If political pressure became strong enough, rich countries might decide to squeeze foreign labour whatever the economic price.
Foreign students tend to tolerate poorer working conditions, and the supply of cheap, brilliant, foreign labour also keeps wages down.
"The aim is to restructure the economy away from dependence on the foreign labour force, " says Credit Suisse's economist Mr Wan.
BBC: Singapore: Economic slowdown opens foreign labour debate
It will take more than first-rate facilities, which is why a liberal business environment is being fostered, alongside an openness to foreign labour.
ECONOMIST: The emirate has too much to lose by being a security risk
To stem the widespread use of cheap foreign labour, the government forced companies to fill at least 30% of their positions with Saudis.
Malaysia has always relied on foreign labour: its substantial Chinese and Indian minorities first arrived in the country in colonial times to work in its tin mines and rubber plantations.
When production is outsourced to a foreign country (a growing trend in recent years, including in the service sector), present statistical procedures lead to an underweighting of the foreign labour incorporated in imports.
But there has been anger both from the people being told to leave - some after many years - and from employers in sectors such as construction, who say they need the foreign labour.
In seasonal work and construction, cheap foreign labour can depress wages and make it harder for the low-skilled to find work, but the flexibility and willingness of new workers can also boost productivity and encourage innovation.
But according to John Salt and James Clarke of the Migration Research Unit of University College London, who have pulled together a lot of the numbers on labour flows, a striking change in the sources of foreign labour is taking place.
Labour foreign affairs spokesman Douglas Alexander said the latest allegations showed that rules about lobbying needed to be reformed.
Mr Hague seems genuinely to think he can score party points by portraying it all as a Labour foreign-policy fiasco.
Former Labour foreign secretary Lord Owen said Mr Kennedy had his flaws but he had made a key contribution to the Northern Ireland peace process.
He will follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, Labour foreign and home secretary Herbert Morrison, who was High Steward of Hull from 1956 to 1965.
The country did have high tariff barriers in the 19th century, but it also cheerfully imported foreign capital and labour to finance and build the westward expansion.
David Miliband, the former Labour foreign secretary, has lobbied for a heart-surgery unit in Newcastle to survive the implementation of an NHS review of children's heart-surgery provision.
The weekly session of Prime Minister's Questions was dominated by foreign affairs with Labour leader Ed Miliband focusing all his six questions on events in Egypt and the UK's mission in Afghanistan.
Writing in the Times, former Labour foreign secretary David Miliband warns that the UK cannot afford five years of "suspended animation" and that referendums are often "boltholes for leaders who feel weak".
The Lib Dems say pursuing a wholesale renegotiation of the UK's membership will cause uncertainty and deter foreign investment while Labour claim Mr Cameron's approach is being driven by party calculations rather than the national interest.
Also in The Times, former Labour foreign secretary and SDP leader David Owen, calls it the speech of a "party leader, not a prime minister - it contains not one single idea and is all about British exceptionalism".
At another time, a brainy left-winger interested in foreign affairs might well have entered the Labour Party and become foreign secretary or secretary of defence.
To cap it all, a new investment law lets foreign contractors bring in labour from abroad but export all profits.
ECONOMIST: Iraqis are worried that outsiders are getting too many jobs
Labour Party Foreign Secretary Mr Henderson was awarded his prize for his efforts to bring about international disarmament in the run up to WWII.
Multinational firms are a lot more productive than purely domestic ones, according to economists Rachel Griffith, Stephen Redding and Helen Simpson, in a working paper for the Institute for Fiscal Studies and there is some evidence that operations owned by foreign multinationals have higher labour productivity than those owned by British multinationals, partly because they invest more.
This means open in their economies, eschewing protectionism, welcoming foreign investment, running flexible labour markets.
And they applauded his comment that Labour's foreign policy should be "based on values, not just alliances".
Shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander said Labour did not not support the status quo in Europe and changes were needed.
Campaign groups like Migration Watch argue that the majority of jobs created by Labour went to foreign workers, leaving the proportion of unemployed Britons little changed.
For Labour, shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander said the European Central Bank (ECB) should be the lender of last resort for the eurozone and "does need to be delivering more fire power".
But Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander said Labour had been "entirely consistent" since July in arguing for a real-terms cut and played down uneasiness in his own party's ranks over being forced to file through the voting lobbies with right-wing Conservatives.
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