Migrant Workers Research Articles

Emotional Intelligence as Predictor of Work Motivation: The Mediating Role of Self-Esteem - Case of Prospective Indonesian Domestic Migrant Workers

Abstracts are written in Indonesian and English wit Through the Decree of the Minister of Manpower No. 313 of 2015 established the Indonesian National Work Competency Standards (SKKNI) for domestic workers which became the guideline for competency test material for Prospective Indonesian Domestic Migrant Workers (Ministry of Manpower, 2015). Most of those competencies are technical competencies such as Operating Cleaning Equipment, Cleaning Living Rooms and Bedrooms or Cleaning Bathrooms and Toilet Facilities, which are easily observed by the assessor with the naked eye, so we consider it necessary to find out the mental processes behind the technical activities of Prospective Indonesian Domestic Migrant Workers such as how they identify their own strengths and weaknesses, self-motivation and managing emotions that encourage work motivation. The study was non-experimental based on quantitative research and utilized a survey method to collect data. Linear regression method was used to predicts the value of the Intrinsic Motivation, which is the response or outcome Emotional Intelligence being analyzed. The hypothesis of this study is that there is a relationship between emotional intelligence and work motivation which is mediated by self-efficacy. The data collected consisted of 210 Prospective Domestic Migrant Workers. Based on the results of the Pearson correlation coefficient, it can be seen that there is significant relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Intrinsic Motivation (r (208) = 1,0; p < 0,001), partially mediated by Self-Efficacy, which is 28.1%. Thus, all Job Training Institutions for Prospective Indonesian Domestic Migrant Workers must pay more attention to developing emotional intelligence for Prospective Indonesian Domestic Migrant Workers, instead of only focusing on providing technical knowledge related to work, but also psychological provision because it has been proven that technical ability has a positive correlation with emotions in predicting work motivation.

Industrial Fragmentation, Migration and Live-in Factories in Ahmedabad

This article interrogates live-in factory labour as a distinct feature of informalised industrial structure, an absence of state regulation and an outcome of kinship-based internal migration processes and labour precariousness. It also demonstrates the fallacy of analysing living arrangements of migrant workers as undifferentiated structural artefacts and highlights the underlying social relational dynamics. It argues that suboptimal wages and terms of employment embedded in highly asymmetrical relations between employer and worker mediated through labour contractors and organised on caste, ethnicity and regional lines dictate the persistence of the system of in-factory living of workers. Such a living arrangement represents a distinct configuration of urban employment that allows firms to have greater control over workers’ lives to extract surplus value and determine their relations with the city. Thus, the article posits that migration, informal workplaces and informal labour relations converge together to create certain hyper-precarious occupational niches reserved for workers from particularly marginalised communities. Apart from debt bondage, a phenomenon which has received significant scholarly attention over the years, on-site accommodation is used by employers to keep vulnerable migrant workers in these niches.

Digital Technology Adoption in Entrepreneurs: Are Ex-Migrant Workers More Adaptive?

Research Originality: Migrant workers should have improved their skills and be more adaptive to applying digital technology. This research contribution focuses on ex-migrant workers with current careers as business owners.Research Objectives: This research reviewed the determinant factor of technological adoption on entrepreneurs with the experience of ex-migrants based on some factors, such as migrant, demographic, and business.Research Methods: The applied method of this study is - logit regression analysis. This study examined 329 business owners of 1.518 workers as surveyed by the National Workforce Survey, SAKERNAS, in Mataram, in the period 2022.Empirical Results: The research result was the lower digital technology adoption of ex-migrant business owners than the non-ex-migrant workers. The causal factor was the poor educational level of ex-migrant workers in Indonesia.Implications: The empirical implication of this study is - to determine the empowerment program of ex-migrant workers regarding the digital technology utility within the scope of entrepreneurship activities and technological transfer through the ex-migrant workers of Indonesia. JEL Classification: J6, M2, O3How to Cite:Haer, J., Gravitiani, E., & Putro, T. R. (2024). Digital Technology Adoption in Entrepreneurs: Are Ex-Migrant Workers More Adaptive?. Etikonomi, 23(1), 1 – 10. https://doi.org/10.15408/etk.v23i1.34681.

