Labour Export Research Articles

The Making of a Periphery: A Response

AbstractThis rejoinder is part of the round table discussion on the book The Making of a Periphery: How Island Southeast Asia Became a Mass Exporter of Labor. It pays tribute to the development economist and Nobel Prize winner Arthur W. Lewis, who studied the predicaments of plantation societies. The rejoinder addresses critical observations made about the above-mentioned book by Elise van Nederveen Meerkerk, Pim de Zwart, Corey Ross, and Alberto Alonso-Fradejas. It underscores the importance of the role of demography and long histories of labour coercion to explain processes of peripheralization and mass emigration. It also points out the limits of classical development economics, namely a relative neglect of the ecological damage attending plantation exploitation. The commodity frontier approach is suggested as a way to address this shortcoming.

Labor Demand and Export-Oriented Industrialization of Bangladesh

This thesis based on the findings of a study on labor demand and export-oriented industrialization in Bangladesh at the time of 1992-93 to 2016-17. For this persistence, secondary data from different sources (BBS, WDI, EPB, BER, WB, BB, etc) for the time duration 1992-2017 has been composed and analyzed through econometric tools. The test approves that the disturbance terms are normally distributed. To detect that the data suffer from multicollinearity, heteroscedasticity, and autocorrelation problem, the diagnostic test has been adopted. From the diagnostic test, it is detected that while the data were free from heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation problems, however, the data suffer from severe multicollinearity problem. The multi-collinearity problem is removed using remedial measures. The Unit root test has been detected to test the stationarity of the composed data. Among different unit root test, ADF-test is adopted. The test displays that the data are stationary at the first difference level for export-oriented industrialization and the second difference level for labor demand. The Johansen co-integration test is adapted to test whether the data are cointegrated at any level. The test results approve that six variables are cointegrated on labor demand and one variable cointegrated on export-oriented industrialization. The Granger causality test under VAR (Vector Autoregressive Regression) framework displays the variable has a unidirectional causal relationship with the dependent variable where all independent variables lead, and the dependent variable follows. However, these relationships have found a statistically significant positive impact of labor demand and export-oriented industrialization in Bangladesh. Thus, there is a dynamic relationship between domestic labor demand, export, and economic progress in Bangladesh.

Foreign Population: Guidelines for Studying Migration in Thailand

This article aims to explain the migration factors of the foreign population in Thailand. The migration concepts and the approach of studying the foreign population in the present Thai society found that the migration factors consisted of the need for economic security, life, good quality of life for oneself and one's own family, marriage with a foreign spouse, leisure travel, safety in life and property, seeking business opportunities, access to property and property owners, changing lifestyle, and extending savings for investment funds. As for the guidelines for studying the foreign population, there are three frameworks to consider, which include: (1) the origin, (2) the way to the destination, and (3) the destination. The origin is the study of migration decisions, factors, and objectives. The way to the destination considers the travel process, facilitating travel according to the legal system of the origin country, and labor export policies. Finally, the destination is the study of personal and official networks, relational and contact mechanisms of the community, and lifestyle of the people in the community, including the local impact of the destination country.

Operation ‘Bring Them Home’: learning from the large-scale repatriation of overseas Filipino workers in times of crisis

ABSTRACT In crisis events such as wars, natural disasters and epidemics, migrant workers are among the hardest hit and most vulnerable to displacement, unemployment and the loss of income. The coronavirus pandemic has drawn attention to the role of sending states in protecting labour migrants during disruptions, particularly by returning them to countries of origin. This article highlights the understudied aspect of repatriation, which needs to be unpacked as a process involving actors, policies and practices that shape a sending state's capacity for migrant protection. Through data and document analysis, the article examines the Philippines' experience of repatriating Filipino migrant workers from host countries during crises, focusing on three points. First, institutional and legislative policies configure repatriation in the Philippines' migration system as a process of facilitated return and assistance. Second, past crisis events show how the government's large-scale repatriation efforts adapted to specific situations, but also faced challenges with operational and resource capacities. Third, repatriation in the COVID-19 crisis suggests that a critical post-arrival phase of assistance remains underdeveloped. The discussion reveals the uneven approach of the sending state, which has built a comprehensive system of labour export, but a less coordinated repatriation system and an less fortified reintegration policy.

Digitalisation and the Performance of Micro and Small Enterprises in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

This study examines the effects of internet use, as part of digitalisation, on the performance of micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in Yogyakarta province. Using primary data on MSEs in Yogyakarta, the paper exploits conceivably exogenous variations in the cellular signal strength that MSEs receive to connect to the internet, once number of local cellular transmitters, location topography, local building and infrastructure development and sectoral characteristics are controlled. The findings show that internet use has enabled MSEs to engage in the digital economy and has improved labour productivity and exports. The associated monetary benefit due to internet use is substantial for local people.

