Labour Migration Research Articles

A REVIEW OF ECONOMIC PROBLEMS FACING THE UAE

This review explores the major economic challenges currently facing the UAE. Monopoly power in key sectors like telecommunications and energy restricts competition, leading to higher consumer prices and less innovation. Economic inequality is rising, driven by stark contrasts between high-earning expatriates and low-wage migrant workers. Migrant labor, essential to the UAE’s economic growth, presents social and economic challenges, including wage disparities and limited labor rights. Housing prices, especially in Dubai, remain a concern due to fluctuations and issues of affordability. Despite efforts to diversify its economy, the UAE’s heavy dependence on oil leaves it vulnerable to global market shifts. Additionally, rapid urbanization has raised significant environmental concerns, including pollution and resource depletion, prompting the need for sustainable development. Together, these interconnected issues present long-term challenges for economic stability and social development in the UAE. KEYWORDS: Vision 2021 - A national agenda to position the UAE as a top global nation by its 50th anniversary in 2021 Vision 2030 - Abu Dhabi’s plan for economic diversification and sustainable urban growth by 2030 COP28 - The UAE-hosted 2023 UN climate summit to discuss global actions for limiting climate change Etisalat (e& UAE) - The UAE’s largest telecom provider, rebranded as e& in 2022 for digital transformation ADNOC - Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, one of the world’s leading energy producers and oil exporters DEWA - Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, responsible for energy and water infrastructure in Dubai Kafala System - A labor sponsorship system that governed foreign workers’ employment and residency in the UAE

Infrastructures of Social Reproduction: Migrant Survival and Economic Development at the Thailand-Myanmar Border

International migration literature has shown that infrastructures consisting of people and institutions sustain migration and help migrants cope in new environments. However, analytic focus on these infrastructures is often limited to the migration process and its impact on migrants. This article extends the growing literature on migration infrastructure by analyzing its socially reproductive capacities in the context of economic development in Thailand. Drawing on ethnographic and interview data from the Tak border zone, I show how the social and humanitarian dimensions of migration infrastructure that grew from war displacement, labor migration, and migrant survival efforts became essential to economic development aims of the Thai state. Through this case, I illustrate a process of infrastructural co-optation by which the state harnesses grassroots and humanitarian actors’ capacities for childcare, education, and healthcare to advance such aims. Authorities spatially contain migrant workers with limited rights and social protections while loosely engaging with parts of the border's infrastructure, which keeps noncitizen workers alive and available for low-wage jobs. The findings show that aspects of migration infrastructure are co-optable, with impact beyond the migration process and for non-migrants.

Social Life Cycle Assessment of Cocoa Production: Evidence from Ivory Coast and Ghana

Cocoa is a natural resource that plays a very important role globally, being one of the most produced and traded commodities. As a labour-intensive product and considering that its cultivation involves about 50 million people globally, it seems significant to explore its social sustainability. In light of this, this research aimed to map social risks within the cocoa supply chain from a life cycle perspective. Therefore, the Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) was used, following the PSILCA database, considering the two most influential countries in its production, i.e., Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. The results showed that there could be a very high risk that more than half of the cocoa globally is produced through child labour and with wages too low to guarantee workers a decent living, returning incomes of $30–38/month. Forced labour is much less frequent than child labour, while cocoa from Ghana may induce a high risk of improper work, considering the 30.2 h per week worked by farmers. This is mainly due to the low association power of 10–16%, which reveals a high risk that workers may not organise themselves into trade unions. Finally, at 23–25%, there is also a very high risk of discrimination due to the high presence of migrant labour. Therefore, the S-LCA results showed that the cocoa industry is still characterised by socially unsustainable sourcing.

Advancing emigrants' rights in India: strategies of civil society in spaces for engagement

ABSTRACT This article explores Indian civil society's efforts to promote the rights of migrant Indian labourers working abroad in low-wage employment as a response to weakly institutionalized rights frameworks in the global and India's national governance of labour migration. Existing scholarship has explored civil societies' advocacy in multi-national fora, at regional levels, and as forms of transnationally organized networks, but only marginally at the analytical level of migrant-origin states. The article examines their multi-level and multi-stakeholder strategies through the analytical lens of spaces for engagement. Drawing on original qualitative data, this article shows that civil society organizations play a leading role in (e)migration governance in India and are key to understanding the politics of migration of the world’s largest migrant-origin state. In particular, the local and subnational levels are important entry points to advance their agendas in the context of migrant-origin states.

