Labour Migration Research Articles

Conflict potential of Central Asian immigration (using the example of the Yaroslavl region)

The article is devoted to the problem of conflict potential arising as a result of immigration to Russia of the indigenous population of the Central Asian states. Most researchers of labor migration from Central Asian countries to Russia have so far studied the problems of adaptation of migrants and their integration into Russian society. In addition, xenophobia towards migrants by the indigenous population of the Russian Federation is a common research topic, while the radicalization of migrants themselves in Russia and their participation in extremist movements remain poorly studied. The proposed study focuses on the conflict potential created by both temporary, labor, and permanent, long-term migration of the indigenous population of Central Asian countries to Russia. The relevance of the study is related to the sharp aggravation of the problem of Central Asian migration in Russia. Signs of this aggravation appeared even during the COVID-19 epidemic in the form of a sharp increase in the number of conflicts involving migrants, and became especially acute after the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall. The practical significance of studying the conflict-causing potential of Central Asian immigration is due to the need to timely identify the social risks associated with it and develop measures to neutralize them.

The Politics of Quotidian Gestures. Screening the Migrant and the Host in Marian Crișan’s Film, Morgen and Cristian Mungiu’s R. M. N

The article discusses two contemporary Romanian films which, in the changing contexts of globalized migration, address the question of encounter, conflict, and hospitality between the migrant and the local (community) by focusing on the perspective of the host. The encounter with otherness is discussed through the concept of the gestural understood as an imbrication between the somatic and the social. Marian Crișan’s Morgen (2010) focuses on the encounter between a security guard from Salonta and a Kurdish refugee, dismantling the anonymous, faceless image of the migrant. The encounter between the local and the foreigner occurs in the affective medium of quotidian gestures that engender an embodied, accented solidarity and hospitality. Mungiu’s R. M. N. (2022) tackles a conflict in which the inhabitants of a fictitious Romanian village oppose the employment of three workers from Sri Lanka by the local bakery. The film addresses the conflict not as a local instance of xenophobia but as a complex set of socio-economic relations within global capitalism and labour migration. If Mungiu’s film allows the viewer to recognize global relations in local occurrences, Morgen, through a micro-approach to the quotidian, enables the viewer to recognize the other as a face among global processes of displacement.

Almanya’da Büyüyen Türk Öğrencilerin Türkçe Konuşmada Yaptıkları Telaffuz Hatalarının İncelenmesi

In the context of the labor migration agreement, the children of the first generation who arrived in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1961 often faced academic failure due to their lack of proficiency in German. Aware of this, the second and third-generation families started speaking predominantly German at home to help their children learn the language better, pushing Turkish to the background. Since speaking is the most common means of communication in society, effective communication largely depends on clear and correct speech. However, due to the phonetic differences between German and Turkish, children often make pronunciation errors when speaking. The aim of this study is to identify the causes of Turkish pronunciation errors among Turkish-origin students raised in Germany and to propose solutions. This research utilizes a case study within a qualitative research framework. Data collection was conducted through observation and interviews, and the data were analyzed using content analysis. In this study, sound recordings from six classrooms in two primary schools 62 students in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Germany, were examined, and the causes of pronunciation errors, along with suggestions for correcting these errors, were provided. The findings reveal that although children are raised bilingually, they grow up in an environment where German is more dominant than Turkish. As a result, they tend to apply German language rules to Turkish when speaking, leading to pronunciation errors. Additionally, factors such as families speaking with dialects at home, the increase in intercultural marriages, similarities between some German and Turkish words, and differences in the letters of the two languages the number of pronunciation errors increases and contribute to these pronunciation errors. Keywords: Turkish-origin students, bilingualism, speech, pronunciation errors, stress

Does Longer Tenure Mean Greater Ability? Deep-Rooted Politics and Migration in Rural China