Labor exports from Palestine to Israel: a boon or bane for the West Bank economy?

Abstract This article analyzes the effects on the West Bank economy of temporary Palestinian employment in Israel, using a new database and a computable general equilibrium model. The results show that Palestinian employment in Israel increases household incomes but distorts the operation of the West Bank labor market and increases domestic wages. Employment in Israel increases the real exchange rate of the West Bank leading to “Dutch disease” effects that inhibit the development of the West Bank economy. A decrease in the number of Palestinian workers in Israel reduces household welfare, and constraints on the West Bank economy restrict domestic absorption of the extra labor. Hence, the Palestinian National Authority may seek more labor exports to Israel. This article contributes to the broader discussion on the effects of migration policies on labor-sending economies by demonstrating the nontrivial benefits from labor migrations, but that these benefits come with costs. This article explores policy options for offsetting those costs.

ДЕМОГРАФІЧНА БЕЗПЕКА В СУЧАСНОМУ УЗБЕКИСТАНІ

The article considers the current demographic situation of Uzbekistan in the aspects of demographic security. This is an urgent line of research, covering the concept of demographic security, a comprehensive analysis of the demographic situation, highlighting the main phenomena and trends that could pose potential threats to the demographic development of the population of the republic. The purpose of the article is to characterize the situation with demographic issues in Uzbekistan. Subject of study. Theoretical and practical aspects of the demographic situation of modern Uzbekistan regarding globalization and its trends. The methods used in the study: a systematic approach, structural logical and statistical analysis, synthesis, generalization. The hypothesis of the study involves the use of the approach of determining the demographic crisis in the context of globalization. Statement of the main material. The studies revealed that, despite the relatively favorable state of the demographic situation, certain potential threats and risks to demographic security were outlined in Uzbekistan. Originality and practical value of the study. Preventive measures are proposed for the qualitative development of the demographic situation and to prevent the development of negative trends in the future. Conclusions. Two main directions for solving the demographic problem are proposed. The first is to curb the scale of labor migration by expanding employment opportunities in places of permanent residence. The second is the achievement of more effective interstate cooperation: the introduction into practice of modern forms of organized export of labor, the strengthening of integration processes in the labor markets and social protection of migrants.

LANGUAGE NEEDS ANALYSIS FOR WORKING ABROAD: A CASE-STUDY IN THUA THIEN HUE PROVINCE

Needs analysis is the first essential step of designing a language curriculum [26]. Needs analysis provides a mechanism for obtaining a wider range of input in the contents, design, and implementation of a language program. The process identifies general or specific language needs so that they can be addressed while developing goals, objectives, and content for a language program. In this study, we aimed to explore the language needs analysis for labor export. We regarded foreign language for labor export with a view that all decisions in instructions are based on the learners’ reasons for learning. As a case in point, we studied the language needs for labor export of laborers in Thua Thien Hue province. A task-based needs analysis approach [17] was utilized due to its methodological cogency. 45 laborers who were working abroad participated in our study. Five were interviewed and 40 were surveyed to elicit the foreign language needed for everyday life tasks and occupational domains. The results outlined export laborers language needs in regards to everyday survival (i.e. language at the supermarket, hospital, etc.) and vocational tasks (i.e. understanding employer’s requests, interacting with customers/clients, etc.). The findings of this study inform the design of an English language curriculum for labor export and serve as the basis for reviewing and evaluating existing language programs for labor export. The research also affords implications for future designs of task-based needs analysis.

Trabajadores desplazados, mano de obra barata en Europa

El artículo analiza la movilidad intraeuropea de los trabajadores que, en virtud del principio de libre circulación de servicios, van de un país (origen) a otro/s (destino/s) para realizar una actividad durante un periodo de tiempo determinado. Aborda las tendencias recientes de esta migración temporal, los factores que la impulsan y su distribución geográfica, y las condiciones laborales de los trabajadores desplazados. La información utilizada procede de los informes y datos publicados por Comisión Europea y de los resultados de investigaciones que diversos autores han llevado a cabo en diferentes países.
 La movilidad geográfica aumenta de forma acelerada en toda Europa, lo que se debe, entre otros factores, a la normativa que regula el desplazamiento de trabajadores, a la ampliación de la Unión Europea hacia el Este y a la crisis económica iniciada en 2008. La mayor parte de los trayectos cubren distancias cortas y tienen lugar entre países occidentales, donde se concentra la oferta de empleo. No obstante, la demanda aumenta con mayor intensidad en los países de la periferia sur y oriental, que destacan como exportadores de mano de obra.

