Guest Workers Research Articles

Housing booms and H‐2A agricultural guest worker employment

AbstractThis paper examines the effects of changes in housing demand on H‐2A employment within commuting zones from 2001 to 2017. Agricultural employers who demonstrate that no workers in the domestic labor market are willing or able to perform a seasonal or temporary farm job can apply for certification to hire guest workers through the H‐2A visa program. H‐2A employment grew more than 450% between 2001 and 2019 from 45,000 to 258,000. This is one of the first papers to econometrically examine causal factors that contributed to the growth of H‐2A employment. We find that a 1% increase in housing demand leads to a 0.40%–0.97% increase in H‐2A employment. We also show suggestive evidence that changes in housing demand affect H‐2A employment through shifts in the demand for workers in nonfarm industries that pull workers from the agricultural sector. Consistent with previous literature, we show that positive housing demand shocks lead to increased employment in construction and other nontradable sectors that traditionally hire immigrant workers. We also find positive effects of housing demand on local farm wages, consistent with an inward shift in the local farm labor supply during housing booms.

Housing booms and H‐2A agricultural guest worker employment

Housing booms and <scp>H‐2A</scp> agricultural guest worker employment

Exploring the Factors of Farmers’ Rural–Urban Migration Decisions in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, rural–urban migration is widespread. Many earlier studies discussed the factors, patterns, causes, and consequences and the socio-economic and environmental impact of migration from the general perspective. However, rural–urban migration with a particular focus on particular communities or migrants’ employment profiles, for instance, farmers, is poorly described. In contrast, many farmers move from rural to urban areas every year in Bangladesh. However, the factors that affect farmers’ rural-to-urban migration are a primary concern to academia and key actors, as the country’s economy mainly depends on agriculture and farming. This paper, therefore, aimed to identify the underlying factors of the rural–urban (R–U) migration of farmers in Bangladesh. Data for this study came from phone interviews conducted with 254 migrant farmers living in city districts in Bangladesh. We adopted a three-step approach to select and identify factors that impacted farmers’ decision to move from rural to urban settings. First, we reviewed the extant literature and compiled more than 70 variables of interest relevant to farmers’ migration. Second, 30 variables were selected for data collection after consultations with key informants (KIIs) and informal discussions (IDs) with farmers and local community leaders. Besides, the Q-methodology was used to assess the level of importance of the selected variables. Lastly, principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to extract salient dimensions of farmers’ rural-to-urban migration, where 21 variables were detected that consistently exceeded a threshold value of 0.50 of communality for further analysis. Our findings show that six dimensions—i.e., individual, household, economic, attitudinal, spatial, and climate-induced extremes—significantly influence and contribute to rural urban migration decisions for farmers. Further, our results indicated that age, agricultural knowledge, household debt, seasonal famine/poverty (Monga), unemployment in rural areas, availability of anticipated job opportunities in urban areas, shortage of agricultural inputs, and river erosion significantly influenced farmers’ decision to leave their farms in Bangladesh. Findings from this study may be used as inputs in predictive models and benchmark guidelines for assessing trends and patterns of rural-to-urban migration and for the formulation of policy and programs targeting domestic migration in Bangladesh for proper urban planning and further rural development.

Enjoying the fruit of development? Working conditions and the earnings of low-skilled internal migrants in China across two decades (1993–2015)

ABSTRACT China’s unprecedented economic growth in recent decades can largely be attributed to millions of migrant labourers that made China the ‘world’s factory’. It is well documented, however, that migrant labourers experience discrimination in the labour market. Despite China’s phenomenal economic growth, few studies have investigated whether the working conditions of low-skilled migrants have improved. In this study, we ask: in the past two decades, have disparities in working conditions and earnings between low-skilled rural-to-urban migrant workers and their urban counterparts decreased? We contrast the working conditions and earnings between migrants and urban residents who lack a high school degree and age 18–55 years using panel data, the China Health and Nutrition Survey (1993–2015), and individual fixed effects models to account for selection problems. Findings indicate that over a span of twenty years migrants and urban residents had similar trends in employment and earned incomes, but migrants’ weekly working hours and tendency to work more than legal work hours increased more than urban residents’. Working longer without earning more suggests persistent social inequality in Chinese society in general and deeper injustice among migrant workers.