This study examines the political motivations behind changes in labor migration rates in Chinese villages. Using data from the China village survey, we estimate the impact of the tenure gap between the village committee director and party branch secretary on village labor migration rates. We find that within the dual power structure of villages, a longer political tenure for the secretary relative to the director significantly suppresses village labor migration rates, while a shorter tenure significantly promotes them. IV estimation supports the causal interpretation found by OLS estimation. This mechanism of causality is associated with vested interests stemming from ambiguous ownership, having a director or secretary with a longer political tenure tends to bias these interests towards villagers or township authorities. Other accompanying effects of the tenure gap should not be ignored, including the amplification effect of the non-laboring population, the feedback effect of labor, and the shrinkage effect of outsiders. This causal relationship is heterogeneous, the dual role analysis shows that the structure and stance of village leaders will affect the strength of the causal relationship, and the regional heterogeneity analysis shows that economic factors that drive village labor migration may be more important than political factors.

Kutafuta Maisha: Connections Between Agency and Structure in Makonde Migratory Labour from Mozambique to Tanzania (ca. 1907-1964)

The drive for making colonial territories “profitable” through various means, such as commodity extraction, got entangled with complex events that stood well beyond the intervening capacity of colonial administrators, and labour migration was no exception. This article analyses Makonde migration from Northern Mozambique toward sisal plantations in neighbouring British Tanganyika during the twentieth century and argues that the interweaving of written and oral sources renders two contrasting pictures: one of an orderly planned commodity sector mediated by industrial pundits and sustained by a rhetoric of colonial “development”; and another of spontaneous, haphazard yet rational life decisions undertaken by migrant men and women. We challenge the conventional take on African labour migration by discussing a much more complex picture that shows how the colonial labour migration system had to address the migrants’ needs and how migrants successfully subverted coercive structures for their benefit, and by doing so, Makonde migrants established their own transformative connections with global phenomena that outreached their participation in commodity production chains

Migration policies and labor mobility in Africa

Labor migration appears to be one of today's solutions to the socio-economic and cultural imbalance in Africa. Its contribution to the growing interconnection of the world over the last century through the commercialization of raw materials is undoubtedly significant, given the relief it has brought to most economies in Africa and beyond. Unfortunately, a panoramic look at the legal atmosphere that hangs over labor migration in Africa leaves one wondering. The aim of this study, which complements many others already carried out on the subject, is to determine the appropriate legal interpretation of migration policies and labor mobility in Africa. According to the results of the analysis and comparison of regional and sub-regional policy frameworks and the various state practices developed in the field of labor migration, a mixed reading reveals that the genuine political will to encourage labor mobility, affirmed at supra-state level, remains inconsistent at state level.

Labor migration and commodity production in Africa: global entanglements

This introductory article presents the objectives, scope and contents of the Special Issue titled Labor Migration and Commodity Production in Africa: Global Entanglements. By congregating a diverse team of scholars from Brazil, Turkey, Germany, France, the United States, and Cameroon, all at different stages of their careers, this Special Issue seeks to build upon current trends in the fields of Global and African History to expand our current understanding of the centrality of African subjects in the making of the contemporary, densely globalized yet deeply unequal world. This introduction sets the theoretical framework that guided our call for papers, summarizes the key findings of each article, and situate their individual contributions within the topics related to the agency of African subjects in the creation of increasingly interconnected societies. We argue that the articles in this Special Issue offer a path to further strengthen and expand both fields of African and Global History by incorporating the analysis of understudied sources from diverse linguistic backgrounds, such as Arabic, Turkish, Portuguese and German, as well as legal documents produced by contemporary African states.

Does Information Improve the Experience of Pursuing Labor Migration? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Pakistan

A large literature on international labor migration explores how to improve low-skilled migrants’ experience of pursuing and obtaining overseas employment. Much of this scholarship focuses on describing and mitigating difficult, and sometimes exploitative, conditions in the host country. Scholars have paid less attention to factors in home countries that may affect aspiring migrants’ experience of looking for overseas work. We help address this gap by conducting a field experiment in the high out-migration country of Pakistan to examine whether receiving new information about employment brokers and overseas opportunities improves aspiring migrants’ subjective and objective experience of the job-seeking process. After analyzing the effects of information on those who lack alternative sources of information, we report mixed findings. These highlight the need to think carefully about ways to improve aspiring migrants’ job-seeking experiences, especially with regard to the common assumption that if low-skilled migrants simply “knew more” — that is, had more relevant and accurate information — they would not allow themselves to have negative migration experiences; our findings suggest this is not necessarily always the case.

