Working with the SEED Consulting team from the University of Virginia is always something that we at FinMango look forward to. This semester, the SEED team has been hard at work researching immigration policy and effects on migrant workers, its challenges, and potential solutions.
Before we dive into their work, we want to extend our sincere thanks to Walter Blessing, Dawson Chitwood, Esme Merrill, and Srimaan Suribhotla for their dedication to this project and thoughtful research. We’d also like to give a special shoutout to Elizabeth Gersch, who served as an invaluable mentor to the students.
The SEED team focused on researching the legal frameworks and social protections for migrant workers in a selection of major destination countries and assessing how these regulations impact the working conditions, safety, and overall well-being of migrant laborers.
This research was done in support of FinMango’s Climate Migration Trend Scanner Project.
Here are some of their key findings:
In South America, the massive quantity of migrant workers leads to rampant wage discrimination and an underpayment of migrants that can work. This has helped several large industries like oil and gas, but created a massive crisis.
In North America, much of the immigration policy in the United States is highly malleable and highly partisan with most immigration coming from Central and South America. In Canada, immigration is mainly coming from Europe and South Asia with a generally positive view of immigrants as crucial to the labor market.
Europe faces a high volume refugee crisis, creating migrants with little to no verifiable work background. There is racial and national tensions and a strong belief in "us first systems" with a dependence on cheap immigrant labor.
In the Middle East, migrant workers are subjected to labor laws that do not adequately protect them (lack of protection against employer abuse, passport confiscation, etc.).
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For those interested in learning more, you can delve into the team’s final deliverable, accessible through this link.
We'd like to extend our deepest thanks once again to the SEED team and Elizabeth Gersch for their impactful work this semester. We are excited to see how their research will help inform projects like the Climate Migration Trend Scanner.
About SEED Consulting: SEED Consulting is a social impact consulting group comprised of over 50 students at the University of Virginia. In affiliation with the McIntire School of Commerce and Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, their goal is to support the training and professional development of members. Since 2006, they have provided dozens of clients, for-profit and non-profit, with management consulting and strategic advisory services. Learn more.
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