Guest workers and development–security conflict: Managing labour migration at the Sino-Vietnamese border

This article investigates the increasing development–security conflict in China’s immigration management through the case of a policy trial regularizing Vietnamese labour migration in two Guangxi border cities. China’s border regions host low-income immigrant labourers from neighbouring nations. In the 2010s, China launched a series of policy initiatives to regulate temporary and irregular migrant flows. Based on fieldwork and policy research, this study analyses the development and early implementation of this trial, with a focus on state perspectives. It shows how state actors mobilize migrant temporariness and other policy tools within a negotiation process that aims to resolve tensions between developmental policy aims for transnational economic integration and a drive towards securitizing cross-border mobility. I conclude that state actors fail to reach a balance between the conflicting development and security concerns. I also argue that China’s current risk-averse policy environment makes the development–security policy conflict in its immigration management more difficult to resolve. My findings contribute to our understanding of contemporary Chinese policymaking, including immigration policymaking, as well as to the literature on the development–security nexus in temporary labour management schemes.

Key dimensions of land users’ perceptions of land degradation and sustainable land management in Niger State, Nigeria

Declining land productivity remains a challenge for agriculture-based livelihoods and for achieving food security. Yet identifying how land users perceive land degradation and their capacity to manage land in an environmentally sustainable manner can influence the measures initiated to address it. Using the case of Niger State, Nigeria, this study examines land users’ perceptions of land degradation and land management measures to address it in the Nigerian Guinea Savannah. We used the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index as a proxy for degradation status, selecting 30 communities based on the extent of degraded areas. We adapted the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies, Sustainable Land Management questionnaires to capture perceptions and administered 225 questionnaires to land users. Through key informant interviews, we collected narrative insights and data on perspectives and motivations of land users to understand land degradation situations and to interpret the questionnaire surveys. We analysed data through descriptive statistics, Principal Component Analysis and qualitative analysis. Our analysis identified four perceptions dimensions of land degradation characteristics, two perceptions dimensions of land degradation drivers, and six perceptions dimensions of sustainable land management. The results also confirmed that degradation in Niger State is both due to widespread unsustainable human activities within Niger state and those by migrant farmers and pastoralism from adjoining Sudan Sahelian states that push people further south, a leakage of ongoing land degradation and conflicts in other areas. To deal with local land degradation in Niger State, improved land tenure, alternative livelihood strategies, poverty eradication and awareness, nature-based sustainable land management practices such as tree-based initiatives, environmentally friendly agriculture such as Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration supported by the necessary political will and institutions are critical.

Legacies of Dust: Land Use and Labor on the Colorado Plains

Legacies of Dust: Land Use and Labor on the Colorado Plains

Migrant Citizenship: Race, Rights, and Reform in the U.S. Farm Labor Camp Program

Migrant Citizenship: Race, Rights, and Reform in the U.S. Farm Labor Camp Program

Robinson Crusoe's Watch

AbstractThis article reads Buṭrus al-Bustānī’s 1861 translation of Daniel Defoe's 1719 Robinson Crusoe into Arabic in Beirut alongside Karl Marx's contemporaneous critique of the popularity of Robinsonades among British political economists. Al-Bustānī’s translation of Robinson Crusoe sought to synch Arabic up with a global age of double-column bookkeeping, the telegraph, the steamship, and the newspaper, and in turn supplant the Indian Ocean stories of Sindbad the Sailor among Beirut's merchants. The latter story cycle constitutes Arabic literary capital appropriated, enumerated, and rendered exchangeable by the new novel form in the serialized English press of the mercantilist era. In Capital, Vol. 1, in the chapter “The Fetishism of Commodities and the Secret Thereof,” Marx represents Robinson not as a well-armed slave trader, but rather as endowed with only a watch (unbeknownst to Defoe), paper, pen, and ink. With these tools Marx's Robinson enacts the theory of value in the time of factory labor and the incomplete abolition of slavery. Al-Bustānī—like Faraḥ Anṭūn forty years later—confronts this unevenly syncopated, up-to-the-minute temporality in Arabic, as imperial finance reshapes the resources of the Eastern Mediterranean and migrant laborers depart its shores to work in textile mills in Argentina, Brazil, and the United States.

