Due to the increasingly prevalent political unrest, wars and conflicts in numerous regions in the past decades, there has been a steadily rising global trend of population displacement. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) (2014a, 2014b) reported that by the end of 2013 the number of forced displacement has reached its highest record since World War II (51.2 million) in which 16.7 million were refugees and over 12 million were asylum-seekers. Despite minor distinctions between the term ‘refugees’ and ‘asylum seekers’, both terms in this essay are synonymously defined as those who escape their own countries to another as a result of their fear of war or being persecuted on account of races, political visions, religions or
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For the purpose of this essay, ‘prosperity’ refers to economic and social-political well-being of refugee’s receiving countries and that of their residents which is primarily assessed by the level of income, employment opportunities, contentment, social harmony, accessibility to fundamental resources and national safety. In order to ascertain whether the presence of refugees is a threat to prosperity of a host country or not, a number of arguments both favourable and unfavourable need to be evaluated. These arguments are examined based on three major areas which include economic impacts, social benefits and concerns and challenges to national and political …show more content…
The competition for jobs between refugees and locals is considered to be among the most serious problems affecting the locals there. Given the fact that a considerable number of refugees are allowed to reside in the local communities and are generally willing to receive lower wages than the locals, it may lead to the reduction of overall wages and job loss among the locals which potentially exacerbates unemployment rates in the host nations (ILO, 2014; the International Monetary Fund (IMF), 2014; Ongpin, 2009). In the Lebanon for example, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, refugees were responsible for the 60 % reduction of overall daily wages in 2013 (as cited in Masri and Srour, 2013). It is also reported by the IMF (2014) that a significant number of Lebanese who earn their monthly living by working two jobs lose one to refugees who accept lower wages, and the unemployment rates could expectedly reach 20 per cent by the end of 2014. Furthermore, the large flow of refugees which comes together with the international relief workers can influence the inflationary pressure on the host countries’ economies which may subsequently decrease the accessibility of the poor to basic necessities such as housing (Jacobsen, 2002). It is
For the purpose of this essay, ‘prosperity’ refers to economic and social-political well-being of refugee’s receiving countries and that of their residents which is primarily assessed by the level of income, employment opportunities, contentment, social harmony, accessibility to fundamental resources and national safety. In order to ascertain whether the presence of refugees is a threat to prosperity of a host country or not, a number of arguments both favourable and unfavourable need to be evaluated. These arguments are examined based on three major areas which include economic impacts, social benefits and concerns and challenges to national and political …show more content…
The competition for jobs between refugees and locals is considered to be among the most serious problems affecting the locals there. Given the fact that a considerable number of refugees are allowed to reside in the local communities and are generally willing to receive lower wages than the locals, it may lead to the reduction of overall wages and job loss among the locals which potentially exacerbates unemployment rates in the host nations (ILO, 2014; the International Monetary Fund (IMF), 2014; Ongpin, 2009). In the Lebanon for example, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, refugees were responsible for the 60 % reduction of overall daily wages in 2013 (as cited in Masri and Srour, 2013). It is also reported by the IMF (2014) that a significant number of Lebanese who earn their monthly living by working two jobs lose one to refugees who accept lower wages, and the unemployment rates could expectedly reach 20 per cent by the end of 2014. Furthermore, the large flow of refugees which comes together with the international relief workers can influence the inflationary pressure on the host countries’ economies which may subsequently decrease the accessibility of the poor to basic necessities such as housing (Jacobsen, 2002). It is