Book Review: The politics of migrant labour: Exit, Voice, and social reproduction by Gabriella Alberti and Devi Sacchetto

Book Review: <i>The politics of migrant labour: Exit, Voice, and social reproduction</i> by Gabriella Alberti and Devi Sacchetto

Health labor force exodus: A systematic review of drivers influencing nurses’ migration intentions from source countries

The global shortage of nurses has resulted in the demand for their services across different jurisdictions causing migration from developing to developed regions. This study aimed to review the literature on drivers of nurses’ migration intentions from source countries and offer future research directions. A search strategy was applied to ScienceDirect, Web of Science, and Scopus academic databases to find literature. The search was limited to peer-reviewed, empirical studies published in English from 2013–2023 resulting in 841 papers. The study followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines to conduct a systematic review of 35 studies after thorough inclusion and exclusion criteria. In addition, the VOSviewer software was utilized to map network visualization of keywords, geographic and author cooperation for bibliometric understanding. The findings revealed various socio-economic, organizational, and national factors driving nurses’ migration intentions. However, limited studies have been conducted on family income, organizational culture, leadership style, infrastructure development, social benefits, emergency service delivery, specialized training, and bilateral agreements as potential drivers for informing nurses’ migration intentions. Moreover, a few studies were examined from a theoretical perspective, mainly the push and pull theory of migration. This paper contributes to the health human resources literature and shows the need for future studies to consider the gaps identified in the management and policy direction of nurse labor migration.

Temporary Labor Migration from Sri Lanka to Gulf Cooperation Countries: Analyzing Labor Trafficking Amidst the Financial Crisis

Background and Aims: The financial crisis in Sri Lanka (SL) has marked a significant growth in temporary labor migration to Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC). Temporary labor migration refers to migration from one state to another in pursuit of employment opportunities for a temporary period. The National Policy on Migration for Employment (NPME) and the National Action Plan of SL asserted the importance of developing labor migration policies in response to the country’s severe need for remittances during the financial crisis. A financial crisis occurs when a country's expenditure exceeds its national income, resulting in a shortage of goods and services for its citizens. Along with this understanding, this paper examines how the temporary labor migration from SL to GCC has developed in response to the financial crisis in the country. It argues that reforming labor migration policies solely based on remittance does not appear to be adequate to protect migrants from trafficking. In this setting, the key research question is how labor trafficking has risen amidst the financial crisis in SL. Methodology: In this study, Delphi indicators have been utilized to identify the demarcations of labor trafficking. The data was collected from thirty interviews conducted with family members of labor migrants who migrated to GCC in 2022. Results: The results indicate that shortcomings in the governance of labor migration during the financial crisis in SL have led to an increase in labor trafficking. Conclusion: The paper concludes with the discursive, implementation, and efficacy gaps in the governance of labor migration and suggests a right-based framework to guarantee equitable recruitment procedures.

Labour process theory: in and beyond the core: continuities, challenges, and choices

Since the publication of Braverman’s seminal Labor and Monopoly Capital (1974), labour process theory (LPT) has become a successful theory-building project driven by empirical expansion and conceptual innovation, operating as the equivalent of a normal science, with a distinctive scope and specific empirical focus on workplace regimes in the context of capitalist political economy. It’s toolkit or conceptual architecture combines underpinning and ordering principles with contingent and flexible operational categories concerning labour power and control. Though LPT has built stronger conceptual connections between workplace and accumulation regimes, changes in the global order have brought new theoretical and empirical challenges that are requiring it to adjust some of its core concepts and boundaries to consider development such as new sources of labour power, migration, and mobility.

Factors affecting the labor migrat to Thailand of people in Phonthong District, Champasak Province

This research are to investigate the factors that influence labor migration to Thailand in Phon Thong District, Champasak Province. The primary data for this study was obtained from household interviews conducted in the Phon Thong District of Champasak Province. Particularly, households in five villages where a greater number of workers migrate to work in the Kingdom of Thailand, like Khanat village, Sackmaung village, Samanh village, Xongxay village, and Phaling village, are 336 households. The Logit Model was used to determine the factors influencing labor migration to Thailand. The research findings show that the gender of the household head, the amount of labor in the home, having access to routes, and household debt are factors that positively affect the increasing number of people migrating to Thailand to find jobs. At the same time, the factors that have a negative effect on the decreasing number of migrations of workers to work in Thailand are: agricultural production area, production efficiency, access to irrigation systems, and the ability to find jobs locally, which reflect the external pressure that causes the migration of labor outside the country. According to an analysis of the effects of labor migration to Thailand on household economies, households with household members employed there have higher incomes, expenses, and household property than households without household members employed there, by 23.78%, 20.77%, and 21.26%, respectively. The average amount of money earned from working and bringing home to the family each year is 18,040.90 baht per person, which can significantly improve the quality of life in the household