Redressing urban isolation: A multi-city case study in India

Urbanization has brought in expeditious changing world trends from dispersed rural settlements to denser urban centers. Higher frequent economic activities have attracted a large in-flow of job seekers, migrant laborers, and foreign investors to urban centers, furthering the complexity. Contrary to beliefs, urban demography has not brought people together; instead, it has created a new concern, Urban Isolation. The paper tries to explain issues related to urban isolation from examples of cities experiencing it. Results from a survey to determine factors leading to urban isolation for three major cities in India, namely, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Kochi, are also presented. The study includes sensitivity analysis using ANOVA for gender, age group, and household sizes. Factor analysis resulted in two prominent factors, “Sociability” and “Acceptability.” The paper provides probable solutions to counter the adverse effects of Urban Isolation. The findings from this study may be highly demographic-centric, catering to the Indian scenario.

Mediation: from theoretical aspects to the practical implementation of migrants labor rights

In the article, the authors explores the concept of mediation as a way to resolve labor disputes during the practical implementation of labor rights of migrants. The urgency of the research topic is due to the increase in the number of labor migrants from Ukrainian citizens abroad, as well as the gradual increase in the quality of labor in Ukraine from abroad. Migration processes are related to the realization by citizens not only of the right to work, but also of the right to social protection, living standards, and other inalienable rights. The authors emphasize that the problems of migrant workers are studied only in quantitative terms, and their practical solution through the improvement of the mechanism of mediation support in resolving labor disputes remains unnoticed by scholars and requires special attention. Under the concept of mediation, the authors understand the pre-trial method of resolving disputes, but focuses on the fact that the Law of Ukraine "On Mediation" does not contain a mechanism for protecting migrant workers and needs to be finalized in this area. The migration process involves the transfer of human labor not only from Ukraine but also in Ukraine (from among foreign nationals). The number of migrant workers is growing every year, and the number of cases of violation of migrants' labor rights, which require a mediator and mediation procedures involvement, is automatically increasing. There are two parties to individual labor disputes: the worker and the employer. Disputes in court can be resolved through administrative or civil proceedings. According to the authors, the essence of the dispute may be resumption of work, registration of employment, compensation for material damage, dismissal, formulation of reasons for dismissal, disciplinary action, payment for downtime, forced absences, and more. The appeal to the court to resolve the dispute on the part of the employee is associated either with awareness of legal norms that directly indicate a violation of labor rights, or with the acquisition of legal assistance (information from counsel, lawyer), or illustrative examples of such disputes. The employer's appeal to the court is motivated by awareness of the law, which he is directly guided by in its activities, as well as the presence of the legal service. The authors also give examples of the impossibility of resolving a labor dispute through the mediation procedure, to the special nature of the labor dispute. Signs of unmediability are the lack of a direct ban on mediation; the nature of the dispute or a direct indication of its resolution through mediation; the possibility of procedural registration of the mediation procedure; the subject and content of the dispute do not contradict morality and public order. The authors cite an accident at work and negligent attitude to work as an example of such a sign. In other cases, mediation is permissible. Specific issues of prohibition of mediation in labor law should be reflected in current legislation.