The labour migration of the Ovambo workers to the diamond fields in German South West Africa

The extraction of several hundred thousand carats of rough diamonds per year in German South West Africa would have been inconceivable without indigenous workers from the Ovamo region. Each year, thousands of migrant workers from the north of the German colony migrated to the diamond fields to engage in diamond mining and wage labour. The Ovambo workers typically entered into short-term employment contracts for six or nine months before returning to their home regions to focus on farming and harvesting for the rest of the year. This article examines the migrant labour of the Ovambo on the diamond fields of German South West Africa from 1908 to 1914. It focuses on the agency of the indigenous miners, the reasons for their migration, and their social profile. Additionally, it explores the interconnections that arose due to the labour migration of the Ovambo between their home regions and the diamond fields, along with their resulting implications. KEYWORDS: Agency. Wage labour. Diamonds.

The Alienation–Insulation Dynamic and the Low-Wage Migrant Work Ethic

Low-wage labour migrants moving from lower- to higher-income countries have been celebrated for their strong work ethic over recent decades. The paper draws on qualitative insights from European horticulture to explore why low-wage migrants work as hard as they do. We centre our analysis on an ‘alienation–insulation’ dynamic. Specifically, we show how migrants are particularly alienated in ways that are different to that of the immobile working class. However, we also argue that migrants’ spatial (their dual frame of reference) and temporal (their liminal) agency insulates them from this alienation to some degree. It is important, in this respect, to differentiate between alienation as ostensibly encountered (an objective phenomenon) and the actual felt experiences of alienation (as a subjective phenomenon). We conclude that the alienation–insulation dynamic is a key, but underexplored, element in understanding the complex relationship between labour mobility and labour power.

Gender Aspects of Labor Migration from Georgia: Challenges and Trends

Gender Aspects of Labor Migration from Georgia: Challenges and Trends

Outsource processing under staff shortage

During the war, Ukraine has faced nume­rous challenges, one of the most threatening of which is the personnel shortage. The full-scale war caused large-scale labor migration, a signi­ficant number of the able-bodied population was mobilized into the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and this became an important factor that led to a shortage of qualified workers. For many economic entities, this situation becomes critical and requires immediate and effective solutions to ensure stable work. One such solu­tion is outsourced processing which is the trans­fer of certain business processes to external companies that have the necessary resources and expertise. Insufficient research on out­sourcing causes a low level of business aware­ness of its strategic effectiveness. It is hypo­thesized that the use of outsourced process­sing is an effective adaptive solution to overcome the personnel shortage in the war in Ukraine, which will enable business entities to optimize costs, ensure continuity and flexibility of activity, and attract highly qualified specialists. The research was carried out using the methods of analysis, comparison, systematization, empirical studies and case studies, as well as horizon scanning and logical modeling. The challenges of outsour­ced processing in the conditions of war are analyzed, examples of its successful application in conditions of personnel shortage are provi­ded. The conducted studies form scientifically based approaches to determining the directions of integration of outsourced processing in the activities of business entities. The concept of outsourced processing is based on the quality selection of the outsourcer and its establishment of effective partnership relations; creates advantages in innovativeness and flexibility of business; creates conditions for optimizing time, effort and resources; makes it possible to attract the physical and intellectual potential of external companies, in particular to cover the shortage of personnel