Fragmented marginalities: dispossessed peasantry and migrant labour communities in urban North India

ABSTRACT Analogous to the Euro-American context, Indian cities are usually conceptualised as socio-spatial forms where communities at the peripheries of ‘development’ constitute ‘urban margins’. However, such conceptualisations rarely interrogate the varied aspects of marginality within those spaces. Drawing from an ethnography with dispossessed peasantry (in ‘urban villages’) and migrant labour (in slums/jhuggis) in Noida, a north-Indian city, we unpack three aspects of marginality. First, the process of marginalisation; second, two communities negotiating their marginality differently; third, evolving social relations within each. We propose a relational framework: supra-sub levels of structural-spatial and economic-cultural marginalisation to better understand the fragmentations within urban margins.

Polish Conductresses and the Insecurities of Female Labour Migration to France, 1925–1929

In this article we argue that the reports of conductresses accompanying female migrants shed new light on the nature of interwar labour migration. As they mitigated the anxiety and insecurity that women faced during the process of migration, they fulfilled a crucial role in the highly restrictive post-1918 international migration regime. The Polish government introduced conductresses in 1925 to respond to news of the mistreatment and sexual exploitation of Polish women working in France. Developed in close collaboration with international organizations and the League of Nations, the work of these conductresses on land and sea routes was framed as those of ‘moral guardians’ protecting female migrants from the dangers of sex trafficking. However, we argue that their main function was to mitigate the uncertainties of the post-war international order, as traditional routes of migration were ruptured and both dispatching and receiving countries attempted to control and restrict migration. Female migrants had no networks with existing diasporas, were often illiterate, and mistrusted both Polish and French institutions. By addressing these challenges, the conductresses took on roles far beyond their function as moral authority: they acted as translators, knowledge imparters, mediators, and network forgers. Both in Poland and at the international level, the Polish conductress scheme was regarded a success, as they managed to provide a relatively ‘secure’ migration experience within a migration regime designed to walk a fine line between demands for foreign labour on the one hand and the rising ideal of economic protectionism on the other.

“But on Sunday, They Are Free”

This article examines the site of the home in Baby Ruth Villarama's 2016 documentary Sunday Beauty Queen to better understand how tomboy migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong mess up and queer domesticity. By focusing on the appearances in the film of the home of Leo Selomenio, a tomboy Filipino migrant domestic helper and organizer of Sunday beauty pageants, the author explores alternative modes of care performed by tomboys that refuse respectability politics as they operate within transnational migrant labor structures. Despite the regulatory and confining modes of racialized and gendered care that structure global care work, Selomenio reconfigures and reshapes his home to operate as a site of refuge, an archive, a gathering space, and a site of resistance. Engaging in what the author terms “tomboy domesticity,” Selomenio utilizes his control over home space and time as a result of his exemption from the live-in requirement of his work to ensure collective survival in the face of labor precarity. Selomenio's performance of care ethics that refuse the state's neglect of domestic helpers articulates tomboy and diasporic Filipino life as valuable outside of its capacity to labor.

Remembering African Labor Migration to the Second World: Socialist Mobilities between Angola, Mozambique, and East Germany by Marcia C. Schenck (review)

Remembering African Labor Migration to the Second World: Socialist Mobilities between Angola, Mozambique, and East Germany by Marcia C. Schenck (review)

Social orphanhood and deprived parenthood in a migrant family as a threat to demographic security: is there light at the end of the tunnel?