Transnational Turkish–German community in limbo. Consequences of political tensions between migrant receiving and sending countries

AbstractA profound political tension between Turkey and Germany has gained an overall dimension on the political agenda of the intra‐European migration discussion since 2016. As close trade partners, Turkey and Germany became gradually political adversaries on different issues. 2016 and the following years marked a turnover in the already worsened mutual relations. A series of political issues such as recognising the Armenian genocide in 1915, open allegations and critical views against the Turkish President and prohibition of election campaigns for Turkish government politicians in Germany had driven political relations between the two countries to nadir. This obscure situation led the Turks of Germany (The phrases “Turks of Germany” or “Turkish migrants” are persons with migration background from Turkey who still bear Turkish citizenship or formerly were Turkish citizens. This group's ethnic or confessional identity is not recognised; their legal status and country of origin are preponderant.), who have close ties to their ancestors’ homeland and consider Germany as the centre of their lives, nolens volens into a limbo situation. Within the “guest‐worker program” framework in the second part of the 20th century, highly industrialised countries of Western Europe recruited migrant workers from different countries. This workforce should perform mostly blue‐collar labour in the receiving countries. After six decades of Turkish presence in Germany, the grandsons and granddaughters of the former guest workers are well‐represented in almost every sector of the society. However, their loyalty and integrability to the receiving country are challenged by German politics, especially by the governments of conservative chancellor Angela Merkel (2005–2021). If Turks of Germany feel closely connected to Turkey and Turkish culture (Workers from Turkey brought with them to the country of immigration their own “cultural assets”. Those are, language, religious and customary beliefs, social habits, dress, music, literature, social codes and manners, shared history, food, etc. However, migrants in the receiving country undergo a process of hybridity under the influence of the new cultural environment. (Please see: Bhabha [The location of culture, New York, NY: Routledge, 1994]) Culture within the framework of post‐colonialism has also been discussed in Edward W. Said's book “Culture and Imperialism” (Said [Kültür ve Emperyalizm. Kapsamlı Bir Düşünsel ve Siyasal Sorgulama Çalışması. Hil Yayın: İstanbul, 1998]). If Turks of Germany feel closely connected to Turkey and Turkish culture, they are not recognised as integrable members of the society. Identity‐based and culture‐oriented policies inexorably influence the willingness of migrants to feel like equal members in the host society, and it applies even to the new generations with migration backgrounds. The question of migrant integration is the most emotionally debated issue in Germany and seems to be the greatest challenge in the political agenda. Beyond the bilateral Turkish–German issues, the growing xenophobic sentiments, islamophobia and Europe‐wide political populism may cause a persistent bilateral tension in the medium term between the countries and among the transnational and native communities. Anti‐Turkish rhetoric in the media alienates the Turkish community and has a value to jeopardise integration efforts more and more.

Socio-Legal Study of the Migrant Workers: A Special Reference to Covid-19

This research paper is a study on the situation of Migrant Workers, and hardships faced by them inthis pandemic. This paper will try to analyse on whom the responsibility lies, whether the CentralGovernment was at fault or the respective State Governments need to be held accountable. Thispaper will revisit the plethora of laws we have for migrant workers but lack effective implementation.This paper will also address the effects of migrant labours both short term and in long term, andhow the Supreme Court could have taken a more proactive path to tackle the situation. Finallythis paper will try to suggest some practical recommendations that can be implemented and willimprove the situation.

Peanut Aspiration A Pandemic Peril in Pediatric Population During COVID 19 Lockdown; Rigid Bronchoscopy A Ramrod for Grapple

Recent studies have shown that there is a strong correlation between covid-19 pandemic lockdown and surge in number of cases of Foreign body aspiration [FBA] especially Peanut in paediatric age group. It has been witnessed that foreign body aspiration is seen among children of low socioeconomic strata and migrant population because peanut is most common affordable snacks available during containment. Also it is seen among children of working parents and migrant labours,therefore it goes unwitnessed making diagnosis and treatment late. This review article out sketches the early and late manifestations, clinical evaluation and management of peanut aspirationin paediatric population during pandemic lockdown by timely role of paediatrician and itsretrieval by rigid bronchoscopy performed by otorhinolaryngologist.The best method for diagnosing and conveniently treating FBA is rigid bronchoscopy. In review of many cases of clinically diagnosed FBA, bronchoscopy resulted in a 99% success rate in removing identified foreign objects.

