Employment Of Migrant Workers Research Articles

Refugees', asylum seekers' and migrants' experiences of finding meaningful work in the Australian construction industry: a Bourdieusean analysis

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to use Bourdieu’s Theory of Capital–Field–Habitus to explore how refugees, asylum seekers and migrants accumulate and mobilise social, cultural, symbolic and economic capital to find meaningful work in the Australian construction industry.Design/methodology/approachThe paper reports the results of a survey of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants who have either successfully or unsuccessfully searched for employment in the Australian construction industry.FindingsThe findings dispel widely held negative stereotypes of about this group by describing a highly capable workforce which could address significant skills shortages in the industry, while concurrently diversifying the workforce. However, it is found that refugees, asylum seekers and migrants face considerable barriers to finding meaningful employment in the construction industry. In circumventing these barriers, education institutions, charities and community-based organisations play an especially important role, alongside friends and family networks. They do this by helping refugees, asylum seekers and migrants accumulate and deploy the necessary capital to secure meaningful work in the construction industry. Disappointingly, it is also found that the construction industry does little to help facilitate capital accumulation and deployment for this group, despite the urgent need to address diversity and critical skills shortages.Originality/valueEmploying Pierre Bourdieu’s Theory of Capital–Field–Habitus, the findings make a number of new theoretical and practical contributions to the limited body of international research relating to the employment of refugees, asylum seekers and migrant workers in the construction. The results are important because meaningful employment is widely accepted to be the single most factor in the successful integration of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants into a host society and the construction industry represents an important source of potential employment for them.

Wages, Inequality and Work Standards in Construction Sector: A Case Study of Inter-state Migrant Workers and Native Workers in Kerala

The state of Kerala is experiencing an influx in migration from the northern states of the country for the past decades. In order to study the present migration trend, the article attempts to analyse the wages, employment and working patterns of inter-state migrant workers. The article also compares the condition of inter-state migrant workers to that of the native workers. This study looks at the types of work that migrant workers are engaged in. It examines the inequality faced by the migrant population compared to the native workers. The study also puts forward how it is important to bring a decent work standard for inter-state migrant workers so that it can reduce the inequality and discrimination faced by them.

The dangers of rationalizing temporary foreign worker programs as a solution to food waste

In this Forum piece, I argue that actors in Canada’s agri-food industry have begun to frame the employment of temporary migrant workers as a remedy to food loss and waste. This discursive shift threatens to further entrench Canada’s temporary foreign worker programs, which have been critiqued as enabling labour exploitation and facilitating the poor treatment of precarious racialized workers from the global South. I detail the limitations and violations associated with these temporary migration programs, and discuss how they have been criticized as neo-colonial tools of the Canadian state. I then discuss the increased policy attention paid to food loss and waste in Canada and other locales, suggesting that this is an emergent environmental issue that is still in discursive flux. As the framing of temporary migrant workers as a solution to food waste gains discursive coherence in Canada, it becomes important to attend to what is centred and what is discarded by this narrative. I argue that this emerging framing invokes a sustainability crisis in order to reinforce the status quo of exploitative migrant labour systems, and that such a discursive move is ethically problematic.

Assembling exits and returns: the extraterritorial production of repatriation for Filipino migrant workers

ABSTRACT Research on the extraterritorial processes of migration governance has developed a strong focus on immigration states’ externalisation management and the diaspora strategies of emigration states. In labour migration, the scholarship on migrant-sending states has largely focused on the systematic processes of recruitment and employment of migrant workers; in contrast, the question of how migrant workers are extraterritorially governed in return has received less attention, despite its importance for understanding migration governance beyond sending country jurisdiction. This paper contributes to this area of research by investigating how migrant workers are repatriated from host countries during disruptions. Using assemblage thinking as analytical lens, I consider repatriation as an extraterritorial, emergent process, shaped by the relations among state and non-state actors, material and technological resources, and the role of street-level actors. Focusing on the case of the Philippines, I draw from over 30 key informant interviews with repatriation actors to examine how the exit stage of the repatriation process is constructed, mobilised and negotiated for Filipino migrant workers, in ways that reveal the possibilities and challenges of migrant protection in host countries. The paper shows how assemblage and street-level analysis can illuminate the different ways migration processes emerge amid disturbances in extraterritorial space.