Collaborative Governance in Efforts to Protect Indonesian Migrant Workers

The issue of protecting Indonesian migrant workers is currently still completely dominated by the government's role in handling it. There is no involvement of non-governmental elements to synergize with each other. Apart from that, the protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers only focuses on Indonesian Migrant Workers who experience problems and has not yet touched on the realm of prevention or preventative action. This research will analyze and identify obstacles and supporting factors in collaborative governance in the context of protecting Indonesian Migrant Workers. Apart from that, it is also reviewing and constructing a collaborative governance model in order to handle the protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers more appropriately. The method used in this research uses ethnographic qualitative methods. Collaborative governance in the protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers can be studied comprehensively in terms of initial conditions, institutional design, leadership and collaboration processes. So it is important to carry out more in-depth research into existing phenomena from a collaborative governance perspective. The research method used by the researcher is a qualitative approach by conducting interviews with all informants related to Indonesian Migrant Worker affairs. The results of this research found that collaborative governance in protecting Indonesian Migrant Workers has not gone well, because of the presence of actors who have economic and political interests. Apart from that, cooperation that is not yet optimal and not in harmony is characterized by a lack of involvement of non-government stakeholders in the collaboration process.

“I Feel Qatari Today […] I Feel Disabled Today, […] I Feel Like a Migrant Worker Today…”: On Sport, Leadership, and Moral Legitimacy

This study examines the public’s perceptions of a speech delivered by FIFA’s president in a press conference one day before the Qatar 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup. In total, 34,714 publicly available user responses were collected from news media YouTube channels in North America, Europe, and Asia, as well as from Twitter hashtags related to the press conference. This user-generated content was analyzed using sentiment analysis to determine the degree of positivity or negativity, followed by qualitative thematic analysis to identify specific factors influencing public perceptions of Infantino’s speech, including both positive and negative aspects. The results suggested that FIFA’s communication was “debated” due to questions and challenges posed by the public. It is noted, however, that the magnitude of negative and positive evaluations varied according to the medium used and the region. Negative evaluations related to ‘hypocrisy’, ‘lack of transparency’, and ‘diplomatic hedging’, whereas positive evaluations related to ‘symbolic communication’, ‘activist governance’, and ‘cultural appropriateness’. Using the public as a resource for institutional evaluation, this research contributes to the scholarship of sport management by analyzing the impact of communication on an organization’s moral legitimacy.

Demographic characteristics and prevalence of asymptomatic Leishmania donovani infection in migrant workers working in an endemic area in Northwest Ethiopia.

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL), a neglected tropical disease that causes substantial morbidity and mortality, is a serious health problem in Ethiopia. Infections are caused by Leishmania (L.) donovani parasites. Most individuals remain asymptomatic, but some develop VL, which is generally fatal if not treated. We identified the area of Metema-Humera in Northwest Ethiopia as a setting in which we could follow migrant workers when they arrived in an endemic area. The demographic characteristics of this population and factors associated with their risk of asymptomatic infection are poorly characterised. We divided our cohort into individuals who visited this area for the first time (first comers, FC) and those who had already been in this area (repeat comers, RC). We followed them from the beginning (Time 1, T1) to the end of the agricultural season (Time 2, T2), performing tests for sand fly bite exposure (anti-sand fly saliva antibody ELISA) and serology for Leishmania infection (rK39 rapid diagnostic test and the direct agglutination test) at each time point and collecting information on risk factors for infection. Our results show that most migrant workers come from non-endemic areas, are male, young (median age of 20 years) and are farmers or students. At T1, >80% of them had been already exposed to sand fly bites, as shown by the presence of anti-saliva antibodies. However, due to seasonality of sand flies there was no difference in exposure between FC and RC, or between T1 and T2. The serology data showed that at T1, but not at T2, a significantly higher proportion of RC were asymptomatic. Furthermore, 28.6% of FC became asymptomatic between T1 and T2. Over the duration of this study, one FC and one RC developed VL. In multivariable logistic regression of asymptomatic infection at T1, only age and the number of visits to Metema/Humera were significantly associated with asymptomatic infection. A better understanding of the dynamics of parasite transmission and the risk factors associated with the development of asymptomatic infections and potentially VL will be essential for the development of new strategies to prevent leishmaniasis.

