Globalisation, Sovereignty and Immigration Control: The Hierarchy of Rights for Migrant Workers in Malaysia

2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 486-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice M. Nah

Abstract Social theorists examining the impact of globalisation on state power argue that sovereignty is being respatialised and rescaled and that it is no longer adequate to understand state sovereignty as operating evenly on a national scale over a population within a bounded territory. Nevertheless, ASEAN states continue to adopt such a national framing of people and place, particularly in the construction of immigration control regimes. I argue that in order to understand the localised and spatialised exercise of graduated sovereignty and the selective introduction of neoliberal practices, it is necessary to recognise the significance of the immigration status of individuals and examine how the dividing practices of immigration control regimes permit the selective allocation of rights to non-citizens. This paper examines Malaysia’s approach to international labour migration, noting that it makes different biopolitical investments in different types of non-citizens on the basis of a calculation of their potential contribution to the ‘nation’. Malaysia creates a hierarchy of rights, giving greater rights to skilled workers, while restricting those of ‘unskilled’ workers. Malaysia punishes those who breach immigration laws severely. However, Malaysia’s modernist approach to immigration control fails to achieve intended results and I highlight a number of reasons why.

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 1069-1075 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvain Petit

This study investigates the impact of the international openness in tourism services trade on wage inequality between highly skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled workers in the tourism industry. The sample covers 10 developed countries and expands over 15 years. A cointegrated panel data model and an error correction model were used to distinguish between the short- and long-run effects. The results are compared to those of openness of business services and manufactured goods. The findings point out that tourism increases wage inequality at the expense of the least skilled workers in the long run and the short run.


2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Devashish Mitra ◽  
Priya Ranjan

Abstract: Fairness considerations are introduced into the determination of wages in a two factor Pissarides-style model of search unemployment to study its implications for the unemployment rates of unskilled and skilled workers in both the closed economy case and when the economy can offshore some inputs. Both fairness concerns and offshoring of jobs done by unskilled workers create the overhiring effect for skilled workers. An increase in the concern for fairness in the closed economy increases the cost of hiring unskilled workers and increases the unemployment rates of both types of workers; however, wage inequality decreases. In the open economy case, an increase in the concern for fairness leads to greater offshoring which prevents skilled unemployment from increasing, but the unemployment of unskilled workers increases. A reduction in the cost of offshoring also increases offshoring and increases the unemployment of unskilled workers, but has a positive effect on skilled workers. Due to the presence of an overhiring effect in the hiring of skilled workers for both offshoring and non-offshoring firms, skilled workers experience higher wages and lower unemployment. The opposite movements in skilled and unskilled unemployment render the net effect ambiguous. Even though wage inequality increases, the impact on the wages of unskilled workers is ambiguous.


Author(s):  
Iryna Gerlach ◽  
Lilia Ukraynets

International labour migration is a global process that has affected the populations of all countries and continents. Today, migrants face a new additional barrier – the COVID-19 pandemic, which has drastically affected all forms of human mobility. Today, labour-based migration from Ukraine is directed mainly to EU Member States. The main motives for international labour migration is the potential of earning money, financial security of the family etc. Accordingly, the consequence of international migration is the inflow of money into the country of migrant origin. Remittances from migrant workers are an important source of income for Ukraine. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in migrant remittances, contributing to the development of households, human potential, the reduction of poverty and inequality, and the inflow of foreign currency. This article proposes an econometric model of the impact of migrant remittances on the stabilisation of the country’s economy during the pandemic. As a result of the calculations, it was found that the income from people working abroad initially reduces the deviation of GDP from the equilibrium trend, but over time there is a clear procyclical impact. This feature is favourable for the Ukrainian economy and may mean that migrant transfers in times of crisis help to overcome the effects of global economic downturns.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 109-128
Author(s):  
Ksenia Bondarenko ◽  
◽  

The advent of the new coronavirus hinders the fragile welfare of migrant workers. Those economic sectors with a large migrant workforce appear to be those hit hardest during the lockdown, resulting in surge in migrant unemployment and a plunge in the volume of remittances. This has become yet another factor putting pressure on the gross domestic product (GDP) growth, balance of payments, and budgets of countries that are net remittance recipients, while also triggering rising poverty levels. This paper evaluates the impact of the current pandemic (and respective economic downturn) on remittance inflows to recipient countries and tackles the potential contribution that international financial institutions could make to alleviate the adverse economic aftermath. In Central Asia and Southern Caucuses (except Azerbaijan) emergency financing granted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank covers 9–20% of the overall size of the annual remittances received. This financial support could be rendered insufficient due to the sharp decrease in the volume of remittances, decline in tourism revenue, and weakening economic activity, while the poor quality of state institutions may hinder the efficient distribution of accumulated resources. In Europe, the IMF and the World Bank provided approximately $7.7 billion in financing to low- and middle-income countries for such purposes as economic stabilization, support for population welfare, and financing of internal/external deficit, of which $5 billion is represented by the new Ukraine-IMF Stand-By Agreement. With the exception of Ukraine, Macedonia, and Bulgaria (the latter having received no loans/grants so far), the cover index for European remittance-recipients stands within a range of 2–18% over 2019 remittance inflows.Therefore, it is most feasible that the current 2020 GDP growth forecasts made by the IMF, the World Bank, and local governments are inaccurate in the light of the insufficient financial support provided by international financial organizations. Additional pressure on the GDP figures might stem from further extension and/or toughening of the lockdown period, as well as from uncertainty regarding the revival of regular business activity and the timeline for resuming migrant remittances.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Tavonga Mazorodze

