Emigration Dynamics in Developing Countries, Vol.IV: The Arab Region

IOM's research project on emigration dynamics in developing countries launched in 1993, brought together teams of researchers in four regions of the developing world: the Arab Region, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean; Sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia. This volume contains results from the Arab Region where one of the most distinctive features of emigration from the region is the complexity of its underlying patterns. Most analyses in the past had tended to focus on one-way or two-way emigration patterns, few had fully recognized the concurrent phases, poles, types and forms of mobility. The research findings emphasize that emigration countries in the Arab Region should adopt an education and training policy that caters for the needs of changing domestic and foreign labour markets. Monitoring and analyzing the labour requirements of receiving countries would reduce vulnerability of the domestic economy to external shocks. It was also recommended that returning migrants be encouraged through management and technical support to invest in small-scale industries.