Az interszekcionalitás mint elméleti keret a migráns munkavállalók egyenlőtlenségekkel és társadalmi pozicionálással kapcsolatos tapasztalatainak tanulmányozásához

Intersectionality depicts the intricate interplay of various social categorizations in shaping the experiences of individuals or communities rather than single categorization alone. This article attempts to introduce intersectionality as an essential theoretical framework for research and analysis of migrant workers' lived experience with social inequalities, and at the same time, their social positionings. Initially a critique of academic feminism from a Black activist and more inclusive perspective, intersectionality has been quickly adopted by researchers from other fields as a framework due to its usefulness in researching inequalities. By tracing intersectionality back to the context where Crenshaw coined the term, together with the presentation of its key proponents and analyses of two case studies, this article hopes to shed light on the way intersectionality can be an essential tool to explore the way migrant workers employ their multiple and intersecting identities to seek upward social mobility.

Prevalence and social determinants of depression: A cross-sectional survey of Myanmar migrant workers in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand

ABSTRACT Background: Depression is a common mental disorder and the sixth leading cause of disability in Thailand. Chiang Mai has historically been a city of attraction for labour migration for Shan migrants from the adjacent Southern Shan State of Myanmar. Currently, only infectious diseases are screened during the pre-employment period. Prevention and early detection of noncommunicable diseases can improve a healthy workforce and reduce the healthcare burden on the host country. Therefore, we aimed to determine the prevalence of depression and associated factors. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was done among Myanmar migrant adults legally working in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Results: The final analysis included 360 participants and the prevalence of depression was 14.4%. Being female, duration of stay in Thailand of more than 10 years, co-residence with co-workers, and marginalisation pattern of acculturation were significant associated factors affecting depression in a multivariate regression analysis model. Conclusion: Although the culture and dialect were not different between the host and country of origin, Myanmar migrant workers of Shan ethnicity suffered from depression. Our findings highlighted the importance of social determinants beyond common predictors of depression among migrants and the need for public health measures to promote migrants' integration into the host culture.

Skill the low-skilled: the knowledge-driven stepwise migration of Vietnamese workers in South China

This article investigates the interplay between knowledge acquisition and the stepwise migration trajectories of low-skilled Vietnamese workers in China. Utilizing a rich array of data garnered from face-to-face interviews, customized surveys, on-site observations, media narratives, and an archival review of government regulations in Guangxi—a province bordering Vietnam—and in Guangdong, a non-adjacent province, this study proposes an analytical framework, skill-driven migration, to highlight the synergy between the pre-migratory socio-demographic attributes of migrants and the circumstances prevailing in both the places of origin and destination which orchestrates distinct job allocations and skill augmentation avenues. Notably, our study underscores that the competencies acquired in manufacturing employments potentially broaden the horizon of destinations for migrants in their subsequent stepwise migration endeavors. This phenomenon, in turn, poses intricate immigration management quandaries for newly emerged destination nations like China, spotlighting a nuanced dimension of labor mobility and policy frameworks in the evolving regional economic integration. Last, our findings challenge the conventional dichotomy of high-skilled and low-skilled categories of labor migration, as well as the dichotomy of explicit-tacit knowledge.

Overcoming Barriers: Women Migrant Workers in Western Odisha

Migration is generally the permanent or semi-permanent transformation of residents inside or outside of a country. There can be inter-state, intra-state, inter-district and intra-district migration. The movement of people from village areas to town areas is called rural-urban migration. The rural push factors such as decline in income from agriculture, lack of alternative job, poverty, unemployment, denied access to basic facilities, further encourage people to move to cities. Women and girls are migrating to cities in hopes of getting opportunities, finding greater financial independence, and gaining new lives for themselves and their families. In that condition, the informal sector provides employment opportunities for women in cities as street vendors, domestic workers, construction workers, etc. Migration is widespread in the area of western Odisha. There is a mass seasonal migration from rural to urban areas, including Sambalpur, Bargarh, and to cities in other neighbouring states. This paper begins with a discussion on female worker migration in Western Odisha, tracing the roots from perspectives of both push and pull factors. Next, it examines the challenges confronted by female migrants in the workplace and challenges related to basic infrastructure after migration. Finally, there will be discussion on policy and programmes for migrant workers.

