Abstract:
The Research Unit on International Migration at the Centre for
Development Studies undertook this study on the request of Department
of Non-Resident Keralite Affairs (NORKA), Government of Kerala.
NORKA envisagaaed that the broad objective of the study should be an
assessment of the impact of global recession on the emigrants from
Kerala.
Its specific objectives are to provide answers to the following questions:
• How many of Kerala emigrants lost their jobs abroad because of
the global recession?
• How many of them returned home due to recession-related factors?
• What are the social and economic impacts of such job losses on
the emigrants, their families and the Kerala economy?
• How their subsequent return to Kerala impacted them, their
families and the Kerala economy?
• What measures can be adopted to minimise the adverse impact
of the recession on the socio-economic situation in the state?
• What measures can be adopted to rehabilitate the emigrants who
have returned as a direct consequence of global recession,
particularly those in low-wage jobs?
These questions are answered in this study by a comparison of
two data panels where information about employment, remittances and
other characteristics have been gathered. The first data panel of emigrants
and return emigrants for 2008 (before the recession) has been compared
with corresponding information for 2009 (eight months into the
recession). The difference between the two sets of data is attributed to
recession.