Export incentives, domestic mobilization, & labor reforms

There is a complementary relationship between export incentives and domestic mobilization in improving workers’ rights in global supply chains. Governments will repress labor in order to boost export competitiveness; resistance is then sporadic, ineffective, and dangerous. If governments anticipate economic rewards, they may reduce labor repression; but domestic activists must simultaneously mobilize for substantive reforms. I demonstrate this by exploiting within-case variation in Bangladesh and Vietnam, showing what happened before the introduction of export incentives; in their presence; and after they subsided. Vietnam liberalized labor laws in order to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership; and Bangladesh did likewise in order to salvage its reputation after Rana Plaza. Activists became less fearful once Bangladeshi politicians had announced reforms. They registered unions, demonstrated en masse, and secured a 77% increase in the minimum wage. In Vietnam, party reformists were crucial in persuading their conservative colleagues that TPP would help strengthen the regime’s hold on power, while pushing for genuinely independent unions. This paper explicates the synergies between export incentives and domestic mobilization by connecting protagonists’ motivations to macro-level reforms, via process-tracing and in-depth qualitative research.

“We Want Your Nurses!”: Negotiating Labor Agreements in Recruiting Filipino Nurses

Nurse migration is a significant global issue that necessitates the cooperation of host and sending states. Cooperation enables countries to collaborate on shared solutions to confront global nurse imbalance that threatens health systems. While cooperation allows countries to collaborate, some states are cautious to cooperate while others participate actively. This article examines the bilateral labor negotiations between the Philippines and the following host countries: Canadian provinces—Saskatchewan (2006), Manitoba and Alberta (2006–2008), and South Australia (2008–2009) to demonstrate how bilateral parties negotiate agreements in hiring Filipino nurses. Drawing from negotiation analysis, it argues that bilateral negotiations that fulfill two necessary conditions‐ (i) participation of nonpartisan technical expert and (ii) history of previous interactions—facilitate successful negotiations that ultimately lead to labor cooperation. This article concludes by explaining how negotiation analysis uncovers the advantage of labor‐sending countries like the Philippines in successfully securing agreements that promote labor export to achieve economic growth.

Weathering the storm: weather shocks and international labor migration from the Philippines

The environmental migration literature presents conflicting results: While some research finds that natural disasters induce international migration, other work discovers a dampening effect. We construct an innovative longitudinal provincial dataset for the Philippines, a country prone to natural disasters and a major exporter of labor. Using a comprehensive list of weather shocks, it is possible to identify major channels behind those conflicting findings. Filipinos are more likely to work abroad when they experience less-intense tropical cyclones and storm warnings but are more likely to stay when very intense storms occur or are forecasted.

Impediments to free movement of Chinese seafarers in the maritime labour market

With economic reform, in China, labour turnover of seafarers became more possible. However, little attention has been paid to its consequences. A limited literature indicates that Chinese seafarers may leave state-owned enterprises to become freelance seafarers, working in the global labour market for better wages and employment conditions. There have been predictions of a substantial increase in seafarer export, with China becoming the top labour supplier to the global maritime industry. However, such expectations have been largely unmet. Through 157 qualitative interviews with seafarers and managers in Chinese ship crewing agencies, we explore some reasons why this may be so. The findings suggest that Chinese seafarers are in fact limited in their willingness and ability to leave their companies. This is due to a complex mixture of organisational, regulatory, infrastructural and personal contexts that are their everyday experience of work in China. Analysis further suggests that the underdevelopment of a national regulatory infrastructure and welfare support mechanism for seafarers, along with poor implementation of the Maritime Labour Convention 2006, combine to limit the extent of the reform of the Chinese seafaring labour market. Together, these factors help to explain why China’s seafaring labour export has been far lower than anticipated. JEL Codes: D40, E24, F66, J61, J83

Organizing against all Odds: Filipina chambermaids in Copenhagen, 1970s–1990s

ABSTRACT This article traces the history of Filipina workers in Copenhagen hotels from the 1960s-1990s, including the relations between Philippine labour export practices and Danish ‘guest worker’ recruitment, the work conditions of Filipinas in Copenhagen hotels, and the political strategies and organizing practices of the Danish trade union for hotel- and restaurant workers [HRF] along with the self-organizing of Filipina chambermaids. The ‘immigration stop’ adopted by the Danish state in late 1973 was not so much an end to labour migration from so-called third countries as it was a re-configuration of the conditions for labour migration. Consequently, the practical integration of migrant members was central to transforming the Danish hotel- and restaurant workers union (HRF) into an activist organization which pioneered in the Danish trade union movement taking the task of organizing migrants seriously.

