Cambridge International AS & A Level Geography Revision Guide

Page 82

Tested

23 State three factors that influence the regional destination of immigrants in OECD countries. 24 How large were international remittances in 2008? 25 Define diaspora. 26 Describe the trends shown in Figure 5.9 27 State three factors that influence ethnic concentration in London.

5 Migration

Now test yourself

Answers on p.216

5.4 A case study of international migration Mexicans to the USA: a major migration stream One of the largest international migration streams in the world in recent decades has been from Mexico to the USA. This has been primarily a labour migration, the result of a very large gap in: l average income l unemployment rates l the growth of the labour force l the overall quality of life

Revised

Labour migration is migration from one country to another when the primary purpose is to seek employment.

About 30% of legal immigrants in the USA and an estimated half of all unauthorised foreigners in the country are from Mexico. Most of this migration has taken place in the last three decades. Table 5.2 summarises the main push and pull factors influencing migration from Mexico to the USA. Mexico is Latin America’s major emigration country, sending up to 500,000 people — half of its net population increase to the USA each year. Most make unauthorised entries. Table 5.2 Factors encouraging migration from Mexico, by type of migrant Type of migrant

Demand-pull

Supply-push

Network/other

Economic

Labour recruitment (guest workers)

Unemployment or underemployment; low wages (farmers whose crops fail)

Job and wage information flows

Non-economic

Family unification (family members joins spouse)

Low income, poor quality of life, lack of opportunity

Communications; transport; assistance organisations; desire for new experience/adventure

Note: All three factors can encourage a person to migrate. The relative importance of pull, push and network factors can change over time.

Early and mid-twentieth century migration

In the early part of the twentieth century the US government allowed the recruitment of Mexican workers as guest workers. Young Mexican men known as ‘Braceros’ were allowed into the USA legally between 1917 and 1921, and then later between 1942 and 1964. Both guest worker programmes began when US farms faced a shortage of labour during periods of war. US farmers were strong supporters of the scheme, but trade unions were very much against it.

A guest worker is a foreigner who is permitted to work in a country on a temporary basis, for example a farm labourer.

The increase in illegal migration l

There was very little illegal migration from Mexico to the USA before the 1980s. l However, high population growth and the economic crisis in the early 1980s resulted in a considerable increase in illegal migration.

Paper 1 Core Geography

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14.4 The management of development

53min
pages 212-224

14.2 The globalisation of industrial activity

11min
pages 204-208

14.3 Regional development

7min
pages 209-211

13.3 The development of international tourism

9min
pages 192-196

13.2 Debt and aid and their management

10min
pages 187-191

11.3 Manufacturing and related service industry

10min
pages 161-164

12.1 Sustainable energy supplies

11min
pages 168-172

11.2 The management of agricultural change: Jamaica

4min
pages 159-160

13.1 Trade flows and trading patterns

10min
pages 183-186

12.4 The management of a degraded environment

4min
pages 180-182

12.2 The management of energy supply

4min
pages 173-174

11.4 The management of industrial change: India

4min
pages 165-167

10.4 Sustainable management of arid and semi-arid environments

6min
pages 152-154

9.1 Hazardous environments resulting from crustal (tectonic) movement

5min
pages 131-133

9.3 Hazards resulting from atmospheric disturbances

6min
pages 137-139

10.2 Processes producing desert landforms

6min
pages 146-148

9.4 Sustainable management in hazardous environments

5min
pages 140-142

10.3 Soils and vegetation

6min
pages 149-151

9.2 Hazardous environments resulting from mass movements

8min
pages 134-136

8.4 Sustainable development of coasts

5min
pages 128-130

6.4 The management of urban settlements

12min
pages 98-104

6.2 Urban trends and issues of urbanisation

10min
pages 89-92

7.3 Tropical landforms

7min
pages 111-114

7.4 Sustainable management of tropical environments

4min
pages 115-116

8.1 Waves, marine and sub-aerial processes

7min
pages 117-120

8.2 Coastal landforms of cliffed and constructive coasts

14min
pages 121-127

6.1 Changes in rural settlements

10min
pages 85-88

6.3 The changing structure of urban settlements

10min
pages 93-97

5.4 A case study of international migration

6min
pages 82-84

4.4 The management of natural increase

4min
pages 68-69

3.2 Weathering and rocks

9min
pages 41-44

4.2 Demographic transition

10min
pages 59-62

3.1 Elementary plate tectonics

8min
pages 38-40

4.3 Population–resource relationships

10min
pages 63-67

5.3 International migration

11min
pages 78-81

3.3 Slope processes and development

10min
pages 45-49

2.4 The human impact

9min
pages 34-37
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