The Decline of International Migration as an Economic Force in Rural Areas: A Mexican Case Study 1

Since 2000, and especially since 2007, there has been a reduction in the importance of international migration and remittances in major global sending regions as a result of recession in receiving countries, anti-immigrant policies, and improvement in economic opportunities in origin countries. A household survey in five rural communities in Zacatecas, Mexico, in 1995 and again in 2009 exemplifies these trends. Among youthful adults likely to have first migrated in the decade prior to each of these years, there was a significant drop in the proportion of active migrants. Among the active migrants, stays abroad became longer and more permanent, and their households exhibited fewer remittances, less family business ownership, and fewer local purchases, in 2009 compared to 1995. Finally, non-migrant households greatly improved their economic status in relation to migrant households over the period, reaching approximate parity with their migrant counterparts.

Remittances channeled into some of the most backward regions and countries of the third World are … likely to play a continuing role locally. [They] are safety nets for poor regions left behind by the agglomerative behavior of international capital, by the preoccupations of the international community with other matters, and by the indifference of their own governments (Jones, 1998).