China’s Foreign Aid to the Middle East: History and Development

As one of the important components of China’s Middle East diplomacy and overall foreign aid, Middle East states have received aid from China since 1954. While the research in this regard is fragmented to a certain extent, the problem of interpretation has become more and more controversial. This paper attempts to review the history of China’s aid to Middle East states through the integration of research data, through three stages of division and analysis of typical forms of aid. This paper finds that the medical teams of foreign aid sent by China in the 1960s and the labour export in the 1970s were developed from the practice of China’s aid to the Middle East states and then extended to other regions. In the early 21st century, China further strengthened its technological cooperation and human resources development cooperation with Middle East states in the new era of rising economic status. This article finds complexities in the role of Middle East states in the field of international aid and the dynamic changes in actual aid needs, due to the lack of authoritative information on relevant regions, total amount of country aid and the amount of funds for each type of aid, as well as the deviations in definitions of ‘aid’ at home and abroad, which has limited Chinese literature on aid to the Middle East.

Remittances, the Rescaling of Social Conflicts, and the Stasis of Elite Rule in El Salvador

Remittances are the dominant factor in the contemporary economy of El Salvador, which is enjoying a new comparative advantage in the international economic system—the export of cheap labor to the Global North and particularly the United States. The Salvadoran economy is part of a transnational economic space, but this space is perverse: Although the poor are nominally receiving more money, remittances cause them to be caught in a vicious cycle of economic instability. At the same time, the elites are able to access remittances indirectly by becoming a Keynesian oligarchy—an oligarchy that extracts wealth by controlling the demand structure of the economy instead of production. Remittances represent bread and butter for the poor and a vehicle for transnationalization for the rich, and this leads to a new stasis of elite rule: remittances provoke the rescaling of social conflicts in favor of elites. Transnationalism in this regard must be interpreted as an elite strategy for suppressing the bargaining power of the subaltern class. In this transnational remittances economy, opportunities for the subaltern class and migrants to participate directly in reshaping this economic space are limited or nonexistent. As a consequence, they must rely on translocal moral economies linking migrants with their families at home, where they are still able to impose some control. Meanwhile, elites foster transnationalism by dismantling these very modes of control. In this sense, remittances are the silver bullet for facilitating neoliberalism in the Global South. In El Salvador, they produce ultrastability for the oligarchy and chaos for the poor.Las remesas son el factor dominante en la economía contemporánea de El Salvador, que goza de una nueva ventaja comparativa en el sistema económico internacional en la exportación de mano de obra barata al Norte Global y particularmente a los Estados Unidos. La economía salvadoreña es parte de un espacio económico transnacional, pero este espacio es perverso: aunque los pobres reciben nominalmente más dinero, las remesas hacen que se encuentren atrapados en un círculo vicioso de inestabilidad económica. Al mismo tiempo, las élites pueden acceder a las remesas indirectamente al convertirse en una oligarquía keynesiana— una oligarquía que extrae riqueza controlando la estructura de la demanda de la economía en lugar de la producción. Las remesas representan el pan de cada día para los pobres y un vehículo para la transnacionalización de los ricos, y esto lleva a una nueva estasis del gobierno de la élites: las remesas provocan la reescalada de los conflictos sociales a favor de las élites. El transnacionalismo a este respecto debe interpretarse como una estrategia de élites para suprimir el poder de negociación de la clase subalterna. En esta economía transnacional de remesas, las oportunidades para que la clase subalterna y los migrantes participen directamente en la remodelación de este espacio económico son limitadas o inexistentes. Como consecuencia, deben contar con las economías morales translocales que vinculan a los migrantes con sus familias en El Salvador, donde aún es posible imponer cierto control. Mientras tanto, las élites fomentan el transnacionalismo desmantelando estos mismos modos de control. En este sentido, las remesas son la bala de plata para facilitar el neoliberalismo en el Sur Global. En El Salvador, producen ultra estabilidad para la oligarquía y caos para los pobres.

