Labor Migration and the Philippine Labor Market

Abstract

Based on recorded data, the Philippines has experienced the largest outflow in Asia of both permanent emigrants and migrant labor over the last three to four decades. The number working and living abroad has reached almost 8% of the population and the yearly outflow of workers bound for an increasingly varied destinations and occupations is about 14% of the labor force. The paper discusses the rising scale and changing structure of migrants and explains these by three interacting factors that make for labor market flexibilityan extensive market-based educational system, active employment service industry and migration's own backward and forward linkages. Further discussed are the economic implications of the migration and some rigidity in the education market that tends to pull down returns to migration.     

Are Workers in the Developing World Winners or Losers in the Current Era of Globalization?

This article investigates whether workers in less-developed countries (LDC) are winners or losers in the expanding global economy. This study is distinctive in that it looks beyond the impact of globalization on direct economic benefits to labor (employment and surplus labor) and assesses if workers simultaneously improve their bargaining power in the marketplace. I use a time-series cross sectional panel data set for 59 developing countries from 1972 to 1997 to demonstrate that the overall impact of globalization on labor has been different in countries at various levels of economic development. These results challenge conventional wisdom by revealing that under conditions of globalization, labor in low-income countries is not necessarily in a better bargaining position despite certain economic gains. In contrast, labor in high-income countries enjoys both greater economic benefits and an improved bargaining position. The absolute “winners” in globalization ultimately comprise a small percentage of the larger labor force in the developing world. Nita Rudra is an assistant professor of international affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research interests include the impact of globalization on social welfare expenditures in developing countries, the political foundations of welfare regimes, and the causes and effects of democracy. Her most recent works appear in theAmerican Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, International Organization, andInternational Studies Quarterly. The author is grateful to Hayward Alker for valuable advice and input on this research project and James McGuire for generously providing access to his data. The SCID editors and anonymous reviewers also provided extremely helpful feedback and comments.     

More Rights,Less Power: Labor Standards and Labor Markets in East European Post-communist States

This paper examines changes in labor markets and labor rights for 13 post-communist states of East Central Europe and the Former Soviet Union. It focuses on the simultaneous pressures to increase the flexibility of labor markets and improve labor standards in the years since the collapse of communism. Comparative measures and patterns of both de jure and de facto standards and flexibility are presented, and the roles of key institutional promoters of change are analyzed. I find that a combination of democratic regime type and European Union accession has pulled East European states toward the strengthening of collective labor rights. The effect is strongest on the states that joined the EU in 2004, weaker for those joining in 2007, while the three post-Soviet, non-accession states remain significantly more labor-repressive. Labor market flexibilization has been a more uniform trend in the post-communist region. In the context of this project’s inter-regional comparisons, contemporary Eastern Europe has the strongest labor rights. At the same time, the decline of trade unions and limits of collective bargaining in most post-communist states undermine the effectiveness of transposed EU legislation and bargaining institutions in empowering labor. As shown by the exceptional case of Slovenia, strong unions are necessary to fully enforce rights.     

Authoritarian Abdication: Bargaining Power and the Role of Firms in Migrant Welfare

Throughout the Arabian Gulf, the immigration law known as the kafala formally delegates to firms and other “sponsors” control over migrants’ mobility, housing, and general welfare. These states have abdicated almost any responsibility over migrants, giving firms nearly unchecked power over their workers’ daily lives. In this paper, I consider the welfare implications of this system and explore the conditions under which migrants can extract concessions from firms. Drawing on a nationally representative survey from Qatar, I show that migrant satisfaction, workplace difficulties, and overall quality of life varies widely across camps and firms. In explaining this variation, I argue that welfare crucially depends on an individual’s bargaining power. Migrants with a contract or credible exit options hold greater bargaining power, which strongly associates with improved perceptions of welfare. All told, contracts and exit options appear to provide even the most vulnerable workers a means of protection within authoritarian states.     

Wage determination in Brazil: The growth of union bargaining power and informal employment

This article examines wage determination in Brazilian manufacturing during the 1980s and early 1990s. It presents evidence to show that the reduction in state regulation of collective bargaining has led to the development of a system of wage determination which is increasingly characterised by rent sharing and insider trade union bargaining power. Real wages appear increasingly inflexible with respect to movements in open unemployment, with a large informal sector disciplining formal sector wage bargaining and cushioning the impact of broader labour market conditions. An important consequence of this is that the employment costs of a successful counter‐inflationary strategy may be very severe.     