ISSUES OF PROVIDING GUARANTEES AND SOCIAL PROTECTION FOR EAEU LABOUR MIGRANTS

Background: Today, the Eurasian Economic Union (hereinafter the EAEU) has formed its own labour market; however, in the current international environment, issues related to ensuring the health protection of migrants and their access to employment persist. Despite ongoing efforts within the EAEU to develop and deepen Eurasian integration and improve the regulatory framework, there is a need in the age of digitalisation to develop better access for workers to social protection and medical support systems. The relevance of this scientific article lies in the presence of problematic issues related to the fact that many migrants are not registered and lack the documentation to protect them legally and financially; this situation contributes to the development of informal employment and low labour productivity. Although the EAEU countries have established working and socio- economic conditions, the issue of ensuring health protection, access to work, and social protection for labour migrants remains unsolved. Methods: This article employs various methods of scientific cognition, including historical and legal analysis, comparative legal study, induction and deduction, as well as analysis and synthesis. It also applies the acts and regulations of the ILO. What is the role of protecting the socio-economic and labour rights of migrant workers as the main task of receiving states? In law enforcement practice, to what extent do the provisions of international agreements on the organised hiring of workers between receiving countries and countries of origin of migrants ensure the adaptation of migrants to the legal regime of the host country, the participation of migrants in the functioning of civil society institutions, and the monitoring of migration processes? How does national regulation of labour migration in integration associations of states rationally organise their actions on the principles of national treatment for migrant workers? Labour migration strengthens integration unions, creating strong social ties and developing civil society institutions within the boundaries of integration associations. Since state sovereignty is inextricably linked to the protection of the interests of fellow citizens in regulating labour migration, all states participating in regional integration are called upon not only to protect the rights of migrant workers but also to provide all conditions for migrants to fulfil their obligations to civil society. The study examined the free movement and provision of labour and social guarantees for labour migrants in the EAEU and compared their situation in the EU. It also surveyed labour migrants in the EAEU by questioning workers in education, medical care, and various private sectors. This article is based on the results of this study. This article examined the challenges in providing guarantees and social protection for EAEU labour migrants. It proposed improvements to legal regulatory mechanisms and outlined recommendations for improving and expanding opportunities for free movement while better safeguarding the social and labour rights of migrants in the EAEU. The study’s primary objectives were as follows: - Examining the provisions of the ILO Convention on migrant workers. - Collecting and analysing data on labour movement across the EAEU - Analysing international EU treaties regarding the legal status of migrant workers - Interviewing migrant workers in the EAEU on issues related to their provision of rights and guarantees under the EAEU Treaty. Results and conclusions: This study highlights the need to organise safe labour migration, provide labour migrants with full access to digital services, improve the system of vocational and technical education in line with labour market demands, as well as develop and implement a unified system for ensuring the safety of workers and their families. Successful adaptation in the host country is identified as a critical factor for both labour migrants and their families. The authors recommend adding a dedicated chapter to the EAEU treaty that would comprehensively address labour and social rights, along with their guarantees.

African Migration at a Crossroads: The Social and Theoretical Implications of Emerging International Migration Trends

This study examines international migration trends in Africa since the mid-1960s. It argues that African international migration trends are at a turning point that could significantly affect the future of migration studies. New African immigrant communities are emerging in Asia, South America, and other world regions, while the influence of state and non-state institutions is increasing. Moreover, interstate migration in Africa is now more disconnected from the legacies of the continent's colonial labor migration systems. By 2050, Africa is also expected to have the world's largest population in the age-groups that typically have the highest probabilities of migration, while per-capita incomes will increase in ways that could reduce the costs of migration. Although Africa's influence on future migration research is likely to increase, progress in developing theories to examine its emerging trends has been limited. With few exceptions, studies on migration in Africa focus on theory application rather than theory building. New theoretical approaches are therefore needed to adequately situate Africa's emerging migration trends within the larger context of migration studies. The building blocks for developing these theories include decolonial approaches that highlight African perspectives and the integration of the substantive influences of future migration trends into theory-building processes.

