Asian labour mobility: new dimensions and implications for development

The author "argues that the rise of organized labour migration has introduced a new structural feature in the international labour market.... This new factor....contributes to making labour supply highly elastic during upswings in demand for expatriate labour....[and] makes for inelasticity during periods of weakening demand because of its 'stockpiling effect' on labour supply." The impacts on migrants' wages and on the labor forces of labor-exporting countries are considered. The focus is on Asian labor migration to the Middle East. Separate comments by M. Irfan and Nadeem A. Burney are included (pp. 378-81).