The welfare gains from increasing cross-border labour mobility are likely to be several times larger than those from complete trade liberalisation, offering significant benefits to migrants, receiving, and sending countries. This panel outlines the case for international labour mobility, summarises the lessons learned from the first year of Australia’s new Pacific Labour Scheme, and provides an overview and initial assessment of recent recruitment reforms in Papua New Guinea.

Panellists:
Farah Hani, Senior Policy Analyst, Labor Mobility Partnerships team, Center for Global Development

view presentation slides

Danielle Heinecke, First Assistant Secretary, Pacific Operations and Development, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Dr Matthew Dornan, Senior Economist, World Bank

view presentation slides

Chair:
Dr Ryan Edwards, Senior Policy Fellow, Development Policy Centre, The Australian National University