By Agence France-Presse The flow of job-seeking immigrants to rich countries keeps rising despite a recent economic slump in many of the world's wealthiest nations, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said Jan. 21 in its latest study on the issue. Foreign workers, especially women, the young and the elderly, nonetheless remain vulnerable to poor working conditions, the OECD noted in its annual Trends in International Migration. "The economic downturn in some OECD countries has not affected the upward trend in international migration which began in the mid-1990s," the report said. "Record numbers of people are moving to many OECD countries in search of jobs and to join their families," it added, identifying the United States, Austria, France and Switzerland as nations that had admitted between 15% to 25% more migrants in 2001-2002 than in 2000. "The United States admitted more than a million permanent immigrants in 2001 and 2002," the report said. "Southern European countries, Canada and New Zealand also saw sharp increases in their immigration flows following recent regularization programs. Only Japan, Korea and Northern Europe saw smaller increases." Labor-related migration increased across all categories, including skilled workers, seasonal employees, trainees, working vacationers, multinational corporate staff transfers and cross-border workers. Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2004