Revealing the influence mechanism of the service lifespan of residential buildings in China

The total amount of resources and energy consumed by long-lifespan residential buildings (RBs) is far less than that of short-lifespan RBs with repeated demolitions and constructions. This study aims to expand revealing of comprehensive influencing of the service lifespan of RBs beyond the previous approach that focused only on the one aspect of physical conditions with RBs. This study proposed these latent variables (i.e., physical, functional, economic, environmental and social lifespans), which made a better understanding of the service lifespan of RBs. To analyze the influence mechanism of the service lifespan of RBs, an empirical RB's lifespan dataset was established and tested utilizing a two-stage structural equation modeling (SEM) method. The results indicated that: (1) functional lifespan (total effects = 2.15) and environmental lifespan (total effects = 1.46) have an obvious positive impact on the service lifespan of RBs; (2) the influencing factors including structure design, land finance, employment of migrant workers, planning forward, and technical measures have a significant impact in corresponding lifespan dimension; and (3) improving construction technology and guaranteeing land value are regarded as the fundamental extending measure for the service lifespan of RBs. This study complements the connotation of RB service lifespan to a certain extent and further improves the sustainable development theory. Policy implications derived from the results were discussed at the end of the study.

A Comparison of Occupational Safety Perceptions among Domestic and Migrant Workers in Turkey

Due to a lack of stability, there has been an increase in migration from neighboring countries to Turkey since 2012. Hence, with the rising rate of migrant workers, issues concerning the employment and occupational safety of migrant workers have emerged. This study aims to compare the occupational safety perceptions and occupational accident levels of domestic and immigrant workers and to offer suggestions for helping immigrant workers work in a sustainable environment in terms of health and safety. The questionnaire was preferred as the data collection method for the research. A total of 11 questions were prepared to obtain information about the workers, and 25 questions were designed to determine their perceptions of occupational safety, for the 125 immigrants and 937 domestic workers who participated in the study. An independent sample t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and linear regression analysis were used. According to the results of this analysis, the safety perception level of migrant workers is lower than that of domestic workers. The safety perception levels of male, young, and inexperienced individuals are lower than all other groups. Age and education level reduce the occupational accident rate of migrant workers. Conversely, while age decreases the occupational accident level, sectorial experience increases the occupational accident rate for domestic workers. The study also offers some suggestions to boost the health and occupational safety level of immigrant workers sustainably.

City size and the employment of female migrant workers in the service sector: Evidence from urban China

City size and the employment of female migrant workers in the service sector: Evidence from urban China

Migrant Worker Research in the Field of Hospitality and Tourism: State of the Art and Future Perspectives

In recent years, the employment of migrant workers in the hospitality and tourism (H&T) industry has increased considerably. Many migrant workers find jobs in the industry either formal or informal. However, the number of research conducted on migrant workers has been declining. Therefore, it is high time to start the research on migrant workers. This study aims to critically examine the research on migrant workers in the field of H&T and to develop new perspectives for future research in the field. In this context, 25 articles published between 2012 and 2022 were systematically reviewed. The findings have revealed that the research on migrant workers in H&T has not made sufficient progress and that there are still many research questions to be answered. Based on this, 34 research questions have been developed for future research. Considering that there is no review study synthesizing the research on migrant workers in the literature, this study is expected to significantly contribute to the literature.