Health seeking behavior among Myanmar migrant workers in Khon Kaen Province, Thailand

Background: Numbers of migrant workers have been increasing in Thailand, 69% of low skilled migrant workers are from Myanmar. Migrant workers are at highest risk of work-related injury and illness as compared to immigrants. There is limited study focusing on the magnitude of health seeking behavior and its associated factors among Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand. Objectives: To determine the proportion of the health seeking behavior and its associated factors among Myanmar migrant workers. Methods: This was an analytical cross-sectional study using quantitative data where 423 Myanmar migrant workers were included and the study was carried out in the Khon Kaen province, Thailand. Community people working in a fishing net factory and a construction site were selected by simple random sampling method. Data collection was done via face-to-face interviews. Multiple logistic regression was used for data analysis. The association was described with Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) and its 95% Confidence Interval (95% CI) at the statistically significant level of p value < 0.05. Results: A total of 423 participants aged between 18 and 56 years (mean: 30.89 ± 7.95 years) and 61.7% currently married were enrolled in this study. Three-fourths (76.36%) of participants had income of more than 10,000 baths per month. Around 87% respondents were healthy. Overall, 46.81% of participants had appropriate health seeking behavior. Factors significantly associated with appropriate health seeking behavior were fishing net factory workers (AOR:1.80, 95% CI: 1.03-3.13), ability to speak Thai (AOR: 2.58, 95% CI: 1.52-4.39), non-drinkers (AOR: 1.60, 95% CI: 1.01-2.53), unhealthy workers (AOR:2.30, 95% CI: 1.21-4.39), injured (AOR: 3.33, 95% CI: 1.67-6.61) and having chronic diseases (AOR: 2.92,95% CI: 1.55-5.52). Conclusion: The proportion of appropriate health seeking behavior of Myanmar migrant workers was unsatisfactory. Occupation, ability to speak Thai, nondrinker, unhealthy, injury and chronic diseases were statistically significantly associated with appropriate health seeking behavior. Language translators should be assigned in the health centres to solve the barrier of health seeking behaviour of Myanmar migrant workers.

Job changing frequency and experimental decisions: A field study of migrant workers in the manufacturing industry

Migrant workers form an important part of the labor force in the economic development of many countries. Their turnover decisions may affect the performance of manufacturing industries. It is therefore important to understand what kind of individual behavioral preferences affect their job changing frequency. In this study, a lab-in-the-field experiment was conducted through a large online-to-offline job-matching platform to elicit manufacturing migrant workers' preferences, such as uncertainty attitudes, intertemporal choices and social preferences, especially difference aversion. We found that subjects who were more risk seeking changed jobs more frequently. We also used job record data from the platform and conducted an empirical analysis to investigate one explanation for this result: risk-seeking subjects possess more optimistic expectations of potential job opportunities and are more likely to sample different jobs and thus generate higher job changing frequency. Our findings may help policy-makers and employers design policies or mechanisms to prevent excessive job-changing behavior.

The changing meaning of "no" in Canadian sex work.