Growing up in ethnic enclaves: language proficiency and educational attainment of immigrant children

Does the regional concentration of immigrants of the same ethnicity affect immigrant children’s acquisition of host country language skills and educational attainment? We exploit the concentration of five ethnic groups in 1985 emanating from the exogenous placement of guest workers across German regions during the 1960s and 1970s. Results from a model with region and ethnicity fixed effects indicate that exposure to a higher own ethnic concentration impairs immigrant children’s host country language proficiency and increases school dropout. A key mediating factor for the detrimental language effect is parents’ lower speaking proficiency in the host country language, whereas inter-ethnic contacts with natives and economic conditions do not play a role in language proficiency or educational attainment.

IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON HUMAN IN INDIA (A META-ANALYSIS)

The year 2020 and 21 have been very bad for India and the world. When Corona started showing its wrath, human life came in danger. It has inflicted wounds on us at every level, the economies of many countries have collapsed. During this time unemployment and hunger were very high. But the Indian government resorted to lockdown to combat this disease. Due to the imposition of lockdown and sudden stop of traffic, the migrant labourers had to face the most. The effect of the lockdown was reversed on human life, where the lockdown and unemployment forced the poor people and migrant labourers to return their home villages. The worst condition of this disease was of migrant labourers, who walked in lakhs of hungry and bare feet towards their local village along with their wives and children. Women were also not untouched by the effect of Corona. According to a World Bank report, more than 12 million people in India have reached the condition of poverty. Sexual violence, online harassment and domestic abuse have increased during the Corona period. As of 10 August 2021, a survey conducted last year (between June and August 2020) showed that on return to their villages, there was an average decline of up to 85 percent in the income of migrant workers. Due to unemployment, common men life has become more painful than before. It was found in many surveys that the effect of Covid-19 has been on people's employment and pockets. The survey found that a total of 66 percent of the people's pockets have been affected by Covid-19. 28 per cent of the people were cut in their wages, 25 per cent people worked without pay and 17 per cent people lost their jobs. The lockdown imposed by the Government of India and the government order not to go out of the house closed the whole of India. This had a direct impact on employment. Factories were closed. The employment of common man and migrant labourers was snatched away which forced them to return to their homes. The CMIE report said that between January and March, the number of jobs in India fell from 411 million to 39.6 million and the number of unemployed increased from 320 million to 38 million. Therefore a decline of 90 lakh in the labours force results in a fall of 15 million in the number of workers and an increase in the number of unemployed by 60 lakh. But the way the Modi’s government is dealing with the corona epidemic, 84 percent of the Indians who participated in the survey are satisfied with the policies of the central government. In comparison, only 43 per cent in the US, 56 per cent in the UK, 53 per cent in Hong Kong and 71 per cent in Australia were found to be satisfied with the government's work in dealing with the pandemic.

Mobile Medical Clinics in the United States Post-Affordable Care Act: An Integrative Review.

Despite changes brought about by the 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA), millions of individuals are still unable to access health care in the United States. Mobile medical clinics have been an invisible force of care delivery for vulnerable and marginalized populations for decades; however, little is known about their impact post-ACA. Guided by the Anderson Behavioral Model, the purpose of this article was to review and critique the state of the current literature about mobile medical clinics in the United States since 2010. Following Whittemore and Knafl's integrative review methodology, the search was conducted in 6 databases and delivered 1934 results; 341 articles were removed as duplicates. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines, 2 independent reviewers screened and adjudicated the remaining titles, abstracts, and full-texts, yielding 12 articles in the final review. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) was used to evaluate the quality of the articles. Studies revealed variation in quality, study design, and location; and diversity of chronic diseases and populations addressed (eg, children with asthma, complementary alternative medicine use with children, adults with diabetes and hypertension, patients with chronic disease with an emphasis on the patient experience, utilization patterns in migrant farmers). Mobile medical clinics provide care for the prevention, treatment, and management of chronic illness and their wide geographic spread confirms their broad use across the United States. They provide a return on investment through emergency room avoidance, decreasing hospital length of stay, and improving chronic disease management.