The influence of non-cognitive ability on the wage of rural migrant workers

PurposeThe study aims to study the effect of non-cognitive ability in human capital on the wages of rural migrant workers in China. The study also examines the mechanisms by which career choice, career development and social capital influence.Design/methodology/approachBased on the new human capital theory, this paper empirically investigates the effects and mechanisms of rural migrant workers' non-cognitive ability on wages using the 2018 China Family Panel Studies database and Stata 17.0 for construct validation and hypothesis testing.FindingsThe results showed that non-cognitive ability has a significant positive effect on rural migrant workers' wages. Subsequently, the mechanism of non-cognitive ability was examined. In further analysis, the study found that non-cognitive ability has a greater effect on the wages of vulnerable individuals (females, low and medium skills) among the rural migrant workers.Originality/valueThe originality of this study is to break through the existing research perspectives, overcome the limitations of scholars' existing research perspectives focusing on the employment and competitiveness of rural migrant workers in China and explore the factors affecting the rural migrant workers' wages from the perspective of non-cognitive ability as a new entry point by combining psychology. At the same time, the study design is more rigorous, avoiding the measurement error of variables.

Family Caregivers as Employers of Migrant Live-In Care Workers: Experiences and Policy Implications

ABSTRACT As policymakers globally recognize aging in place as the preferred option for most adults, there is a growing need to supplement family or informal caregiving for frail older adults with formal homecare services, particularly for those who require 24/7 care due to significant physical and/or cognitive impairment. The core objective of this qualitative study was to explore family members’ experiences in employing live-in care workers, particularly the nature of their engagement and the quality of their relationships with these care workers. Our analysis of semi-structured interviews with 35 family caregivers revealed four themes: 1) challenges in acquiring support and developing dependency; 2) negotiation of roles, responsibilities, and moral dilemmas; 3) shifting emotions between trust and suspicion; and 4) role confusion, expectations, and disappointments. The study suggests that families might benefit from formal guidance regarding fostering and maintaining positive relationships in the homecare environment. This paper provides nuanced knowledge that may inform the development of such interventions.

Remittance and Migrant Workers in Thailand: A Case Study of Parents in Sangke District of Battambang Province

Labour migration is a world phenomenon, and it has also become vital to Cambodian people in terms of remittances. This article examines the perception of parents whose children have migrated to Thailand. The paper examines the contribution of remittances on parents’ socio-economic improvement, with special attention to (a) reasons for migration to Thailand, (b) sectors of employment of migrant workers, and (c) remittances from Thailand and their usage in Cambodia. The study reveals that remittances from labour migration to Thailand are significant for living conditions of parents in Cambodia. The majority of workers migrated to Thailand due to lack of local job opportunities (93.5%), followed by those migrating in search of a decent income or salary (85.5%). There were also other reasons for migration, including household poverty (62.3%). In Thailand, migrant workers are employed in construction (35.5%), food/beverages (30.7%), services (18.0%), and industry (13.8%). They are hired in non-skilled positions, which makes them more vulnerable to exploitation and trafficking. The monthly average remittance was as small as 95.47 US dollars, and it is mostly used to contribute to parents’ living condition. In particular, there is a close relationship between remittances and holding an ID Poor status. It is clear parents with ID Poor status are highly dependent upon remittances. Parents of migrant workers used remittances for food consumption (35.98 US dollars), children’s education (22.05 US dollars), and healthcare (8.45 US dollars). This paper contributes to filling gaps in the literature regarding labor migration, remittances, and the impact on the parents of migrant workers in Cambodia.