With the migration of sex workers to online advertising in Canada, a substantial body of research has emerged on how they communicate with prospective clients. However, given the enormous quantity of archival material available, finding representative ways to identify what sex workers say is a difficult task. Numerical analysis of commonly used phrases allows for the analysis of large numbers of documents potentially identifying themes that may be missed using other techniques. This study considers how Canadian sex workers communicate by examining how the word "no" was used by online advertisers over a 15-year period. Source materials consisted of three collections of online classified advertising containing over 4.2 million ads collected between 2007 and 2022 representing 214456 advertisers. Advertisers and demographic variables were extracted from ad metadata. Common terms surrounding the word "no" were used to identify themes. The word "no" was used by 115127 advertisers. Five major themes were identified: client reassurance (54084 advertisers), communication (47130 advertisers), client race (32612 advertisers), client behavior (23863 advertisers), and service restrictions (8545 advertisers). The probability of there being an association between an advertiser and a major theme was found to vary in response to several variables, including: time period, region, advertiser gender, and advertiser ethnicity. Results are compared with previous work on race and risk messaging in sex work advertising and factors influencing client race restrictions are considered. Over time, the restriction related themes of client behavior, service restrictions, and client race became more prominent. Collectives, multi-regional, cis-female, and Black or Mixed ancestry advertisers were more likely to use restrictions.

Identities and the City: Socialities amongst Migrant Domestic Workers in Kolkata

Migrant subjectivities, experiences and agency have not received the attention needed within development studies discussions on migration, and gender remains to be mainstreamed within understandings of migration. This article attempts to contribute towards bridging these gaps by outlining the findings of a study that explored sociality amongst migrant domestic workers in Kolkata. It outlines experiences of living the migrant identity amongst women migrating from rural West Bengal to Kolkata as well as forms of sociality they engage in at the level of the everyday. Socialities with their employers at the site of paid domestic work allow them to lay claims to the city by drawing on identities based in the Partition of India, 1947. Drawing on the concepts of ‘beings’ from Amartya Sen’s capability approach and of the ‘right to the city’, originally formulated by Henri Lefebvre, the article captures two significant questions emerging from these socialities: those of identity and self, and relationship with the city. It further shows the interrelation between these two frameworks that becomes apparent in the context of what the above socialities imply for the women in the study.

Harnessing transnational funds of knowledge through translanguaging pedagogy: Insights from an Asian migrant teacher

ABSTRACT Drawing on the concepts of translanguaging and transnational funds of knowledge, this qualitative study explored the multilingual and mobile life and pedagogical approaches of Ms. Tao, an Asian migrant teacher working in a New York City public school. The findings reveal that Ms. Tao’s vast linguistic, cultural, and migratory experiences have shaped her firm translanguaging stance and strong commitment to translanguaging pedagogy. She employs various bilingual and transnational resources to strategically and deliberately circumvent the school’s strict monolingual policies and foster everyday translanguaging for bilingual students in her classroom. The findings of this study provide valuable implications for teacher preparation, bilingual education, and future research explorations of translanguaging pedagogies among migrant teachers.

Review of the Law on the Protection of Indonesian Illegal Workers (TKI) Abroad

The purpose of this study is to analyze: 1) Describe and explain the legal arrangements of illegal Indonesian Workers (TKI) in Indonesia; 2) Analyze legal reviews of the protection of illegal Indonesian Workers (TKI) abroad. The research method used is normative juridical with a statutory approach, concept approach, and case studies.The results showed that: 1) In Indonesia, Law Number 18 of 2017 concerning the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers regulates protection for Indonesian migrant workers, including migrant workers who work officially abroad. However, for illegal migrant workers, their presence abroad illegally makes them vulnerable to exploitation, oppression, and injustice. To minimize the problems faced by workers abroad and protect the dignity and dignity of these workers, the regulation on the placement of Indonesian workers abroad in Law No. 39 of 2004 concerning the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Workers Abroad is a way out. 2) In legal reviews of illegal migrant workers abroad, it is important to consider efforts to prevent illegal departure of migrant workers and also improve protection for those already abroad. This could include measures such as education about the risks of illegal migration, law enforcement against illegal entrepreneurs or brokers, and increased access to legal and consular assistance for migrant workers in need

Wage Bargaining Power of Internal Migrant Workers: Evidence from Urban Labor Market in China

This study analyses the wage bargaining power of employers and internal migrant workers in the urban labor market in China using a two-tiered SFA model. The findings indicate that bargaining power decreases the observed wage relative to the benchmark wage which is associated with worker’s actual productivity. The availability of migrant labor is identified to be a key variable in the wage bargaining process. This study reveals that the migrant workers who obtain jobs via informal job search methods stand in a weak bargaining position relative to those using formal search methods which is consistent with limited choices hypothesis. Additionally, the migrant workers in the manufacturing and construction industries or producing and processing occupations extract surplus nearly identical to other groups.