The relevance of the research is the spread of the phenomena of social orphanhood and deprived parenthood due to the labor migration of family members.The problem of the research is the expansion of labor migration, the spread of social orphanhood, the development of deprived parenthood, on the one hand, and the lack of conceptual justification for the relationships between these phenomena, on the other.The goal of the research is to consider social orphanhood and deprived parenthood in a migrant family as a threat to demographic security.The research methods. The work used data from: 1) a questionnaire survey of returned Kyrgyz labor migrants who worked in Russia and then returned to Kyrgyzstan; 2) semi-structured interviews of labor migrants in Russia; 3) quantitative and qualitative content analysis of cases presented in the essays of migrant children.The Results. Thus, social orphanhood and deprived parenthood in migrant families, due its large scale, are considered as a threat to demographic security at several levels: a parent or a child, family as a whole, as well as countries of origin and reception. It has been determined that when children of migrants stay with elderly grandparents, a difficult situation arises, since grandparents sometimes have difficulty with self-care, and it is twice as difficult for them to cope with grandchildren. Children begin to miss classes at school, academic performance decreases, a culture of communication is not formed, and problems with the law appear. In cases where children of migrants remain to live with people who are not relatives to them, the level of safety of minors is significantly reduced, accompanied by beatings and murders. An analysis of the opinions of migrants, their children and experts shows that social orphanhood and deprived parenthood are a threat to demographic security.The Key Findings. Social orphanhood is interconnected with the phenomenon of deprived parenthood, since labor migrants feel responsible both for their own sons and daughters and for their elderly parents. The key social negative of the situation is natural and repeated reproduction of social orphanhood and deprived parenthood in migrant families.

Влияние трудовой миграции на технологическое развитие стран ЕАЭС

The formation of a single labor market in the EAEU creates new opportunities and risks for national economies: the free movement of labor resources within the integration association affects not only the level of wages or employment, but also leads to more complex, complex consequences for donor and recipient countries. Using correlation analysis, the paper verifies the hypothesis that the reverse spillover effect associated with the return of migrant workers to their home countries contributes not only to the growth of value added in labor donor countries, but also stimulates demand for new technologies and services, which ultimately leads to an increase in the level of technological development of EAEU countries. As a result of the analysis, it was found that there is no statistically significant relationship between the variables under study – labor migration does not have a significant impact on the level of technological development of the EAEU countries. The results of the study can be used to develop a strategy of technological development of the EAEU countries, taking into account the parameters of external labor migration.

Indonesian Migrant Women Workers in Türkiye and Media Representation at Home: Precarity Works and Mediating the State Protection

This qualitative study examines the portrayal of Indonesian migrant women workers in Türkiye by major Indonesian online media outlets from 2019 to 2023. Using content analysis, the research explores dominant media representations surrounding workers in Türkiye's care service and tourism sectors. Findings reveal patterns of precarious work, exploitation, and vulnerability to undocumented employment, particularly involving Syrian employers. The study highlights a significant shift in media coverage from sensationalist reporting to echoing government narratives on combating undocumented migration. This shift aligns with Indonesia's labour-export policy reforms under President Jokowi, which aim to promote labour migration to formal sectors and distance the country's image from domestic worker exports. The research demonstrates how media reflects and reinforces state migrant protection policies through "domesticated protection." However, this approach inadvertently perpetuates victimization and potentially exacerbates vulnerabilities by stigmatizing unofficial migration channels. While intended to safeguard workers, stringent regulations may if not already contribute to increased undocumented migration. By analyzing the nexus between media representation, state policies, and migrant precarities, this study contributes to understanding the complex dynamics of labour migration in an emerging corridor, calling for a more nuanced approach to media coverage, policy-making, and future studies that acknowledges both migrant agency and structural challenges.

New Trends in Migration from Kyrgyzstan to the Russian Federation

In recent decades, population migration has become one of the main components of socio-economic development of Kyrgyzstan. In recent years, Kyrgyz citizens have been working in Russia and Kazakhstan. A comparative analysis of the number and structure of flows of Kyrgyz labour migrants is carried out on the basis of data from a sample national survey of household budgets, the National Statistical Committee of Kyrgyzstan, the Federal Migration Service of Russia, the Main Directorate for Migration Issues of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, and Rosstat. The key problems of the social and legal situation of Kyrgyz migrants in Russia were identified: lack of registration at the place of stay, restriction/ ban on entry, non-payment of wages, access to medical care, and receipt of pensions. Gradually, under the influence of external and internal factors, new trends of labour migration to the Middle East and the Persian Gulf, the Republic of Korea and Japan, Europe and America have emerged. Migration flows are becoming more and more organised, as they involve the country's public authorities, private employment agencies, international companies and other actors. The study shows that the key needs for Kyrgyz migrant workers in the near future are concentrated in the following regions (in addition to traditional destinations): first, Western European countries (Great Britain and Germany); second, East Asia (Republic of Korea and Japan); third, Eastern European countries (Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria); fourth, the Middle East (Turkey and the Gulf countries); fifth, Northern Europe (Sweden and Finland). The official discourse in Kyrgyzstan is increasingly gaining momentum on the need to transform migration policy from large-scale export of labour resources to employment of surplus labour resources within the country by creating new jobs and expanding production. New ideological approaches to the transition of Kyrgyzstan from the category of countries– exporters of labour resources to the category of countries actively developing their own production and labour market are practically formed.