LEGAL ISSUES AND ECONOMIC JUSTIFICATION OF EU WORK PERMIT QUOTAS

The interest in the European Union work permit quotas arises largely as a result of globalization and digitalization, while the European Union member states produce more labor services than materials, followed by deviations in labor policies. The main aim of the article is to analyze the work permit policies implemented by the EU and its member states to manage the legal employment of migrant workers, focusing on the existing programs during the last two years. The subject of the study is the outcome of work permit legislation and quotas for third country economic relations with the European Union. The methodology of the research includes the method of descriptive and explanatory study of legal issues of EU work permit quotas, followed by statistical analysis with legal review of the data on the subject. The study is based on the analysis of documents (founding acts, directives, regulations, decrees, etc.) of the EU countries and is focused on the research of the scope of their domestic decisions. As a result, the paper raises and analyzes many important issues of the European Union's work permit quota regulations in times of socio-economic imbalance. The first section of the paper provides an analysis of the legal background of labor migration policy at the EU level. The second section deals with the political and legal work permit measures (quotas) defined by the member states to secure their national economy. The second section is dedicated to the statistical survey of the EU work permit policy in the context of the employment of migrant workers of Ukrainian origin. The hypothesis of the paper is that labor migration is a social phenomenon with a long historical background, while the work permit quota is an annual governmental mechanism established in relevant normative acts of the states. Practical implications are as follows: the conclusions and methodological approaches to legal work permit model, obtained as a result of the study, is considered a tool for national security management of multiplicative risk factors, and is applicable to condense misleading in labor policies of EU member states and in third countries. The value/originality of the paper is revealed by the use of behavioral and economic analysis (in the context of humanitarian crisis in Ukraine). The paper modifies the current situation on execution of regulatory acts within the framework of EU work permit quotas as currently improving measures.

Showcasing the multifaceted aspects of agricultural transformation: The example of mountain oases in Oman.

In the Anthropocene the consequences of land-use transformation on ecosystem services are of growing concern, particularly in fragile areas of mountain agriculture that often represent high nature-value farmland. This study uses a decadal repeated survey approach to analyse the effects of modernisation on oasis systems in the Jabal Al Akhdar region of northern Oman. This rugged mountain region at the north-eastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula experiences a growing influx of regional and international tourists since the opening of a modern highway 15 years ago. In 2007, at the onset of transformation processes, a survey was conducted with all households (HH) located in three major settlements along the 1000-m-altitude gradient of the Wadi Muaydin watershed. The survey was repeated in 2018, including all remaining HH of the three settlements. This longitudinal approach allowed studying the consequences of social-ecological transformation processes on crop and livestock husbandry, agricultural labour use, product marketing, and perception of the region's future by its local residents. Though the village inhabitants are aging and declining in numbers, they still adhere to agriculture, largely because of tradition and identity. Fallowing and abandoning farmland increased over the investigated time span but was paralleled by increased application of agrochemicals and animal manure on fields, purchase of roughage and concentrate feeds for small ruminants, concentration on cash crop and meat production for sale, and increased employment of migrant workers. These indicators of modernisation of oasis agriculture are accompanied by predominantly pessimistic views on future prospects of oasis farming. Commonly perceived problems are shortage of irrigation water and profound societal change. Against these challenges, value chain generation and direct marketing opportunities for local agricultural produce are seen as prerequisites to keep the high nature-value farmland of these mountain oases alive.

7.B. Workshop: Labor migration, the food supply chain and the COVID-19 syndemic: Germany, Netherlands, and the USA

Abstract The agriculture and meat-processing sectors employ, largely, (im)migrant workers in Germany, the Netherlands, and the USA. Deemed “critical infrastructure,” workers in the food supply chain (FSC) were particularly vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 infection due to poor adaptation of policies and practices related to health, immigration, and work. The pandemic has shone a light on preexisting inequalities and risks related to precarious and hazardous work, particularly for (im)migrant workers. We conducted harmonized policy analyses in North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany, in the Netherlands, and in Illinois, USA on measures taken during the pandemic and how they affected migrant workers. These three regions host large businesses in meat-processing and agriculture. They saw significant COVID-19 outbreaks, with widespread health, social and economic repercussions. Public health effects included higher risk for all communities in the region; social effects included local lockdown measures; economic effects included food supply problems, euthanized animals, and financial losses due to the temporary closure of businesses. In our workshop, we will deliver three brief presentations on (im)migration, labor, and occupational safety and health policies during the COVID-19 syndemic in Germany, the Netherlands, and the USA. We present results of our analysis, highlighting similarities and differences between the EU-member states Germany and the Netherlands, on the one hand, and the US, related to the employment and exploitation of migrant workers from the global South/East in the global North/West. We highlight issues to be addressed in future global emergencies. The pandemic has prompted occupational safety and health measures in the FSC. However, agro-industrial sectors in Western Europe and the US heavily rely on precariously employed workers (e.g., seasonal, temporary and/or subcontracted workers). This may impact the extent to which preventive measures “work” for these populations: even when good policies are formulated, information exchange, collaboration, and enforcement by relevant agencies and immigration authorities is critical. Without such cooperation, the realization of stronger social protection of (im)migrant workers is are left to the good will of the employer. Structural drivers in the form of policies related to mobile labor, (im)migration and employment, superimposed on segmented labor markets and discriminatory practices, drove significant morbidity among (im)migrant workers. The following discussion will synthesize insights from the three contexts, and provide an opportunity to brainstorm with workshop participants to facilitate cross-national collaboration on this issue. Key messages • Food supply chain workers are at the intersection of discrimination in health, employment, and migration. • Comparative analysis provides a rich framework to guide management of vulnerable sectors, workers and workplaces during future pandemics.

