This article examines value creation among Pakistani waste laborers in an informal street market in Hong Kong. Framing waste as latent value, it explores how domestic waste (electronics, appliances, household items) is revalued through processes of collection, sorting, and resale. Often marginalized, these ethnic minority workers are central to transforming waste into tradable goods and sustaining informal transnational networks. Introducing the concept of the “embodied waste laborer,” the article highlights their agency in reshaping the value of waste and challenging ethnic stigma, reframing it not as a sign of marginality but as a vital resource that affirms their roles and supports community resilience.

This study investigates gender differences in remittance practices among migrants in Japan, focusing on motivations, behaviors, and financial inclusion outcomes. Using Principal Component Analysis (PCA), we identify eight thematic subgroups based on underlying patterns in factors like socioeconomic background, financial service familiarity, and migration stage. Findings both affirm and challenge conventional views, revealing that while women overall prioritize savings, men are more motivated by altruism and family support. By examining these interactions, we offer new insights into how gender roles evolve in different migrant contexts, enhancing our understanding of the complex drivers behind remittance practices and financial inclusion.

This paper examines the factors motivating scientists and engineers to return to India after working in information technology and biotechnology companies in the United States of America (USA). Drawing on a qualitative study, the findings reveal that decisions to return are influenced by family considerations, career opportunities, entrepreneurial aspirations, challenges associated with immigration to the USA, and an affinity for Indian culture. Conversely, migrants who choose to remain in the USA cite superior career prospects, favorable work environments, and a high quality of life. Despite their differing choices, both returnees and stayers actively maintain transnational professional relationships with scientists and engineers in the USA and India, respectively, fostering connections across borders.

This article focuses on anti-immigrant attitudes in the three largest receivers of immigrants in Southeast Asia—Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. We found that the two dimensions of attitudes we analyzed—attitudes toward immigrants and immigration—have differing predictive power in the three countries, suggesting that they are rooted in distinct local concerns. Overall, the study found that people’s concerns regarding competition for jobs generate negative attitudes. These worries can be traced in each of the three countries, yet they do not always translate into social animosities, something that complicates findings from earlier studies on resentments in the region.

Drawing on government statistics and in-depth interviews with owners and directors of 21 migrant worker sending companies in Indonesia, we identify three types of migrant worker sending companies that engage in and facilitate Indonesia’s overseas labor placement—the providers, the pioneers, and the protectors. We argue that in a changed labor-sending context, only those sending companies with strong and positively received identities and practices can sustain their businesses and succeed in recruiting workers, indicating a shift in relationships between labor intermediaries and migrant workers, as well as the role of intermediaries in shaping Indonesia’s labor-sending patterns.

This article tackles the scarcity of knowledge on Asian immigrants in Sweden by examining the employment level among immigrants from nine Asian countries of origin (Japan, China, South Korea, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan) that comprise 90 percent of the Asian population in Sweden, in relation to the native majority Swedes and other immigrants. Our analysis confirms studies from other contexts that show complexity and heterogeneity among Asian immigrants and their segmented experiences. The results also show similar and differentiated patterns of employment integration for Asian immigrants compared to other immigrants, specifically related to their gender and countries of origin.

This paper examines the labor market integration of skilled Pakistani migrant women in Australia by drawing on qualitative data. It explores how the intersections of human, social and cultural capital hinder their labor market participation. It further investigates the redevelopment of these capitals to secure professional employment. We argue that the job-seeking experiences of these women are complex due to their mismatched human, social and cultural capital, resulting in intersectional disadvantages in the Australian labor market. It is concluded that skilled migration programs must be accompanied by labor market integration policies that acknowledge the difficulties faced by skilled migrant women.