PurposeThe purpose is to establish the impact of trade on manufacturing employment in South Africa.Design/methodology/approachTwo techniques, the Pooled Mean Group (PMG) and the Dynamic Common Correlated Effects (DCCE), are applied on a panel dataset comprising 26 three-digit manufacturing industries with data observed between 1970 and 2016.FindingsThe impact of trade on employment is miniscule at best and insignificant at worst once the study controls for cross-sectional dependency. This is true for both skilled and unskilled workers. Employment of skilled workers is explained by remuneration while employment of unskilled workers is explained by output dynamics.Practical implicationsTrade is widely attacked for causing labour market disruption through job losses. This hypothesis is not supported by data for South Africa as no link is confirmed between trade and employment of skilled and unskilled workers.Originality/valueEstimating the trade and employment link for skilled and unskilled workers while controlling for both endogeneity and cross-sectional dependency.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-373
Author(s):  
Lutz Raphael

Abstract The spread of computer technology in West German industry during the 1980s and 1990s dramatically changed the demand for skilled and unskilled work in manufacturing. As a result the knowledge used in production was redefined and reformers pushed for radical reform in vocational and general education. In these decades a corporate agreement across trade unions, associations of employers and state bureaucracy brought about a series of adaptive reforms of existing apprenticeships and the creation of new apprenticeships in new branches. This survival of the dual system is analysed as part of the strategies of modernizing West German manufacturing industries. Both employers and trade unions defended the central role of skilled workers in the new system of flexible quality production that developed during this period of rapid technological change. Data from the Socio-Economic Panel and from other sources enable analysis of the social effects of this economically successful strategy. They show the large-scale use of skilled workers in industrial production and their opportunities for upward mobility and additional qualifications. At the same time unskilled workers, and unskilled migrant workers in particular, experienced greater risks of unemployment and increased job uncertainty.


2017 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 107-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klea Faniko ◽  
Till Burckhardt ◽  
Oriane Sarrasin ◽  
Fabio Lorenzi-Cioldi ◽  
Siri Øyslebø Sørensen ◽  
...  

Abstract. Two studies carried out among Albanian public-sector employees examined the impact of different types of affirmative action policies (AAPs) on (counter)stereotypical perceptions of women in decision-making positions. Study 1 (N = 178) revealed that participants – especially women – perceived women in decision-making positions as more masculine (i.e., agentic) than feminine (i.e., communal). Study 2 (N = 239) showed that different types of AA had different effects on the attribution of gender stereotypes to AAP beneficiaries: Women benefiting from a quota policy were perceived as being more communal than agentic, while those benefiting from weak preferential treatment were perceived as being more agentic than communal. Furthermore, we examined how the belief that AAPs threaten men’s access to decision-making positions influenced the attribution of these traits to AAP beneficiaries. The results showed that men who reported high levels of perceived threat, as compared to men who reported low levels of perceived threat, attributed more communal than agentic traits to the beneficiaries of quotas. These findings suggest that AAPs may have created a backlash against its beneficiaries by emphasizing gender-stereotypical or counterstereotypical traits. Thus, the framing of AAPs, for instance, as a matter of enhancing organizational performance, in the process of policy making and implementation, may be a crucial tool to countering potential backlash.


Author(s):  
Madeline Y. Hsu

This chapter analyzes immigration reform and the knowledge worker recruitment aspects of the Hart–Celler Act of 1965 to track the intensifying convergence of educational exchange programs, economic nationalism, and immigration reform. During the Cold War, the State Department expanded cultural diplomacy programs so that the numbers of international students burgeoned, particularly in the fields of science. Although the programs were initially conceived as a way of instilling influence over the future leaders of developing nations, international students, particularly from Taiwan, India, and South Korea, took advantage of minor changes in immigration laws and bureaucratic procedures that allowed students, skilled workers, and technical trainees to gain legal employment and eventually permanent residency and thereby remain in the United States.


Author(s):  
Anne Nassauer

This book provides an account of how and why routine interactions break down and how such situational breakdowns lead to protest violence and other types of surprising social outcomes. It takes a close-up look at the dynamic processes of how situations unfold and compares their role to that of motivations, strategies, and other contextual factors. The book discusses factors that can draw us into violent situations and describes how and why we make uncommon individual and collective decisions. Covering different types of surprise outcomes from protest marches and uprisings turning violent to robbers failing to rob a store at gunpoint, it shows how unfolding situations can override our motivations and strategies and how emotions and culture, as well as rational thinking, still play a part in these events. The first chapters study protest violence in Germany and the United States from 1960 until 2010, taking a detailed look at what happens between the start of a protest and the eruption of violence or its peaceful conclusion. They compare the impact of such dynamics to the role of police strategies and culture, protesters’ claims and violent motivations, the black bloc and agents provocateurs. The analysis shows how violence is triggered, what determines its intensity, and which measures can avoid its outbreak. The book explores whether we find similar situational patterns leading to surprising outcomes in other types of small- and large-scale events: uprisings turning violent, such as Ferguson in 2014 and Baltimore in 2015, and failed armed store robberies.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document