ABSTRACT
The regulation of labour immigration is one of the most important and controversial public policy issues in high-income countries. Many states in Europe and North America have experienced rapid increases in labour immigration over the past 20 years. The current global economic downturn has added further momentum to what in many countries were already highly charged debates about the impacts of rising numbers of migrants on the economic prospects of citizens and on the host economy and society more generally. A survey by the Financial Times in March 2009 showed that over three quarters of adults in Italy and the uk, and about two thirds in Spain, Germany, and the us, supported the idea of sending migrants who cannot find a job home (Fi nancial Times, 15 March 2009).