The Education Gap of China’s Migrant Children and Rural Counterparts

Rural residents in China today face at least two key decisions: a) where to live and work; and b) where to send their children to school. In this paper we study the second decision: should a rural parent send their child to a public rural school or have him or her attend a private migrant school in the city. While there is an existing literature on the impact of this decision on student academic performance, one of the main shortcomings of current studies is that the data that are used to analyse this issue are not fully comparable. To fill the gap, we collected data on the educational performance of both migrant students who were born in and come from specific source communities (prefecture) in rural China and students who are in rural public schools in the same source communities. Specifically, the dataset facilitates our effort to measure and identity the academic gap between the students in private migrant schools in Shanghai and Suzhou and those in the public rural schools in Anhui. We also seek to identify different sources of the gap, including selection effects and observable school quality effects. According to the results of the analysis, there is a large gap. Students in public rural schools outperform students in private migrant schools by more than one standard deviation (SD). We found that selection effects only account for a small part of this gap. Both school facility effects and teacher effects explain the achievement gap of the students from the two types of schools, although these effects occur in opposite directions.     

Good governance or muddling through? Layoffs and employment reform in socialist China

China’s socialist employment system has undergone radical changes since the 1990s along with enterprise restructuring. Surplus workers have been laid off from state-owned enterprises in large numbers. China’s policy program for the management of layoffs in this process of enterprise restructuring has been evaluated as an example of ‘good practices in labor administration’. In this paper, we use original field data collected in Beijing, supplemented by additional information from recent Chinese studies, to assess this evaluation. We apply for this purpose the criteria often used by development agencies to evaluate governance systems, namely, accountability, transparency, consistency, participation, and information flow. Using these criteria as a yardstick, we argue that the Chinese experience in reforming their employment system through massive layoffs and re-employment is better characterized as a classic case of ‘muddling through’ rather than a shining example of ‘good governance’.     

Labour Migration and Health of Left-Behind Children in China

With rapid urbanisation, millions of people from rural areas have migrated to major cities for employment, leaving their young children at home. This labour migration creates substantial mental and physical challenges for these left-behind children. This study establishes two empirical models for comparing the health status of left-behind children with that of children in rural areas without migrant parents and with that of migrant children in urban areas. Our empirical findings reveal that parental migration negatively affects the height and weight indices of left-behind children. The effects are particularly prominent for younger children, when both parents migrate or when parents migrate out of province.     

Birth Registration and Protection for Children of Transnational Labor Migrants in Indonesia

ABSTRACT

Policies on transnational labor migration do not consider workers' needs as parents or the rights and welfare of their children, including a child's right to an official identity through birth registration. A study of birth-registration decision making by migrant parents in Lombok, Indonesia underscored the need for targeted responses to uniquely challenging circumstances and priorities of migrant parents. Free birth registration through birthing and health centers and village-level leaders can overcome problems of decentralized implementation of national strategies and an exploitive registration brokerage industry, mitigating risks of de facto statelessness for children and a multigenerational pattern of undocumented and unsafe migration.     

Opting out for Getting in: Existential Mobility in European Graduates’ Migration to Asia

Abstract

This article examines young Europeans’ emigration from Europe. Qualitative interviews with mostly white Europeans in Singapore and Tokyo reveal how these young migrants’ motility, or “potential to move”, enables them to migrate through largely overlooked channels. Fear of immobility in Europe triggers these highly-educated Europeans’ existential and physical mobility to Asia where they compete with host-country nationals and non-white migrants for jobs. Categorization into three types of access to employment unpacks the complexity behind graduates’ mobility trajectories out of the European labor market and demonstrates their rising precariousness in post-Lehman shock Europe and their changing bargaining power in the world.     

Rural housing market response to nonfarm employment growth: an analysis of housing development patterns

This paper describes uses of economic impact models to examine labor force and housing relationships associated with regional employment changes, including area-wide labor demands, expected housing needs in response to changes in the labor force size, and the predicted quantity of new housing units that will be developed. The perspectives analyzed represent important elements in economic development planning, especially in light of the tremendous competition for firms and workers among cities and states in the U.S. today. Rural development officials report difficulty attracting residential labor force members and reason that the absence of housing starts in rural places is inhibiting future growth prospects. The paper demonstrates how input-output, econometric, and spatial analysis methods can be combined to assist decision makers in determining the overall value of regional economic growth and the labor and housing impacts of that growth. Special attention is given to delineating the spatial dimensions of labor and housing markets in rural, urban, and metropolitan settings.     

