Table 9.1 Main policy recommendations
WHEN MIGRANTS’ AND REFUGEES’ SKILLS ARE IN DEMAND (STRONG MATCH)
COUNTRY OF ORIGINManage migration for poverty reduction

COUNTRY OF DESTINATION
Maximize benefits, reduce costs

BILATERAL COOPERATION
Strengthen match

Strategy. Make emigration part of development
strategies.
Remittances. Leverage remittances for poverty
reduction and reduce their costs.
Knowledge. Work with the diaspora andreturnees to spur knowledge transfers and tostrengthen integration in the global economy.
Skills development and brain drain mitigation.
Expand education and training in skills that are
in demand in both the national and global labormarkets.
Protection. Provide citizens abroad withprotection. Support vulnerable family members
left behind.

Strategy. Acknowledge labor needs. Build aconsensus on the role of migration. Ensure
policy coherence.
Entry and status. Incentivize stronger match
immigration. Ensure migrants have a formal
status and rights.
Economic inclusion. Facilitate labor marketinclusion. Enhance recognition of migrants’qualifications. Combat exploitation and promote
decent work.
Social inclusion. Prevent segregationand facilitate access to services. Combat
discrimination.
Support to nationals. Support citizens who arenegatively affected in terms of employmentoutcomes and public services through social
protection and public investments.

Bilateral labor agreements. Structure andfacilitate win-win movements. Reduce
recruitment costs.
Skills development. Partner to finance thedevelopment of skills that are in demand in boththe national and global labor markets.

WHEN REFUGEES’ SKILLS ARE NOT IN DEMAND (WEAK MATCH, FEAR MOTIVE)
HOST COUNTRYManage with a medium-term perspective and enhance the matchINTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
Share the costs with hosting countries

Institutions and instruments. Mainstream refugee support through line
ministries. Develop sustainable financing frameworks.
Internal mobility. Facilitate and encourage refugees’ movements toward
opportunities.
Self-reliance. Enable refugees to access jobs in the formal labor market.
Inclusion in national services. Deliver education, health, and social services
to refugees through national systems.

Responsibility-sharing. Prevent or resolve situations that cause refugees
to flee. Provide adequate amounts of medium-term financing. Increase
resettlement options. Broaden the base of support beyond current main
contributors. Develop regional approaches.
Solutions. Further work toward “durable solutions” (voluntary return, local
integration or resettlement). Develop innovative statuses that provide state
protection and access to opportunities over the medium term.

WHEN MIGRANTS’ SKILLS ARE NOT IN DEMAND (WEAK MATCH, NO FEAR MOTIVE)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN
Reduce the need for distressed movements

COUNTRY OF TRANSIT
Coordinate with countries of destination

COUNTRY OF DESTINATION
Respect migrants’ dignity

Resilience. Enhance social protection.
Create domestic alternatives to internationalmigration.
Education. Build skills that allow people to havemore options.
Inclusion. Promote inclusive and green
development. Foster adaptation to climatechange.

Cooperation. Work with the destination country
to absorb migrants or return them humanely (forlast transit country).

Respect. Treat all migrants humanely.
Complementary protection. Strengthen thecoherence of the current system to protect
people at risk who are not refugees.
Legal pathways. Shift migrants’ incentives byestablishing legal pathways for workers indemand, including lower-skilled workers.
Enforcement. Manage necessary returns
humanely. Clamp down on smugglers andexploitative employers. Strengthen institutional
capacity to process entries.

MAKING MIGRATION POLICY DIFFERENTLYDATA AND EVIDENCE

FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS

NEW VOICESHarmonization. Harmonize data collection
methods.
Evidence-building. Invest in new types ofsurveys to inform policy making.
Open data. Encourage research by making data
widely available, while respecting migrants’ andrefugees’ privacy.

New or expanded instruments. Develop mediumterm instruments to support refugee-hosting
countries. Provide external support to low- andmiddle-income countries receiving weaker
match migrants.
Enhanced use of existing instruments.
Incentivize private sector engagement.
Support origin countries in leveraging migration
for development. Incentivize bilateral andregional cooperation.

Affected nations. Build coalitions among
countries facing common challenges.
Domestic stakeholders. Ensure participationof a broad range of stakeholders in decisionmaking processes.
Migrants’ and refugees’ voices. Develop
representation and accountability systems toorganize migrants’ and refugees’ voices.

Source: WDR 2023 team.

278 | WORLD DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2023