Throw out the old policy menu hurriyetdailynews.com/opinion/guven-… via @HDNER
The virus has changed the context of our debate. It is no longer primarily about targeting solely the migrants, like improving their skills, but about securing the refugee-hosting economy’s resilience.
It’s not solely a debate about the technicalities of burden sharing (which was not even close to satisfactory to begin with) but also about the nature of burden sharing now.
That is why we cannot continue to modify old policy proposals; we need to be aware of the new context we are in and come up with a radically new menu of policies. Thinking about the most vulnerable parts of our societies would be a good start.
Let me be more specific by focusing on one major mega trend that was here before the virus and will continue to be afterwards: Demographic transition. It has three faces: The aging population in the North, the youth bulge in the South, and migration from the South to the North.
What is more, in the South, migration is also a developing country problem. Today, 87 percent of forced migrants are hosted by neighboring countries, which tend to be developing countries themselves. #WorldRefugeeDay
Turkey is hosting the largest number of migrants, with 4 million refugees inside the country, and many more living under Turkish control inside Syria.
COVID-19 has changed the context of all discussions regarding the labor market integration of migrants in their hosting countries. This is about the virus-induced sudden stop in global economies.
According to a survey conducted in March 2020, in 12 Turkish provinces covering a sample of 3,033 of whom 43 percent were Syrians and 57 percent were Turkish, 32 percent of participants said their job is not at all affected by COVID-19.
Among Turkish citizens, 38 percent said their status of work is not affected by the virus, while this number was at 23 percent among Syrian refugees.
Looking for a more vulnerable group? Only 7 percent of women noted no change in their working status.
With a heavy blow to the economy, the virus has changed the context of the debate on refugees in the labor market. #WorldRefugeeDay
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