The Cost of Empowerment: Multiple Sources of Women’s Debt in Rural India

Abstract

Poor women borrow from multiple sources. This study examines whether the source of debt matters for women’s role in household financial decisions. Drawing on a household survey from rural Tamil Nadu, we categorise women’s loans along the lines of accessibility and formality into ‘planned loans’ and ‘instant loans’. We find that ‘instant loans’ support women’s bargaining power in various types of household financial decisions, whereas ‘planned loans’ have no impact. This surprising result is better understood when the nature of ‘instant loans’ is examined – these are frequently usurious, involve coercive enforcement methods and are considered socially debasing. Hence women who use them perform a convenient role for their households and in return gain some negotiating power.     

Rethinking the Iberian Transformations: How Democratization Scenarios Shaped Labor Market Outcomes

This article examines how dissimilar democratization scenarios in two historically important cases helped to shape a major societal outcome, that of unemployment levels. With an empirical focus on the neighboring countries of the Iberian Peninsula, the paper argues that Portugal's relative success and Spain's persistent failures in the provision of employment cannot be fully explained by the focus of some analysts on comparative labor costs, and that the Iberian countries' employment levels also rest on a set of factors connected in sometimes complex ways with the two societies' very different paths from authoritarianism to democracy in the 1970s. Factors emphasized include the degree of incorporation of women into the labor force, the availability of adequate financing for small and medium enterprises—and the impact of national financial systems and state policies on that intermediary outcome—and the extent to which the two countries' welfare states are employment friendly. Central to this article's argument is the claim that the divergence between these Third Wave pioneers in their democratization scenarios accounts for the dissimilar penetration into the Iberian cases of another global wave of the late twentieth century, that of market-centric economic liberalization.     

Migrant employment,recessions, and return migration: Some consequences for migration policy and development

After bringing approximately 13 million foreign migrants into Europe's industrial regions, the governments of many of these countries, among them France, Switzerland, West Germany, and the Netherlands have imposed severe restrictions on further immigration. Along with this move are the attempts by many countries to attract migrants back to their home countries. The recession of 1973 decreased the need for migrant labor and resulted in high levels of unemployment. The hard working migrant of the 1950's and 60's grew to become the politically active striker and social/political/financial burden on the state. Most governments have decided that future economic development will depend on technology, not labor production. The labor market structure of migrant workers helps explain why laid-off migrants do not return to their home countries. Political and economic conditions in the homeland also determine the amount of migrant return. The mere existence of a secondary labor force in an immigration country may make it easier to remain in that country. Incentives and financial inducements are needed to attract migrants home.     

Poverty and prosperity among migrant settlers in the Amazon rainforest frontier of Ecuador

Household‐level interview data from a probability sample survey conducted in the northeastern Ecuadorian Amazon in 1990 are used to examine the determinants of income and assets among migrant farmers in the agricultural frontier. Multivariate analysis indicates that size of plot owned, proximity to markets, duration of residence, quality of soil, receipt of technical assistance, off‐farm employment and initial wealth positively influence current household income and wealth. More land in cattle pasture is also associated with higher status. Some settlers are prospering relative to others despite variable soil quality, unsustainable land uses, geographic isolation, apparent scarcity of labor, and lack of supportive infrastructure. The article closes with a discussion of implications for policies to assist small farmers, with some consideration of the potential ecological consequences of farmers’ activities.     

Labor union strength and human development in East Asia and Latin America

Ordinary least squares multiple regression is used to test the impact of labor movement strength on growth, income distribution, and premature mortality in sixteen East Asian and Latin American countries. Labor movement strength is measured by a new index based on information from the International Labour Organisation. Controlling for other relevant variables, the Labor Strength Index is found to have a weak positive effect on growth, a weak negative effect on income equality and on infant survival and life expectancy levels, and a strong negative effect on infant survival and life expectancy progress. One reason for the negative overall effect of labor strength on human development may be that unions, together with actors representing better-off urban groups, often induce governments to enact urbanbiased and formal sector-biased policies that contribute to the neglect or impoverishment of the rural poor and shanty-town dwellers. James W. McGuire is associate professor in the Department of Government, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, 06459. He is the author ofPeronism Without Perón (Stanford University Press, 1997) and of articles on parties, unions, and strikes in Argentina; transitions from authoritarianism in Latin America; and development in East Asia and Latin America.     

