Regional economic integration is often measured by trade agreements at the inter-state level, but labour migrants may be the ultimate harbingers of closer integration as they inevitably add people-to-people ties to otherwise abstract economic relations.
Southeast Asia has long been seen as an origin of labour migration to OECD and Gulf countries, but there is increasing mobility within the region as well.
As Southeast Asian labour migrants make their homes elsewhere in Asia, they are challenging preconceived notions of ethnic homogeneity, particularly in Northeast Asia.
Memos part of this Theme:
- Is ‘Safe Migration’ Along the Thai-Lao Border Truly ‘Safe?’ (Memo #157, by Sverre Molland)
- Becoming a Commercial Marriage Broker in Malaysia (Memo 133, by Chee Heng Leng and Brenda S.A. Yeoh).
- The Philipinnes Labour Export Policies – Pros and Cons (Memo #122, by Prod Laquian)
- Understanding Indonesian Migration via Labour Brokers (Memo #78, by Johan Lindquist)
- Indonesian Domestic Workers’ Rights in Malaysia (Memo #75, by Angela Wong)
Related Memos:
- Ending Islamic Solidarity in Post 9/11 Pakistan: New Restrictions on Migrants by Nausheen Anwar (Memo #100)
- Self-Searching Migrants: Japanese Temporary Residents in Canada in the Age of High Mobility and Self-Reflexivity by Etsuko Kato (Memo #94) (Japanese translation available here)
- Diverging Patterns for Incorporating Immigrants in Korea and Japan by Erin Aeran Chung (Memo #56)
- Regulating Pacific Seasonal Labour in Australia by Pacific Affairs (Memo #18)
See our other Themes