Public control over migrant workers in Russia: to the problem statement

This article is devoted to the analysis of modern problems of the organization and implementation of public control over migrant workers in the Russian Federation. The authors argue that public control is the leading institution of civil society, which is the most important legal guarantee for the implementationand protection of both the system of constitutional principles and the entire system of rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of citizens and non-governmental non-profit organizations. The paper substantiates the position that public control measures should be carried out in relation to: authorized public authorities in the field of migration relations; enterprises, institutions and organizations that invite, import and use foreign citizens as labor, as well as stateless persons who previously lived abroad; labor migrants themselves; formal (registered in The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation), and informal public associations of migrant workers. In the course of writing this scientific article, a number of general and private scientific research methods were used, including: formal-logical; comparative-legal; historical-legal; statistical; sociological; method of analyzing specific legal situations. The article develops and substantiates a system of measures to optimize the processes of organizing and implementing public control over the above-mentioned objects related to labor migration, including by: formalizing public control in the Constitution as well as in legislation on public control; determining the list of subjects of public control authorized to organize and conduct public control in relation to the above-mentioned public relations; obliging any subjects employing foreigners and stateless persons to create trade union organizations; conducting scientific and practical research in the above-mentioned sphere of public control; incorporation into the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation of measures of responsibility for countering the legitimate activities of representatives of subjects of public control in the field of labor migration; strengthening the organizational, legal and logistical base of subjects of public control in this area.

IJCM_326A: Access to Contraceptives for Migrants: Understanding how to improve family planning coverage in Brick Kiln in Northern India- A mixed methods study

Background: Family planning is a key means to achieving many of the Sustainable Development Goals. Lack of data in marginalized populations on knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) hampers efforts to improve modern contraceptive practice. Objectives: To assess the knowledge, attitude and family planning practices and understand the facilitators and barriers for adopting family planning methods. Methodology: Cross-sectional study among men and women workers of reproductive age group and in-depth interviews (IDIs) in selected women worker of reproductive age group; were conducted. Qualitative data were described in proportions and compared using standard statistical tests. Qualitative data were coded and grouped and discussed using identified themes. Results: Among 85 migrant workers studied, more than two-third of the workers had no formal schooling. Only 38% were found to have practiced any Family Planning Methods (FPM), among the non-usage of any FPM, it has been found that 37% were never felt the need for FPM, 21% had no knowledge regarding any FPM. The facilitators identified for FPM were knowledge & practice about FPM, felt need for a small family, health system support, family support. As a migrant worker, they face multiple barriers like, difficulty in identifying the health facility, increased work time, difficulty in comprehending the local language and inaccessible frontline healthcare workers. Conclusion: The finding stresses the need to shift focus towards building intention, in addition to ensuring access of trained staff, and commodities drugs and equipment, and building capacities of health care providers

Between Marketization and Demarketization: Reconfiguration of the Migration Industry in the Agricultural Sector in Israel

This paper focuses on the consequences of the implementation of a bilateral agreement between Israel and Thailand for migrant workers in the agricultural sector. Its purpose is to shed light on the key mechanisms of the transition from the marketization to demarketization of recruiting migrant workers, and to show how this transition affects the forms of labor recruitment and its consequences for the labor migrants. The study is based on three face-to-face surveys conducted among 180 agricultural workers from Thailand. Fifty-five were surveyed in 2011 before the implementation of the bilateral agreement, and 125 were interviewed after the agreement was implemented. Relying on a “before” and “after design, we first highlight the ways in which the private recruitment industry operated in Israel in the context of a state-sponsored temporary labor migration program, identifying the actors involved in the process and explaining how they profited from the labor recruitment. Second, we shed light on the importance of bilateral agreements in eliminating illicit practices for recruiting foreign workers in Israel and its practical consequences for the Thai migrants arriving under the new arrangement. We discuss our findings in light of the theories presented in the paper.