ABSTRACT
The chapter examines the labour policy reforms in OECD countries, especially since the world financial turmoil in 2008. While making a critical and comparative review of the regulatory reforms, the chapter also analyzes its implications for developing countries like India. The review focuses on the US, which is the foremost destination for international labour migrants. As the chapter reveals, while the broad immigration trends in the OECD region turned negative since the economic crisis, several countries also experienced an upward trend. The US appears quite restrictive and trade-discriminatory with respect to labour migrants, whereas most other OECD members follow relatively favourable policies towards temporary workers, especially the highly skilled. Countries like Canada have a liberal policy posture, even in the case of the less skilled. Indeed, the labour migration flows into the US have historically been moving in accordance with the changing economic conditions and foreign policy considerations of the country. A detailed enquiry into the admission and stay conditions in the US reveals that the country follows a discriminatory policy stance, based on the skill and nationality of the immigrant. Overall, the article pinpoints the role of interest groups like huge capitalists/MNCs and other political and strategic considerations in shaping the labour migration policies of advanced countries like the US which are hesitant to accept more immigrants, especially the less skilled, from developing countries like India. Hence, preferential or bilateral arrangements could at least be an interim solution to overturn the current gridlock.
