Remittances and the Caribbean Experience Regional Seminar on Migrants’ Money Remittances: An Alternative for Latin America and the Caribbean? SELA and CAF Caracas, July 26-27, 2004 Elizabeth Thomas-Hope University of the West Indies Mona, Jamaica

Country Total Remittances ( millions of dollars) Mexico9,920 India*9,160 Philippines6,366 Egypt2,911 Turkey2,786 Bangladesh2,104 Jordan2,011 Dominican Republic1,982 El Salvador1,925 Colombia1,784 Top Ten Remittance Recipients Among Developing Countries, 2001 *The data for India is from 2000 Source: International Monetary Fund, Balance of Payments Yearbook 2002, Migration Information Source.

Country Total Remittances, as a percentage of GDP Haiti*24.2 Jordan22.8 Nicaragua16.2 El Salvador14 Jamaica13.6 Dominican Republic9.3 Philippines8.9 Honduras8.5 Ecuador7.9 Guatemala3.1 Remittance Dependence of Selected Countries, 2001 *Remittance levels for Haiti are as estimated by the Inter-American Development Bank. Source: International Monetary Fund, Balance of Payments Yearbook 2002; Migration Information Source; World Bank, World Development Indicators 2002.

YearJamaicaMexicoDom. Republic Official Worker Remittances Received in Selected Labor-exporting Countries

YearJamaicaMexicoDom. Republic Sources: International Monetary Fund, Balance of payments Yearbook (various issues Cont’d

Assumptions ? That one can predict volume of remittance flows will be positively associated with: volume of out-migration ? volume of return ?

Immigrants Admitted to the United States By Country of Birth Source: US Immigration and Naturalization Services Statistical Yearbook of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1997

Caribbean Immigrants admitted in the USA (selected years) Caribbean 115,35188,19896,489 Dom.Rep. 42,19517,53622,604 Haiti 20,32422,36420,268 Jamaica 25,01316,00014,898 Trin. & Tobago 6,740 6,660 5,771

What are the trends in out-migration and return migration? Take the case of Jamaica, for example, remittance flows have been increasing even though volume of emigration and return have been decreasing.

Return Migrants to Jamaica ( ) * * *

Percentages of Return Migrants to Jamaica by country of last residence (totals for ) UK43% USA39% Canada11.9% Others 5.8%

Important questions in understanding the association between volume of remittance flows and migration patterns What type of migrant remits most ? at what stage(s) of the migration cycle ?

What types of migrants/stage in migration cycle remit most/least ? Retired persons ? Persons in the labour force on return – Long-stay; short-stay; transnational Unskilled/low level skilled, high level professional; student…..

US FARMHOTELTOTAL WORKERS 2002 MONTHMM F T January-March214,841238,864142,444381,308596,149 April-June352,625796,766782,7361,579,4401,932,127 July-Sept1,223,6661,452,8731,839,5673,292,4404,516,106 Oct-Dec2,015,382909,1591,328,9812,238,1404,253,522 TOTAL3,806,5143,397,6624,093,7287,491,39011,297,904 REMITTANCES (US $) TO JAMAICA FROM THE U.S.A. Of Occupational Category and Sex of Worker (2002) Source: Jamaican Ministry of Labour and Social Security Statistical Bulletin 2002

Amount received equivalent JA $ Percentages of households receiving remittances monthly Below Over Distribution of Remittances Received Monthly Rio Grande Valley sample, Jamaica (2002) Ishemo, 2004

Remittance Category % receiving Monthly % receiving Occasionally Cash7426 Foodstuff1090 Clothing0100 Total persons=431 Source: Ishemo, 2004 Household Remittance Receipts Rio Grande Valley sample (2003)

Percentage of ExpenditureHouseholdFarm Related < 25% 6%19% 25-50%4% 9% > 50%46%16% Total sample = 431 Source: Ishemo, 2004 Household Expenditure of Cash Remittances Rio Grande Valley sample, Jamaica (2002)

The Jamaica Gleaner

Return Professionals to Jamaica Financial Transfers and Financial Security Returning professionals in this study did not remit or transfer substantial sums of money from their previous country of residence to Jamaica either prior to their return or subsequently. Only 20% of the persons in the study indicated that they transferred what they regarded to be relatively large sums at the time of returning.

Return Professionals to Jamaica Social Security / Pension Payments Almost 50% the number of persons in the sample population would be entitled to social security payments from the country of their former residence abroad and or state pension when they reached retirement age, even if they remained in Jamaica until they retired

Return Professionals to Jamaica Investment 82.9% of the Sample currently tended to invest in Jamaica more than they did abroad

What is the nature of transnational households ? Eg. All the returnees of a sample of high level professionals to Jamaica held a Jamaican passport, in the main because of their sense of, and commitment to, ‘being Jamaican’ 58% had dual citizenship and held a passport of another country as well as a Jamaican passport (others held a Green Card for the USA)

What are the other incentives/ disincentives to the sending high levels of remittances ? –The environment in the host and especially in the ‘home’ country - eg: –Liberal financial sector –Attractiveness for investment –Attractiveness for return (security/health & educational services)

Implications Policies for optimizing remittance flows and development impact must be based on the development of high confidence levels and a liberal migration environment: the identification of effective incentives geared to the different migrant/return migrant target groups. These would include – financial incentives, investment opportunities eg in health, education & welfare, - security.