Personal assistants in England and the factors associated with absenteeism.

Personal assistants (PAs) have become an increasingly important element of long-term care (LTC) in England since the introduction of Direct Payments in 1996 and the Care Act 2014 legislation. The PAs, who are directly employed by social care users, can perform a number of support tasks including vital assistance in activities of daily living (ADL). Internationally these roles would be classed as domestic care work, including the employment of migrant care workers, e.g. in Germany and Austria. High turnover rates and work absenteeism in this market can cause disruption of these important daily activities, causing LTC users to potentially suffer neglect and poorer quality of life. Although there is research on turnover and absenteeism in nursing workforce in hospitals and LTC workers in nursing homes, little attention has been given to reasons for turnover of PAs and even less for absenteeism, which often precedes turnover, in a workforce of over 100,000 people in England. This research aims to fill this gap in knowledge by analyzing the reasons behind the absenteeism of PAs using quantitative methods. We used survey data of PAs in England, exploring the factors associated to one form of absenteeism—sick leave from work. After controlling for a number of factors ranging from job characteristics such as number of hours worked and type of contract, socio-economic characteristics from the PA and their employer, and supply and demand factors at local government region, the findings suggest a number of factors that significantly influenced sick leave, including distances traveled to work and number of PAs employed. Following the analysis, two people with life experience of LTC discuss the findings of the study and how they compare to their experiences of the market for PAs, providing a unique perspective from the people who could benefit the most from improving PA retention and reducing absenteeism.

Reserve army of Ho Chi Minh City: migrant workers in the Ho Chi Minh City's industrial parks and processing export zones under the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT COVID-19 appeared in Vietnam in January 2020. The World Health Organization (WHO) officially announced the Covid-19 pandemic caused by the new strain of Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) around the globe on 1-3-2020. From 1-4-2020, Vietnam introduced social distancing to prevent the spread of the disease in society, affecting every social class, including ‘internal' migrant workers who were often formerly farmers. This paper reports on research evaluating the impact of the pandemic on the internal migrant ‘reserve army of labour' now working in industrial parks (IPs) and export processing zones (EPZs) in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Internal migrant workers make up the majority of employees, at 70% to 85.5% and this article offers a chance to evaluate Marxist categories of work, along with the point of view of the systems and social network approaches, to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic impacts production activities at IPs & EPZs. The paper asks how management of workplaces in the face of the pandemic imposed coping strategies affecting levels of employment and lives of migrant workers at EPZs and IPs. Looking especially at migrant workers' strategies in facing the challenges of the pandemic, the use of Marx’s “floating, latent and stagnant” categories of the “reserve army of labour” is reconsidered on the basis of information from available statistical data and from detailed interviews and observations in the Project “Improving the effectiveness of dialogue and collective bargaining in private enterprise and foreign directed investment enterprises in HCMC” under a grant from the Ho Chi Minh City Science and Technology Development Fund, 2020-22 - HCMFOSTED.

