“Export of labour through temporary migration is increasingly recognised worldwide as a pro-poor export strategy with significant development impacts in the poorest countries. Developing countries with excess labour, high levels of unemployment and underemployment, have positioned themselves to maximize benefits from labour exports because of the tremendous economic benefits from exports of labour. These countries have enacted policies to encourage temporary migration, institutionalised labour export mechanisms, established regulatory frameworks and undertaken bilateral and regional initiatives to enhance labour exports. However, the situation in Africa seems to have remained mixed. Whereas many countries on the continent have aggressively promoted labour exports and received sizeable amounts of remittance inflows, many others seem to lack a deliberate effort to promote labour export. Although many countries on the continent,
especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, are characterised by excess labour and significant levels of underemployment and unemployment, few or no initiatives have been
undertaken to systematically promote labour export and benefit from the remittance flows.
This study set out to examine the extent to which the export of labour could be used as a tool to mitigate the level of unemployment and underemployment through a deliberate export strategy.”