О специфике национальных моделей экономики в постсоветских странах

The article attempts to identify the types of models used in countries and to establish which of them and in which countries have been most successful. The study of economic development models used in different countries is important firstly, to identify the most successful world practices for their development and application. It is also necessary for building economic relations and expanding mutually beneficial cooperation with countries for mutual adaptation of economies. This is especially important within the framework of integration associations that require coordination of programs and strategies for the socio-economic development of the participating countries. In theoretical terms, this explains the nature of economic development or stagnation, helps understanding of how to adjust the models of national development. In our view, the economic model is the result of linking, through the appropriate institutions, the goals of national socio-economic development with the available material and intellectual resources, peculiarities of the geo-economic position, cultural traditions, on the one hand, and trends in the development of world politics and economics, national security issues on the other. Post-Soviet countries have common initial conditions for the formation of sovereign economies. The movement towards the polycentric structure of the world economy is aggravating international political and economic relations. The coronavirus pandemic has raised the profile of the quality of governance and hit the incomes of both hydrocarbon producing countries and exporters of labor and services.

Внутрирегиональная миграция трудовых ресурсов в Юго-Восточной Азии

The regional labor market in Southeast Asia is second only to China and India. Its development is subjected to the movement of labor force within the region. The flow of intraregional migrants has begun to grow since the 1990s, reflecting imbalances in the distribution of labor among the countries of the region and the existence of significant differences between them in household income, wages and competitiveness, working conditions and employment opportunities. The number of labor emigrants in 2015 was 10.2 million people, of which 6.8 million found work in the region itself. The positive results of labor migration are indisputable for both importing countries and exporters of labor. The first, which include Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, by attracting foreign workers cover the shortage of labor force in their labor market, especially in labor-intensive industries. The bulk of migrants from neighboring countries are semi-skilled and unskilled labor. Its main suppliers are Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia and, to a lesser extent, Vietnam. In these countries, due to higher rates of population growth and its rejuvenation, excess labor has emerged, which does not have the opportunity to find employment in still underdeveloped economies. Intraregional migration facilitates the solution of the problem of poverty and employment in these countries, raising the level of skills of the workforce, and the flow of funds into the economy through the remittances of migrant workers. However, intraregional migration brings not only economic benefits to the countries of the region, but also creates certain difficulties for them, since it is often accompanied by exploitation, violence of migrants, especially illegal ones. Although labor migration in labor-importing countries is regulated by laws that restrict the entry of migrants from neighboring countries and the duration of their stay in the country, these measures are not sufficient to stop the flow of illegal migrants. Costly and time-consuming bureaucratic procedure for obtaining a visa, the high cost of services of labor agencies, brevity and rigidity of labor contracts – all these factors encourage migrants to seek informal channels to move to another country. To combat illegal migration, various means of policy are used: the deportation of illegal migrants, their criminal prosecution (applies also to the entrepreneur who hires an illegal worker), periodically conducted campaigns for their registration and amnesty. However, these measures are ineffective in terms of reducing the influx of illegal migrants, and most importantly, are detrimental to the economy. The migration policies carried out in Malaysia and Thailand do not satisfy the needs of their economic development. In Singapore, the solution to these problems is ensured by the presence of an effective migration management system. Given the prospects for the development of integration processes in Southeast Asia, the problem of improving the management of intraregional migration is of particular importance. The ways to solve it are seen not so much in the tightening of migration policies in host countries, but in the removal of those barriers that impede the free movement of labor force within the region through legal channels. The task of the countries is to make amendments to their migration systems, including the elimination of any forms and types of exploitation of migrants.

North Korean Labor Export to the USSR/Russia

North Korean Labor Export to the USSR/Russia

International Labor Migration: Employment, Costs and Income of Export Labors in Yen Khe commune, Thanh Ba district, Phu Tho province, Vietnam

In the context of globalization and economic integration, labor mobility in general, international labor migration and export in particular are increasingly playing an important role in reshaping the future of the world’s economic geography. This study is conducted to provide insights into employment, costs and incomes of export labors in Yen Khe, Thanh Ba district, Phu Tho province. In-depth interviews and questionnaire surveys were applied to collect primary data on employment, costs and incomes of export labors, related issues and consequences. These were also supplemented by the secondary data collected from different sources during the study process. The study found that labor export not only helps to create jobs, reduce unemployment and underemployment, but also to diversify jobs for workers, contributing to the restructure of the local economy. Remittances from export labors contribute directly to the increase of individual workers and their families’ incomes, transforming the income structure in the way that is less dependent on local livelihood capitals and local livelihood strategies. However, labor export has also posed issues and consequences for export labors and their families. Notably, the status of illegal labor abroad, investment capital for labor export and related debt, services for labor export, voluntary unemployment, family conflicts, income inequality caused by remittances.