June 10, 2005

Migration is much more important and transfer fees much less so!

Sir, in today’s editorial, June 10, The Global Workforce when mentioning that it refers to 3 percent of world population you are really underestimating the importance of current migration since, in some countries, more than 40% of their able workforce has migrated. Also you fall into the trap of making a big fuss about financial institutions “creaming” off large commissions on the remittances sent home by migrant workers. Honestly, in the life of a poor migrant these commission are just the smallest of their problems and had many developing agencies not spent fortunes navel-gazing this particular issue, they would have been able to advance much more in solving real problems and in helping to develop know-how about workable temporary legal migration programs. The expensive transfer fees that do not only affect migrants will be taken cared of in time by the time-honored tools of competition and technology.