Economic Refugees

I have been following the problem of economic refugees for some time. Economic exiles are those who have left their own country for economic reasons. This is a general class of people that could even include some expats. Economic refugees are those who have felt the extreme need to abandon their home country for the sole purpose of improving the economic situation of themselves and their families.

Like many articles, I found one that sugarcoats the issue and dwells mostly on the positive economics of this. While many of would lament about poltical refugees or humaintarian refugees and try to do what they could for them, we treat economic refugees with indignation.

One quote from this article stood out:

“Migration creates more migration,” said Ilir Gedeshi, director of the Center for Economic and Social Studies in Albania, whose emigrants have stashed an estimated $14 billion in foreign banks. “It’s a cycle. The next generation has to leave because there are no jobs being created for them here.”

This is truly the biggest problem. Jobs that could have been created have not been because workers have gone abroad and this forces the younger generation to go abroad as well. It severely affects the future economic picture of the country. No where is this more apparent than in the Philippines.