Social Cost of Migration on Families and Children
Social Cost of Migration on families/children
It is not only now that migration of parents have been prevalent, it has been a long debated topic among foundations that focus on the welfare of the family and of the children. Due to the Philippines’ long history of low unemployment rate, many a family has resorted to migration, that is, looking for jobs abroad so as to support their family in their country of origin. The process of migration, no matter how beneficial to the family income-wise has effects on the family being left at home. Although migration has a couple of positive effects, its negative effects have greater weight as opposed to its positive counterpart.
So far there had been one common purpose for parental migration in foreign countries, that is, to support their families at home. In the last decade, remittances have been the second largest source of income for most families in developing countries. Remittances, not just help support families of migrants but it also contributes to the aggregate strength of the country’s peso value against other currencies. Therefore, migrants do not only help their own families but in the process they become modern heroes of the country. It also “…relaxes the household budget, enables households in developing countries to increase expenditures on health, to invest in the human capital of children reducing labour participation and encourage school attendance” (Rossi, 2008). At a macro-level, it contributes to the decrease of poverty in the country, since there is a huge percentage of unemployed workers who attempt to look for jobs abroad, regardless whether that job is menial work or superior work, as long as it pays well they would be willing to take any job. Based on recent study, because of remittances, children in migrant households complete significantly more grades of school at a given age that do other children (Hanson & Woodruff, 2003). There had been evident effects on the schooling habits of
It is not only now that migration of parents have been prevalent, it has been a long debated topic among foundations that focus on the welfare of the family and of the children. Due to the Philippines’ long history of low unemployment rate, many a family has resorted to migration, that is, looking for jobs abroad so as to support their family in their country of origin. The process of migration, no matter how beneficial to the family income-wise has effects on the family being left at home. Although migration has a couple of positive effects, its negative effects have greater weight as opposed to its positive counterpart.
So far there had been one common purpose for parental migration in foreign countries, that is, to support their families at home. In the last decade, remittances have been the second largest source of income for most families in developing countries. Remittances, not just help support families of migrants but it also contributes to the aggregate strength of the country’s peso value against other currencies. Therefore, migrants do not only help their own families but in the process they become modern heroes of the country. It also “…relaxes the household budget, enables households in developing countries to increase expenditures on health, to invest in the human capital of children reducing labour participation and encourage school attendance” (Rossi, 2008). At a macro-level, it contributes to the decrease of poverty in the country, since there is a huge percentage of unemployed workers who attempt to look for jobs abroad, regardless whether that job is menial work or superior work, as long as it pays well they would be willing to take any job. Based on recent study, because of remittances, children in migrant households complete significantly more grades of school at a given age that do other children (Hanson & Woodruff, 2003). There had been evident effects on the schooling habits of
Bibliography: Antman, Francisca M. 2012. “The impact of migration on family left behind”. International Handbook on the economics of migration. Rodriguez, Edgard R. and Erwin R. Tiongson (2001), ‘Temporary migration overseas and household labor supply: Evidence from urban Philippines’, International Migration Review, 35(3): 709-25. Rossi, Andrea. 2008. “The impact of migration on children in developing countries”. Youth Migration Conference. Silver, Alexis. 2006. “Families across borders: The effects of migration on Family members remaining at home”. University of North Carolina.