Issues of Agglomeration Identity Policy in Statements of Russian Regional Politicians: Discourse Analysis of the Social Network “Vkontakte” Materials

The article examines how issues of identity construction in Russian urban agglomerations are reflected in the Russian regional politicians’ discourse in mass media. The study concerns theoretical problems of identity construction and the role of regional government bodies in shaping the territorial identity of the population. The specificity of the Russian situation is the absence of governing bodies related to the agglomeration level in most urban agglomerations. The empirical basis of the study is the texts of subnational politicians posted on the official websites of regional government bodies: websites of governors and regional governments, official pages in the mass media. The empirical information on identity policy were collected from the Internet sources (official portals of regional executive authorities, media reports). Discourse analysis was carried out after monitoring social media materials (VKontakte web-pages of regional leaders). The article reflects five cases out of sixteen Russian ones related to the Ural and Siberian agglomerations with a megalopolis core. The empirical data cover the period from December 2022 to the end of 2023. The choice of the time period for analysis is determined by the fact that by this period the most significant factors influencing the policy of our state at present (the pandemic and the Special military operation) have already manifested themselves in full. It has been confirmed that the problems of agglomeration development in the public official subfederal discourse in most cases are reduced to economic problems; first of all, it concerns the development of industry, science (high technology), transport, and waste disposal. In all analyzed cases, insufficient attention was found out, paid to the role of the implemented socio-cultural projects of subfederal identity policy, and also distancing from the discussion of the problems of integration of labor migrants in the public space. Insignificant number of messages from representatives of the regional political and administrative elite about the socio-cultural meanings of the formed agglomerations can become a significant limitation of information support for the agglomeration development of modern contemporary Russia.

Legal Protection of Indonesian Workers on Japan on the Perspective of Human Rights and Pancasila Values

In the 21st century, the phenomenon of labor migration is becoming increasingly significant globally. Japan has become one of the main destinations for Indonesian workers. However, legal protection for them in Japan is still a major concern. This study provides an in-depth insight into the challenges faced by Indonesian workers in Japan in obtaining adequate legal protection. Using a qualitative approach and text analysis, this research uncovers important aspects of legal protection for Indonesian workers in Japan. The findings highlight the need for an evaluation of the effectiveness of the legal protection provided, as well as an emphasis on its relation to the principles of human rights and the values of Pancasila. The legal protection provided should be in line with human rights principles, such as the rights to justice, equality and humanity. As a country based on Pancasila values, the practice of legal protection for Indonesian workers in Japan must also be consistent with Pancasila values, such as social justice, unity, and humanity. The recommendations from this research can serve as a foundation for improving the legal protection system for Indonesian workers in Japan, with the ultimate goal of improving their welfare and ensuring that their rights are properly recognized, respected and protected. As such, this research not only provides a better understanding of the challenges faced by Indonesian workers in Japan, but also offers directions that can be taken to improve their conditions in the future.

Migration processes in the Republic of Kazakhstan: current situation and consequences

Rural population migration is an objective process that affects the economic, environmental, social and demographic development of countries and their individual territories. Regulation and supervision of the migration process is one of the priority tasks of the state. The aim is to the scale and direction of migration flows in rural areas of the republic, the reasons for migration and the degree of influence on the labor market in rural areas are considered. Methods - comparisons to determine quantitative indicators characterizing the level of resettlement of economically active citizens. Assessment of the dynamics of those who arrived and left the RS was carried out by the methods of grouping and graphical analysis. Generalization method - in formulating the main aspects of resettlement. Results - the authors state that it is necessary to improve the mechanisms of legal labor migration, explanation and counseling, legal protection and organizational measures for those arriving and departing. Special attention should be paid to the development of infrastructure, creation of new jobs, career opportunities, high income, social conditions in rural settlements (RS) with high levels of local displacement. Based on the study, it is concluded that even positive trends and sustainable growth in production do not suppress the incentives for outflow to the city both for permanent residence and in search of temporary work. Conclusions - the location of rural areas near the regional center, the location of agricultural enterprises and farms, favorable natural and climatic conditions have a great impact on the attraction of migrants to rural areas. Based on the above, the key factor contributing to the reduction of migration loss of population can be called diversification of the economy in rural areas, further development of existing and creation of new production facilities.