Indians going to work abroad make a 120% income gain: World Bank Report

LONDON April 27: Indians going to work overseas make a 120% income gain compared to a 40% rise in case of internal migration, the World Development Report has estimated.

The report, released on Tuesday, has estimated that low-skilled Indians migrating to the US stand to gain the most as they would see a jump in income of nearly 500%, followed by UAE at almost 300%.

Video: Why Countries May Start Competing for More Migrants

While the gains are much higher for highly skilled workers, like tech workers migrating to Silicon Valley or doctors, even low-skilled workers experience multi-fold jumps. Apart from the skills, the gain also depends on age, destination and language ability.

The report titled Migrants, Refugees and Societies noted that apart from skills, other factors including destination, language ability and age also play crucial role in deciding the income. The gains for highly-skilled workers such as engineers or doctors are much higher, however, low-skilled workers are also finding themselves in having multi-fold jump in their income.

“Migration leads to large wage increases for most people whose skills and attributes are a strong match with the needs of the destination society. These gains often exceed what could be achieved in the country of origin, even from internal migration to relatively better-off locations. The gains are so large that at current rates of economic growth it would take decades for the average low-skilled person working in some countries of origin to earn the income they achieve by migrating to a highincome country. These gains are then shared with families and communities in the countries of origin through remittances,” the report said.

The study found that there are 184 million migrants around the world with around 37 million refugees. It categorised the migrants into four types – Refugees with skills in demand, economic migrants with skills that match with demand, distressed migrants and refugees. India-US, India-Bangladesh and India-GCC have been considered among the top migrant corridors.

The WDR further noted that the migration comes at a cost for people moving countries in search of employment. Indians moving to Qatar spend their two months’ earnings on an average to meet the migration cost. Similarly, the cost is a little higher to settle in Kuwait. A Bangladeshi migrant will have to spend approximately nine month.

The study found that remittances of some countries contributing to large migrant population including India have increased. Indian migrants in the UAE send around 70% of their income to their family.