migrant labour

People who move from place to place to work. Economic or political pressures often cause people to leave their homelands to earn wages in this way, but some families live this way for several generations. As economic development has taken place at different rates in different countries, the supplies of and need for labour have been uneven.

Migrations by migrant workers may be permanent, semi-permanent, short-term and seasonal, or daily.

The improvement in communication links between countries and the freedom of movement of citizens living within the European Union have seen an increase in the number of people moving in search of work.

Since the Great Depression of the 1930s, many families lost land and homes and took to the road. Since the 1960s, unions for migrant farm workers have been formed, principally by Cesar Chavez.

The world's pool of legal and illegal immigrants has been exploited by business and has become an important economic and social factor. Migrants from the Caribbean and Central and South America enter this job market in the US and Canada just as South Europeans and Middle Easterners provide such labor in industrialized northern European countries. Some go home after each seasonal round, while others try to stay and become citizens if possible.