Introduction

In the international migration of labour has become increasingly widespread throughout the world. Expanding international trade in labour has developed into a significant feature of the world economy. For many developing countries remittances from citizens temporarily working abroad has become a major source of foreign exchange and has contributed to the reduction of trade deficits. Consequently one is confined to synchronous data concerning the actual sample of investigated units. Concerning the past, one has to rely on the memories of the respondents, life histories and material from informants as well as documentation. As to the future, one can propose qualified speculations only. Colombo has by far the largest share of the migrant workers to the Middle East, although the total share has been decreasing. In 1981 Colombo sent 50% of the migrants (men and women), whereas the share in 1984 was 35%.