Migration Transition in Asia: Revisiting Theories in the Light of Recent Evidence

Abstract

The point at which economies transition from being net senders to being net receivers of migrant labor has invariably been attributed in the literature to conditions when full employment is reached. Observers of the Asian experience with migration transition have focused on how integrated labor markets and trade-led development strategies have brought about early transition but closer examination of the experience of Japan, Republic of Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong (China) has brought to light the complexity of the transition and the fact that economic factors only explain a small part of the phenomenon. Political, especially exogenous developments, have in fact been more important in explaining actual turning points in net migration. This paper reviews the findings of research in Asia and what more recent global data on transition reported by the United Nations suggest about the relationship between turning points in migration and various indicators of human development, including educational attainment, income inequalities, levels of urbanization, and per capita incomes.