POLITICAL-ECONOMIC PARADIGM OF EU ENLARGEMENT: THE CASE OF UKRAINE

The Copenhagen criteria define the requirements for Ukraine’s membership of the European Union: democracy guaranteed by stable institutions, a functioning market economy and the ability to implement the union’s economic, political and monetary objectives. Despite progress made in important areas, Ukraine must take further steps on reforms related to abuse of power, lack of transparency and labour migration. Joining the European Union will pose a challenge for Ukraine to reform bad practices and implement European legislation into national law. The Association Agreement and Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade, which contain economic, judicial and financial principles, should be used as a model for a gradual approach to EU policies and legislation. Ukraine’s future success depends on the reforms implemented, the ability to eradicate corruption, keep people in the country, attract foreign investment and rebuild the country, while maintaining ongoing military support to defend the integrity of Ukrainian territory.

Nepali Migrant Workers and Their Occupational Health Hazards in the Workplace: A Scoping Review

An increasing number of people are relocating to search for work, leading to substantial implications for both local and global health. Approximately 3.6% of the global population (281 million) migrates annually. Nepal has experienced a notable surge in labour migration in recent years, with a substantial proportion of its residents actively seeking work opportunities abroad. Understanding work-related risks is crucial for informing policies, interventions, and practices that can improve the welfare of this hard-to-reach population. This scoping review aims to systematically identify and analyse occupational health hazards encountered by Nepali migrant workers employed overseas. Medline, Scopus, Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), and the NepJOL databases were systematically searched for primary research papers published in English up to July 2024. Relevant data, including workplace hazards and their impact on health outcomes, were extracted and narratively synthesised by highlighting key themes in the existing literature. A total of 24 articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in this review. Of these, twelve studies were conducted in Nepal, five in Gulf countries, four in Malaysia, two in Hong Kong, and one each in India and Korea. Workplace injuries (motor vehicle injuries, machinery injuries, falls from a height, and falls on a heavy object), poor working environment (including long working hours, work without leave, discrepancy in pay scale, limited access to drinking water and toilet/bathroom facilities), workplace abuse, sexual abuse, and torture were identified as key occupational health hazards faced by the Nepali migrant workers abroad. Multi-level intervention strategies, such as safety training standards, improving working conditions, and eliminating exploitative labour practices, are critical to improving occupational health and safety standards for Nepali migrant workers abroad. This includes creating a supportive working environment where employees can easily and timely access health services as needed.

‘상실’과 ‘저항’: 두브라프카 우그레시치의 포스트유고슬라비아 에세이즘과 그 함의

This research is devoted to the exploration of the implications of the Post-Yugoslav essayistic writings(Post-jugoslavenska esejistička proza) by Dubravka Ugrešić, one of the major contemporary female writers in Croatia through the analysis of their main themes and narrative features. It is the genre of essay that came to the fore in her literary works after she chose to live as an exiled writer. On the whole, it is the feeling of ‘loss’(gubitak) and the attitude of ‘resistance’(otpor) that underlie her essayistic writings, which are subsequently classified into five groups from the thematic points of view as follows. The first one is related to the nostalgic feeling of loss from the disappearance of Yugoslavia and includes those essays that criticize the confiscation and manipulation of the historical memories of ex-Yugoslavia in the new nation states that came to being after the disintegration of SFRY and during the outbreak of the Yugoslav interethnic violences and civil wars. The second group comprises the essays that provide the microscopic observations on the current situations in the Western Balkans in the transitional post-communist period. The third group of essayistic writings addresses the mutual recognitions between the East and the West of Europe, and the changes in recent Europe, caused by refugees and labour migration. The fourth group of essays examines the current status of literature including those ones and their writers in the Western Balkans and emphasizes the necessity of the proper consideration of the transnational literature as an alternative to the conservative national literatures, which have relied on the exclusive nationalistic cultures and have contributed to the identity politics. The fifth group of essays in Ugrešić’s oeuvre is related with the feministic criticism of patriarchal culture and misogyny in the Western Balkans. Based on the frequently repeated narratological elements, the above-mentioned themes are expressed through the authorial colorful tones and writing styles from the writings in fragments and short manifestoes to the long sarcastic feminist critiques and serious political interpretations with the view of diagnosing the crises of humanness(humanitas) from the Western Balkan countries to the West European societies. Ugrešić’s essayism originated from her diverse existential experiences as an exiled writer, and therefore needs to be considered as the heterogeneous and multilayered discourses that lead the readers to the deep contemplation and seeking solutions to the frustrating circumstances after the collapse of the communist countries.

