 still working. As a result, the economically active population is shrinking. Currently, immigration provides more than half of the demographic growth in the developed countries of the world, and about 90% in Europe. In order to maintain the economically active population in 2000-2050, according to UN forecasts, the EU countries need to receive 1.4 million people annually. In addition, immigration also has a secondary impact on the demographic situation in host countries, due to higher birth rates in many immigrant families, especially in the first years after resettlement. Accordingly, in many developed countries there is an increase in the share of foreigners in the workforce: in Australia it is 24.6%, in Switzerland - 21.8, Canada - 19.9, USA - 15.3%.

The socio-professional component of the labor force is also significantly influenced by immigration. In the context of acute structural professional-sectoral and territorial disproportions in the labor market, it is far from unambiguous. In Western countries, there are both chronic and recurring temporary and seasonal shortages of unskilled personnel needed to perform the hard, dirty, dangerous and low-paid jobs that the locals refuse. For example, in Belgium, immigrants make up half of all miners, in Switzerland - 40% of construction workers, in the USA - 70% of those employed in the agricultural sector.

At the same time, there is a shortage of wage labor in the groups of highly qualified technical specialists and skilled mid-level workers. Thus, in Australia, the shortage of specialists in the field of information technology for 2001-2006. was estimated at 27-35 thousand people.

About 1.5 million foreign-born scientists and engineers (including naturalized migrants) currently work in the US, while there are about 2 million foreign scientists, engineers, managers and technicians in the EU. The highest share of foreigners among highly qualified specialists is observed in the traditional countries of emigration: Australia (25%), Canada (18%) and the USA (9%), which for many decades have been purposefully pursuing a policy of attracting the world's best minds.

The admission of foreign students is also considered as an important channel for replenishing human resources in the scientific and technical field. 5 million students are now studying in developed countries, about a third of them are in the United States. In the context of a decrease in the number of domestic students studying natural and technical disciplines, these countries are showing an increasing interest in foreign students of this profile who complete their studies on their territory, and are making changes to their migration policy to facilitate obtaining work visas for such graduates. In Canada, for example, 36% of foreign students take a course in these disciplines, and in the US, while the share of foreigners among those who received PhD degrees was 22%, in engineering, mathematics and information technology, it exceeded 40%.

The category of the international movement of labor resources is one of the central ones in the system of concepts of the “world economy” as a science. It is narrower than the category of international migration, which covers all flows of people moving between countries.

International labor movement- this is the process of moving across the borders of certain states with a change of permanent place of residence or with the regular return to it of people of working age who have a certain level of education, culture and are socially ready to participate in the production process.

The main theoretical approaches and principles of analysis of this phenomenon do not differ in essence from those that underlie international trade in goods. At the same time, the formation of a global labor market, the ability to freely move this resource from country to country is associated with deeper political disagreements and is subject to more restrictions than trade in goods and services. In the world reproduction process, the international movement of labor resources performs a number of important social functions. It promotes:

international exchange of labor skills, experience and knowledge;

development of the creative potential of people;

· changes in the age and sex structure of the labor resources of countries;

· updating the quality of labor resources of national economies;

· acceleration of social and professional mobility of the world's population.

As a result of the international movement of such a production factor as labor, profound changes are taking place in the structure of national economies, affecting both foreign and national labor. The massive attraction of foreign labor leads to the following quantitative and qualitative changes in the global labor market:

· the world level of income is growing, and, consequently, the global aggregate demand, which affects the structure and production volumes of all national economies;

the global nature of labor is changing, it is becoming more productive and socially protected;

· the global level of softization of the economy is growing, labor is becoming more creative in content;

· the social structure of the world community is changing, the proportion of engineering and technical and highly skilled workers is growing.

International labor migration

An important place in the structure of the international movement of labor resources, which covers all categories of the able-bodied population, is occupied by the international migration of labor. This is a narrower concept that covers social groups of people who have certain professional skills, qualifications and earn income by selling their abilities to work on the labor market (employees). The international movement of labor between sectors of the world economy is carried out in the form of sectoral and professional movement.

The international intersectoral movement of the labor force includes the following forms:

III international cross-industry movement, in which employees who move to work in another country change industry and profession;

III is an international cross-sectoral movement in which employees who move to work in another country change their industry, but do not change their profession.

The international professional labor movement includes the following forms:

International intracompany movement of workers associated with the activities of transnational companies;

Retraining of migrants when moving to another country for a new specialty within the former profession;

Changing the professional qualifications of an employee when moving from one country to another (in developed countries - to a lower one, in developing countries - to a higher one);

Mastering a new profession by migrants.

Each of these changes affects not only the professional fate of a person, but is an additional factor in economic growth for the world economy. The objective basis for these changes is the following differences between countries:

in the level of economic development;

· in the sectoral structure of national economies;

· in the level of professional training and requirements for international convertibility of national diplomas and certificates;

· in the level of technical equipment and organizational management system of national production;

in the level of labor productivity.

The most important economic function of the international movement of labor in the world reproduction process is the ability to optimize the distribution of world productive forces, thereby increasing the scale of world GDP and minimizing production costs. However, the following two factors must be taken into account:

1) the nature of the international movement of labor resources;

2) the way people move from country to country.

By the nature of the international movement of labor resources is divided into:

For irrevocable international migration, in which there is a change of the country of residence;

For temporary resettlement for some fairly long, but limited, often predetermined period;

On the seasonal movement of labor between countries. For example, for harvesting agricultural products;

For pendulum movement. Regular travel to work or study from country to country, typical of the European Common Market.

According to the method of implementation, the international migration of labor resources proceeds in the following organizational forms:

· with the participation of the state and public organizations (at the expense of the state budget and voluntary contributions);

at the expense of national producers;

· at the expense of foreign citizens themselves, without material and organized assistance from any national firms, organizations and institutions;

· illegal migration.

The free movement of people from country to country makes it possible to more rationally redistribute the population over the territory of the Earth, develop new territories and include them in the world economy, remove the social and environmental burden on the territory, and create new markets for products.

In international economic statistics, the main indicators of international labor migration are characterized by the number of "arrival-departure", which consists of individual and collective acts. The unit of observation can be both an individual and a family. The national statistical reports provide the following data:

· the number of people of working age who arrived for permanent residence in the country for a certain period of time, usually one year;

the number of people of working age who left the country for permanent residence in other countries;

the number of foreign labor force and students temporarily residing in the country;

· the ratio of the number of all migrants to the total number and active population of the country.