Correspondents' Correspondence West Europe's Guests

...Correspondents' Correspondence BRIEF TAKEOUTS OF MORE THAN PERSONAL INTEREST FROM LETTERS AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED BY THE EDITORS Western Europe's Guests Geneva To achieve more than a modest rate of industrial expansion, Western Europe must keep open its doors to large numbers of foreign laborers, according to an authoritative study published here recently by the United Nations' Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) "If the experience of West Germany and Turkey can be taken as a basis for general conclusions," the study asserts, "the migration of workers within Europe has brought substantial economic benefits to both the sending and receiving countries " But several nations that are experiencing an economic slowdown have lately been trying to reverse the influx of "guest" workers—who together with their families currently number at least 13 million in the nine European Economic Community (EEC) nations, where native unemployment has climbed to well over 6 million...

...The report, prepared by the ECE secretanat for a meeting on the development of international trade, first reviews the 15 years ending in 1975, and finds that unfilled jobs in West Germany, the test case, far exceeded the unemployed other words, that the labor force did not come close to the optimum level In addition, it dismisses the commonly held notion that foreigners are less productive than natives Analyzing West Germany's future requirements, the study concludes that "the achievement of even a modest but stable growth . could lead to a substantial increase in the demand for labor It would be unreasonable to expect more than a modest rate of expansion unless the country is willing to arrange for a large labor force by opening its gates wide for immigrant labor " The authors suggest that it would be in Western Europe's interests for its immigration policies to provide the manpower that export-guided expansion would need The ECE study reinforces an earlier finding of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that immigration restrictions are likely to increase, not decrease, unemployment This is because the resulting labor shortages in a few sectors of the economy would cause a sharp drop in output, and consequently in available jobs The presence of immigrant workers in Western Europe has social implications as well as economic ones In West Germany, where the total with dependents is 4 millions guests (another 1 4 million dependents—who are entitled to residence rights—are still expected from abroad), they have become a large and seemingly permanent cultural entity, and the situation is similar in other countries Originally expected to stay strictly for the duration of their jobs he dirtiest and least remunerative work, scorned by nativeshe foreigners have proved highly reluctant to leave despite the decline in job opportunities But this should not surprise EEC manpower planners, since conditions in the workers' home countries in Southern Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean ardly compare to Western Europe's even during a severe recession Nonetheless, the foreigners' current circumstances present an embarrassing conflict with the European ideal of liberal democracy Apart from Britain's Irish and Commonwealth immigrants, they lack all political power And the OECD has found the immigrants' children, while officially natives of the country of their birth, are still likely to inherit the inferior social and economic status of their parents The Community is therefore promoting various modest proposals for a gradual sharing of political rights with resident foreigners, at least on a local level It also wants all countries to follow West Germany's lead, and allow them to bring in their families Both efforts are being doggedly resisted by several member governments, some of them intimidated bv increasingly vocal extreme Right-wing political movements that seek the compulsory repatriation of foreigners Judging from the findings ot the ECE, however, the countries ot WeMun Europe mav soon be needing their guests more than the other around —Thomas Land...