Sassen

By Saskia Sassen

The majority of the contemporary European public would seem to be dead set against immigration, fearing they will be swamped by floods of immigrants they don't really need and cannot accommodate.

And yet contrary to popular perception, Western Europe does need, and will continue to need, increasing access to foreign workers -- for high-tech jobs, for global financial positions, and also for a proliferation of low-wage service jobs and other manual work.

There is nothing new in this. Europe has for some time acknowledged the existence of shortages in specific occupations -- notably nursing, nannying and the high-tech industry -- and created legal channels for bringing in overseas workers to make up those shortages.

In fact this need to draw on foreign workers has been part of the unwritten history of Western Europe -- specifically northwestern Europe -- for the last two centuries. During this time the region experienced short-lived periods of labor surplus, followed by longer periods of acute labor shortage accompanied by massive recruitment efforts.

Immigration into Europe has never simply been an indiscriminate one-way flow from poverty to wealth, as many opponents would have it.

On the contrary, migrants from particular cities and regions in one country tend to gravitate towards particular cities and regions in another, drawn by invisible ties of culture, economics and history.

Such movement of people is, and always has been, a highly differentiated process. It doesn't just involve people seeking permanent settlement. There are many who are only seeking temporary employment and who want to circulate back and forth.

There is now a growing presence of immigrants who are not searching for a new home in a new country; but rather who think of themselves as moving in a global labor market.

When they are allowed to circulate freely in this way, many prefer to retain a permanent residence in their country of origin and only work a few months in the destination country.

We know, for instance, that some of the Polish women now employed as cleaners in Germany favour using easily available three-month visas to do this work before returning to their hometowns. This is also the case with some of the African migrants in Italy.

The number of immigrants seeking to become permanent residents in a host country is thus considerably smaller than is often suggested.

Another important point to note is that immigrants, whether permanent or temporary, still only account for a tiny minority of a host country's population, except for very small countries such as Switzerland and Luxembourg.

A further issue has been raised by globalisation: Is it possible to have closed national labor markets in an era of global economics?

The answer would appear to be no. Globalisation brings with it a need for more flexible cross-border labour circulation. The World Trade Organization, for instance, as part of the liberalisation of international trade, has adopted measures that facilitate cross-border circulation of professionals in finance, telecommunications and other highly specialized services.

Only by recognising these factors can Europe's governments formulate a clearer and more realistic policy towards immigration. This will, in turn, help create a more flexible labor market, dissuade human trafficking, reduce exploitation and minimise the impact of illegal immigrants on the indigenous labour market.

Saskia Sassen is professor of sociology at the University of Chicago. Her books include "Guests and Aliens" and "The Global City 2001."

Stephen Dearden argues for the CON side