Effect of Parental Migration on the Academic Performance of Left Behind Children in North Western China

China’s rapid urbanisation has induced large numbers of rural residents to migrate from their homes in the countryside to urban areas in search of higher wages. As a consequence, it is estimated that more than 60 million children in rural China are left behind and live with relatives, typically their paternal grandparents. These children are called Left Behind Children (LBCs). There are concerns about the potential negative effects of parental migration on the academic performance of the LBCs that could be due to the absence of parental care. However, it might also be that when a child’s parents work away from home, their remittances can increase the household’s income and provide more resources and that this can lead to better academic performance. Hence, the net impact of out-migration on the academic performance of LBCs is unclear. This paper examines changes in academic performance before and after the parents of students out-migrate. We draw on a panel dataset collected by the authors of more than 13,000 students at 130 rural primary schools in ethnic minority areas of rural China. Using difference-in-differences and propensity score matching approaches, our results indicate that parental migration has significant, positive impacts on the academic performance of LBCs (which we measure using standardised English test scores). Heterogeneous analysis using our data demonstrates that the positive impact on LBCs is greater for poorer performing students.     

Women’s work and development in Latin America

The discussion explores the problem of women's employment patterns under capitalist development in Latin America, first by analyzing the way in which women's work has been conceptualized within modernization theory. It then goes on to examine the 2 types of work in which most Latin American women are engaged -- domestic service and informal work such as selling produce and taking in laundry -- to provide evidence for challenging modernization theory and for developing a more useful approach. Subsequently, the discussion considers women's domestic and informal work within the context of capitalist development, which provides some insight into the broader structures shaping women's employment. Finally, the discussion proposes some reconceptualizations of women's work and development. Modernization theorists analyze women's work in the cities within a variety of constructs, interpreting it as a backward manifestation of traditional society, a reflection of women's inadequate training for the modern sector, an indication of women's primary orientation to the family, or as a phenomenon that is too tangential to warrant examination. The primary assumption is that modernization improves women's status and the conditions of their lives as it brings greater productivity, more advanced technology, and more highly differentiated institutions. Assumptions concerning women's absorption into the modern sector and the equalization of work roles between men and women are not borne out by actual employment trends, which reveal the persistent concentration of women in domestic work, informal jobs, and the lower-paying service jobs. Despite their predominance, domestic service and informal jobs are infrequently included in employment statistics and are virtually ignored in studies of development, yet these 2 types of work are the primary forms of work for Latin American women. Even when modernization theorists recognize the proliferation of informal and domestic service jobs, they see it as part of a progressive development stage, with displaced rural laborers becoming incorporated into the modern sector by way of informal jobs. In most Latin American countries, rural women become a permanent part of the services and the informal labor market when they move to the cities. There is little sign of their transition to industrial employment. In general, capitalist development marginalizes Latin American women, who in several important ways lose status. The range of pursuits considered women's work should include their activities within the infromal labor sector. Informal work is still virtually unexplored, especially as it relates to wage work in underdeveloped countries. Informal labor is not registered in the census, nor is it included in the gross national product. Yet, it is a major component of women's work. Domestic service and infromal jobs should be seen in relation to other forms of labor and to total social production.     

The Texture of Livelihoods: Migration and Making a Living in Hanoi

Abstract

Through the experience of 30 rural migrants to Hanoi, this paper reconstructs their livelihood histories, linking the experience of our migrant subjects with wider transformations in Vietnam’s economy and society. We argue for an ‘everyday’ political economy that recognises the fluid connections between the state, society and economy, and the individual. While highlighting the indeterminacy and contingency of life, we recognise the wider context that contributes to the production of the livelihood textures we discern. The characteristic livelihood pathways of the migrant households are shown to echo research undertaken in rural, often less economically vibrant, contexts.     

Labor Standards and Labor Market Flexibility in East Asia

Since the 1980s, de jure labor standards have improved in Northeast and Southeast Asia and de jure labor market flexibility has decreased. For most countries in the region, however, de facto labor standards are much worse than de jure standards, and de facto flexibility is much higher than de jure flexibility. International pressure has rarely produced meaningful change in either labor standards or labor market flexibility. Authoritarian regimes have proven the most immune to international pressures to improve labor standards and to increase labor market flexibility. The most significant improvements to labor standards usually follow democratization, with international influences working in tandem with domestic pressures. International actors have had little effect on improving labor standards in semi-democracies, with the exception of Cambodia, but progress there depended on a carrot, not a stick. Demands by the international financial institutions to increase labor market flexibility have been minimal, with the notable exception of South Korea. Both democracies and authoritarian regimes have adopted laws that reduce labor market flexibility, and domestic political concerns rather than international influences were the primary driving force.