The influx of Mexicans to the United States stops

Through this article of the New York Times, Douglas S. Massey, co-director of the Mexican Migration Project at Princeton says that interest of Mexicans go to America to seek a better job had fallen to its lowest levels since 1950. Also for the first time in 60 years, net illegal migration has gone to zero and is probably negative. Perhaps these results are reflected in the increase of 4 million people in the Mexican census of 2010. The article describes the possible reasons for this stagnation.

Ibero-American Multilateral Agreement on Social Security

The Ibero-American Multilateral Agreement on Social Security will provide social security benefits to immigrant workers in signatory countries. The Agreement aims to ensure pension minimum coverage to 611 million people. Currently countries who have signed Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Spain, Paraguay, Portugal and Uruguay. On May 1, the Agreement entered into force in Spain, Brazil and Bolivia allowing workers in these three countries benefit from the agreement. Complete note here.

Labor supply shocks sensitivity in migration

The paper "Birth Rates and Border Crossings: Latin American Migration to the U.S., Canada, Spain, and the UK" examines the migration of 25 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to the United States, Canada, Spain and the UK. According to the authors, migration to the United States is sensitive to labor supply shocks, while the migration to other countries studied is insensitive to these shocks.

Migration and Social Security in America

The Inter-American Center for Social Security Studies (CIESS), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the Organization of American States (OAS) presented on November 24, 2010, through a videoconference, the book Migration and Social Security in America. It aims to reveal the situation of migrants living in America in relation to social security in order to find solutions and develop public policies to facilitate the access to social security. For more information access this link.

Seguro Popular in the United States

Through the Health Window of the Mexican Consulate migrant workers´ families will be able to join the Seguro Popular. The Health Window will begin in the Mexican Consulates in Denver, Sacramento, Chicago, Washington, and San Diego. Families will be able to get information on prevention and treatment of chronic degenerative and transmissible diseases, thereby reducing the burden of these diseases and the economic impact on service provision. To access more detailed information click here.

Migration from Spain to the Americas

The figures on migration from Spain to the Americas show some "surprises".

• The South Cone is the definite destination of the Spanish today (nearly half a million).


• Mexico, Canada and the US have really low numbers (around 150 thousand).


• Venezuela is an attractive destination for the Spanish, with 167 thousand.

Migration and social security in Canada

The Conference Board of Canada's chief economist stated that inmigrants will be needed to keep the rate of growth of the labor force and the dependency rate of the defined benefit pension system. He argues, this is the only way out to maintain the sustainability of a pension system composed of an aging population with low fertility rates. See the complete note here.

Effect of migration on productivity

A recent paper by paper by Giovanni Peri finds that immigratin promotes task specialization, higher productivity and higher incomes. His evidence says that a 1% increase in the share of immigrants in a the state population in the US increases incomes by 0.5%.

Global Crisis: estimates for Latin America worsen

A report published by the World Bank estimates that Latin America will suffer in 2009 a strong impact on its economy with an estimated contraction of 2 to 2.5 percent, these numbers mean that the World Bank made pessimistic prognosis than it did in April in which the estimation fall between 0.5 and 1 per cent. The organism estimated that by 2010 there will be an expansion of 2 percent, but that the recovery will be slow and uneven. According to the report, the global crisis will impact in different areas (see figure below).

The good news is that the World Bank sees the crisis as an opportunity for Latin America, because this crisis could cause the region to develop much faster.

OAS workshop on migration

The Department of Social Development and Employment of the OAS has published the summary of the workshop on migration. It took place in Quebec a few weeks ago. The link is:

http://www.sedi.oas.org/ddse/english/cpo_trab_quebec.asp