Social Innovation in Home-Based Eldercare: Strengths and Shortcomings of Integrating Migrant Care Workers into Long-Term Care in Tuscany.

Italy is one of the main receiving countries of migrant care workers in Europe. Its migrant-in-the-family model has developed since the 1990s, and, today, home-based eldercare is unimaginable without the work of the almost one million care workers employed in private households, of whom over 75% are migrants. Despite forming one of the most important pillars of eldercare provision in the country, the employment of migrant care workers is not addressed in national policy. However, regional policymaking is far from inactive in the face of growing gaps in care as regions and municipalities play a crucial role in regulating, organising, and providing eldercare. With a focus on comprehensive solutions, cross-sector collaborations, and interactive learning processes, social innovation becomes an important element in reforming eldercare in the context of institutional inertia, fragmentation, and permanent austerity. In what ways are regions using social innovation to respond to challenges in eldercare provision and integrate migrant care workers? This study is based on interviews with experts from the region of Tuscany, which is running the project Pronto Badante (emergency care worker). The results suggest several advantages of local interventions breaking with the institutional silo mentality, as well as ongoing challenges regarding the impact and sustainability of these interventions.

Self-employment and health inequality of migrant workers

BackgroundSelf-employment is one of the most common forms of employment for migrant workers in China. However, migrant workers’ lifestyle and behavior, as well as health disparities among them, would be impacted by self-employment. This research aims to explore the mechanism and group differences of the effect of self-employment on health inequality among Chinese migrant workers.Materials and methodsTo explore the effect of self-employment on health inequalities among migrant workers, this research uses the data from the 2018 China Migrant Workers Dynamic Monitoring Survey, and the RIF-I-OLS decomposition method.ResultsWe find that self-employment will reduce the health inequality of Chinese migrant workers significantly, especially among migrant workers with low education, low income, and low social integration. A further examination reveals that self-employment can directly promote the self-rated health of migrant workers. Additionally, it indirectly alleviates the health inequality among migrant workers by mediating effect of expanding access to public welfare, such as by establishing health records and strengthening health education.ConclusionThe government should permit and encourage migrant workers to engage in self-employment. It is necessary to provide public services such as health education, health records, and health rights for migrant workers, and focus on the employment of migrant workers in city, especially those with low income and low education. we believe that measures should be taken to enhance migrant workers’ sense of belonging in urban China Only on this basis can health inequality among migrant workers be truly reduced.

Constraints and Optimization Paths of Female Migrant Workers’ Employment

The employment of migrant workers has always been a hot topic, and it is a difficult problem that is should be urgently solved in China. Female farmers are one of the most special members of the migrant worker group. Due to the social concepts and their physiological characteristics, female migrant belongs to a vulnerable group in the job market. Under the predicament of unequal basic resources, difficulty in protecting the labor rights and interests, and multiple roles, the living and survival pressure of female migrant workers have become heavier. Therefore, the optimization of the employment of female migrant workers should be initiated. The paper, discusses the issues related to the female migrant worker’s employment.

The Discourse of Self-learning: An Analysis of Japan’s EPA Programme for Healthcare Workers from Southeast Asia

ABSTRACT Japan signed Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam in 2008, 2009 and 2014 respectively, each of which includes a scheme that encourages the movement of healthcare workers into Japan. This scheme has remained a subject of intense scrutiny as a model of continuous employment of migrant workers from Southeast Asia. Applicants are required to complete one year of Japanese language training prior to working at the host institutions, and are expected to sit the Japanese-language healthcare licensure examination within three to four years of their arrival in Japan. This article examines the policy discourse of language learning practices and environments, which are important parameters for ensuring participants’ ongoing employment under this programme. The major finding is that the excessive promotion of self-learning among migrant workers correlates with a lower level of support from host institutions for their language learning. I argue that the Japanese government has shifted the responsibility for resultant negative consequences – such as the institutional burden of on-the-job training and the low exam pass rate – to the migrant workers by encouraging linguistic entrepreneurship.