The Price of Rights:
Regulating International Labor Migration
by Martin Ruhs
(Author)
Many low-income
countries and development organizations are calling for greater liberalization
of labor immigration policies in high-income countries. At the same time, human
rights organizations and migrant rights advocates demand more equal rights for
migrant workers. The Price of Rights shows why you cannot always have both.
Examining labor
immigration policies in over forty countries, as well as policy drivers in
major migrant-receiving and migrant-sending states, Martin Ruhs finds that
there are trade-offs in the policies of high-income countries between openness
to admitting migrant workers and some of the rights granted to migrants after
admission. Insisting on greater equality of rights for migrant workers can come
at the price of more restrictive admission policies, especially for
lower-skilled workers. Ruhs advocates the liberalization of international labor
migration through temporary migration programs that protect a universal set of
core rights and account for the interests of nation-states by restricting a few
specific rights that create net costs for receiving countries.
The Price of Rights
analyzes how high-income countries restrict the rights of migrant workers as
part of their labor immigration policies and discusses the implications for
global debates about regulating labor migration and protecting migrants. It
comprehensively looks at the tensions between human rights and citizenship
rights, the agency and interests of migrants and states, and the determinants
and ethics of labor immigration policy.