Coffee plantation characteristics of migrant farmers: a case study in Tanggamus, Lampung, Indonesia

Abstract Tanggamus District is the second-largest coffee producer in Lampung Province after West Lampung District. The main production region is located at the highland of the northern side of Tanggamus namely the Sub-district of Air Naningan, Pulau Panggung, and Ulu Belu which border with protected forest area. This research was conducted in the Sumberejo Sub-district of Tanggamus Regency using survey and Focused Group Discussion method, considering that Sumberejo was the population center and the main coffee producer among Talang Padang ex-subdistrict region. The study involved 3 villages that were chosen purposely with 71 respondents of coffee farmers that were determined using a simple random sampling method and 3 series of FGD from April 2019 until September 2020. Data were analyzed using both descriptive and quantitative methods. The results show that 49% of sample farmers grow coffee located at medium (5-19 km) or long distances (⩾20 km) from home. There are 25-76% of sample farmers who work as a seasonal migrant usually (76.5% farmers) come to the garden once a month or once in two months. About 38% of sample farmers have coffee plantations outside Sumberejo Sub-district mainly at the Sub-district of Air Naningan and Ulu Belu. Long-distance coffee plantations are characterized by larger landholdings (1.5 ha on average), higher coffee stands per hectare (2,456 trees on average), and are dominated by mature coffee trees (41% farmers) and younger coffee trees (29% farmers). The more distance from home the lower shade trees population is. However more divers of MPTS are found in the coffee plantation that is located close to home residency. The yield of coffee plantations that are in a close or medium distance from home ranges 0.75-0.77 tons per hectare per year. Meanwhile, coffee plantations that are located a far distance from home get a yield of 0.94 tons per hectare.

Racism in Europe: Characteristics and Intersections With Other Social Categories.

Concerning race and its intertwinements with gender, sexual orientation, class, accents, or ability there is a scarcity of social psychological research in Europe. With an intersectional approach studying racism in Europe it is possible to detect specific experiences of discrimination. The prevalent understanding of European racism is connected to migration from the former colonies to the European metropoles and the post-Second-World-War immigration of ‘guest workers.’ Thus, the focus of this research is on work-related discrimination. Against the background of a short historical review, we present the results of the few existing studies on intersectional discrimination within the labor market in Europe and discuss their implications. The pattern of findings is more complex than the assumption that individuals belonging to two or more marginalized social categories are always the most discriminated ones. Gender, sexual orientation, and origin rather interact with the specific job context. These interactions determine whether minority individuals are discriminated against or even preferred over individuals belonging to the majority group. We argue that considering the stereotype content model and social-identity theory helps to structure the sometimes contradictory results of intersectionality research. Therefore, the review presents new perspectives on racism in Europe based on current research, develops hypotheses on the interplay of intersecting identities, and identifies four novel research questions based on racist attributions considering situational variables: These are the role of concrete job contexts in explaining (no) discrimination, the influence of different stereotypes regarding marginalized groups, the explanatory value of sexual orientation as well as class or socioeconomic-status and age in terms of some patterns of results.

A Study on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sectors of the Indian Economy

COVID-19 emerged in China in December. The World Health Organization declares this virus as Global Disaster in March. The coronavirus has affected the social, economic, political dimensions of the nations globally. In this study, the authors consider the impact of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) on the different activities of primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors of the Indian Economy and various policies and reforms have been taken by the government. The secondary data is collected to put down this literature. Each sector of the economy faces chaos due to coronavirus. Migrant workers or laborers go to their state in the lockdown, a ban on materials, electronics imported from china, supply chain disruption, disturbance in the cash flow are some of the majors' reasons that lead to the uncertainty in different sectors. A fund issued by the Government can be utilized effectively to give benefits to employees, workers, farmers, organizations, and industries.