Migrants and systemic resilience : a global COVID-19 research and policy hub (Mig-Res-Hub)

Abstract

The primary aim of MigResHub is to facilitate global and comparative research on how migrant labour shapes the vulnerability and resilience of essential economic sectors and public services to the current COVID19 crisis and to similar (and likely) pandemic shocks in the future, and to discuss the implications and options for future immigration and other public policies around the world. There is little doubt that epidemics and pandemics will happen again in the future, but their effects will depend critically on human action including efforts to improve the resilience of the provision of essential goods and services. The Hub will concentrate on three essential sectors around the world – the food production sector, health services, and social care – and their associated cross-country supply chains. A particular focus will be on exploring how the relationship between reliance on migrant workers and the systemic resilience of the food, health, and care sectors vary across countries with different institutional and policy frameworks for the provision of these essential services. MigResHub will take a global approach and include countries and supply chains covering all major regions of the world.