Why Should People Leave Their Villages and Migrate to Cities?

This article deals with why there is a mass exodus of migration from rural villages to urban cities. It analyses both the push and pull factors that cause migration. It focuses on the distress of labour migrants and the apathy of the government at present. The article suggests various ways and means of possible intervention to alleviate their misery. It suggests the need for proactive enhancement and protective measures.

ECONOMIC AND LEGAL ASPECTS OF THE ANTI-CRISIS MANAGEMENT OF THE STAFF POTENTIAL OF THE ENTERPRISE UNDER THE CONDITIONS OF STRENGTHENING PROCESSES OF FORCED LABOR MIGRATION

The purpose of the article is to identify the problematic economic and legal aspects of anti-crisis management of the personnel potential of the enterprise in the conditions of strengthening the processes of forced labour migration of the population. The results obtained in the course of the research allow us to ascertain the significant impact on the activities of economic entities of modern challenges and dangers, which cause significant destructive changes in the labour resource management system of enterprises as a result of the threatening increase in the scale of forced labour migration, which exacerbates the shortage of personnel at domestic enterprises. and through the intensification of mobilization measures, which cause the movement of the economically active and highly qualified labour force to the structures of the defence forces and the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The article analyzes the essence, features and interrelationship of the anti-crisis management of the personnel potential of the enterprise with the processes of forced labour migration of the population. It has been established that forced labour migration is a destabilizing factor in enterprise activity and creates prerequisites for the emergence of crisis situations. It has been proven that forced labour migration has a significant negative impact on the formation of labour resources of domestic enterprises, which causes a shortage of highly qualified workers. It was found that the processes of forced labour migration within the regions continue to intensify in Ukraine. In order to overcome crisis situations at the enterprise regarding the management of personnel potential, the most appropriate measures are proposed and substantiated. The model of anti-crisis management of the personnel potential of the enterprise in the conditions of strengthening the processes of forced labour migration of the population is substantiated and proposed.

The Eradication of Human Trafficking: What Can We Learn From East Lombok District?

The lack of information regarding labor migration in the society of West Nusa Tenggara Province means that quite few prospective Indonesian Migrant Workers (IMW) are vulnerable to malpractice recruitment and can result in exploitation so that they have the potential to become human trafficking victims. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of West Nusa Tenggara Provincial Regulation Number 10 of 2008 and the obstacles and also the opportunities for preventing and eradicating human trafficking as an effort to prevent human trafficking in East Lombok Regency. The results of this study that are West Nusa Tenggara Provincial Regulation Number 10 of 2008 concerning Prevention and Eradication of Human Trafficking and its derivative, namely East Lombok Regency Regional Regulation Number 9 of 2013 concerning Protection of Victims of Human Trafficking and Acts of Violence against Women and Children are not running effectively considering that the mandate of these two regional regulations is to form a Cluster Human Trafficking duties at the Regency Level have not been carried out, so that the relevant agencies cannot coordinate optimally. Optimizing the Eradication of Human Trafficking in East Lombok Regency can be done by forming a Human Trafficking Task Force so that inter-agency cooperation can run optimally. The formation of the Human Trafficking Task Force will provide certainty regarding the involvement of human resources, funding and facilities and infrastructure. Apart from the role of the Human Trafficking Task Force, of course there is also a need for public awareness, especially prospective migrant workers, to register themselves legally so that they can prevent them from becoming victims of Human Trafficking.