Internal Migration and Development

In discussing the differences between the migration of the internal Chinese migration compared to the international migration of the Poles to UK, I will look at a variety of push and pull factors. I will then go on to look at the impacts to both the area from which these immigrants left as well as the area that they went to.

Firstly I will discuss the push and pull factors relating to the immigration seen internally in China. The migration is voluntary and from rural villages (where there is very little employment and a poor standard of living) to the constantly expanding big cities such as Shanghai. It is important to point at that this is nearly always a temporary migration as the migrants generally have the intent to return within a few months. The migration is of working aged adults who leave their children in the rural villages being looked after by the grandparents. The main reason for this migration is certainly an economic reason.

There is nearly always work in cities such as Shanghai in areas such as building and working in factories. The jobs pay very badly and working conditions can be poor. The reason for leaving there children to work in this environment is in the aim of getting a better quality of life for them and their children. It is easily arguable that this is the main economic reason that not they themselves benefit from the migration but their children.

I will now go through the Polish migration to the UK. This was an international and voluntary migration. Like the Chinese migration the reasons are mainly economic. However in contrast people do have jobs in Poland however wages are very low and people want to raise their standard of living. More money can be made in better conditions and less time in British jobs. The difference is so great that people the Polish workforce in Britain are often overqualified for the jobs that they obtain and are still paid more than they would be in jobs they are qualified for back in the UK.

Also similar to the migration seen in China the Poles want their children to lead a better life from the move. However their goals differ slightly in that the Poles aim for their children to lead a more materialistic life from the migration. EU freedom to migrate and get work acts as a pull factor. This is due to the simplicity of the move. It also means that people are more likely to get work and not be discriminated against. Towns with a history of locals excepting migrants (such as Peterborough) mean that people are more inclined to move as they do not have a great fear of prejudice.

The most obvious affect that the migration in China has on the areas from which the migrants left from is that children left with grandparents which in turn means that the dependency rate is extremely high. Money is sent back to these villages from the parents however they visit back home to these villages relatively rarely. On returning to the villages the parents will often bring goods such as TVs and they often bring fireworks to celebrate their return. So to a certain extent their goal to improve the quality of lives for their children is achieved.

In contrast the impact in Gdansk was that women had many more opportunities to work due to the lack of males in the population. The country now has much more migrant Labour from countries like Korea and Lithuania to help with the lack of a workforce in Poland. Poland are now sending officials to the UK in and attempt to bring people Polish people back to places in Poland such as Gdansk.

In looking at the impacts on the countries receiving the migrants in China it is clear to see that overcrowding is a major problem in cities such as Shanghai. An underclass seems to be developing in the major urban areas of poor illegitimate workers with a lack of options and without a real chance of their situation changing any time soon. Discrimination is also apparent in the Cities due to the local workers not willing to be paid what the migrant workforces are. However the cities are expanding extremely quickly and this is simply due to the cost of the manual labour.

With the Polish migration many more police are certain school workers have to be bilingual. The Poles do contribute to the economy in the UK as they pay tax and often open shops or businesses which can employ British people. Many industries are now reliant on the migrant workforce such as Stanford Stands simply due to the cost and often efficiency.