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Foreign Workers (foreign + worker)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Humanities and Social Sciences44%
Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting22%

Selected Abstracts

The Economic Impact of International Migration within The UK Economy

ECONOMIC OUTLOOK, Issue 4 2006
Article first published online: 13 NOV 200
There is a vociferous debate regarding the extent, impact and future policy direction of international migration. This has intensified following the expansion of the European Union and the accession of the eight Central and Eastern European countries. This article explores the recent trends in net migration, looking particularly at the impact at the sectoral and regional level. It finds that foreign workers appear to have had a significant economic impact in filling skills gaps and in helping to arrest population decline in those regions where previously this had been a fact of economic life. [source]

Mobile phones, communities and social networks among foreign workers in Singapore

GLOBAL NETWORKS, Issue 3 2009
ERIC C. THOMPSON
Abstract Transnational mobility affects both high-status and low-income workers, disrupting traditional assumptions of the boundedness of communities. There is a need to reconfigure our most basic theoretical and analytical constructs. In this article I engage in this task by illustrating a complex set of distinctions (as well as connections) between ,communities' as ideationally constituted through cultural practices and ,social networks' constituted through interaction and exchange. I have grounded the analysis ethnographically in the experiences of foreign workers in Singapore, focusing on domestic and construction workers from the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Bangladesh. I examine the cultural, social and communicative role that mobile phones play in the lives of workers who are otherwise constrained in terms of mobility, living patterns and activities. Mobile phones are constituted as symbol status markers in relationship to foreign workers. Local representations construct foreign workers as users and consumers of mobile telephony, reinscribing ideas of transnational identities as well as foreignness within the context of Singapore. Migrant workers demonstrate a detailed knowledge of the various telephony options available, but the desire to use phones to communicate can overwhelm their self-control and lead to very high expenditures. The research highlights the constraints , as well as possibilities , individuals experience as subjects and agents within both social and cultural systems, and the ways in which those constraints and possibilities are mediated by a particular technology , in this case, mobile phones. [source]

Korean Immigration Policy Changes and the Political Liberals' Dilemma1

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REVIEW, Issue 3 2008
Nora Hui-Jung Kim
Recently, Korean low-skilled foreign labor policies have changed in contradictory ways. On the one hand, Korea seems to be moving in a "liberal" direction, because the government is according more rights to foreign workers. On the other hand, Korea seems to be moving in an "illiberal" direction, because the government is according ethnic Korean workers preferential treatment over other foreign workers. I explain this contradictory situation in terms of political liberals' activism. Korean political liberals' activism vis-à-vis migrant workers is two-pronged: first, to afford more rights to all migrant workers and, second, to guarantee equal treatment to all ethnic Koreans. Taken separately, each move is in line with the political liberal principle of promoting nonascriptive, universalistic, and equal treatment. Taken together, these two moves are inherently contradictory , one pushes toward ethnicizing trends and the other pushes toward de-ethnicizing trends of immigration policies. This contradiction, which I call the political liberals' dilemma, divides political liberals and weakens their overall political leverage. [source]

Identity narratives of Muslim foreign workers in Japan

JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY & APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 3 2003
Akiko Onishi
Abstract This article examines the identity and acculturation experience of Muslim foreign workers in Japan. The psychological impact of prolonged stay in a foreign country was studied by eliciting narratives of experiences of 24 male foreign workers from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Iran who had been in Japan more than 5 years. By analysing the narratives they produced, three different styles of stories emerged which explained their experiences and their attempts to maintain or construct a sense of identity. Accepting the dominant narrative of Japanese society and describing oneself as ,almost like Japanese' was one way. Another strategy stressed the rejection of the dominant narrative as well as attempts to maintain the original narrative of the self as educated and active young men. The third narrative showed how individuals re-defined themselves as Muslim by incorporating religious identity into a central part of their self-concepts, and asserting its pervasive effect on all aspects of life. This study provides a perspective for acculturation research focused on social elements of identity, and derived from experiences in a relatively mono-cultural society recently opening to immigration and in which there is a prevailing ideology of assimilation. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF THE POSTED WORKERS DIRECTIVE

METROECONOMICA, Issue 4 2004
Volker Meier
ABSTRACT The consequences of an increase in the minimum wage for foreign workers in the construction sector, implied by the EU Posted Workers Directive, are analyzed. Due to the rising price of construction services, the factor demand for both construction services and capital in the tradeable good sector falls, and the wage rate in this sector declines. While the share of domestic workers increases with respect to both foreign workers and capital in the construction sector, this need not suffice to reduce unemployment. A possible higher level of employment of natives is not sufficient to raise natives' welfare. [source]

Immigration, employment relations, and health: Developing a research agenda

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE, Issue 4 2010
Joan Benach
Abstract Background International migration has emerged as a global issue that has transformed the lives of hundreds of millions of persons. Migrant workers contribute to the economic growth of high-income countries often serving as the labour force performing dangerous, dirty and degrading work that nationals are reluctant to perform. Methods Critical examination of the scientific and "grey" literatures on immigration, employment relations and health. Results Both lay and scientific literatures indicate that public health researchers should be concerned about the health consequences of migration processes. Migrant workers are more represented in dangerous industries and in hazardous jobs, occupations and tasks. They are often hired as labourers in precarious jobs with poverty wages and experience more serious abuse and exploitation at the workplace. Also, analyses document migrant workers' problems of social exclusion, lack of health and safety training, fear of reprisals for demanding better working conditions, linguistic and cultural barriers that minimize the effectiveness of training, incomplete OHS surveillance of foreign workers and difficulty accessing care and compensation when injured. Therefore migrant status can be an important source of occupational health inequalities. Conclusions Available evidence shows that the employment conditions and associated work organization of most migrant workers are dangerous to their health. The overall impact of immigration on population health, however, still is poorly understood and many mechanisms, pathways and overall health impact are poorly documented. Current limitations highlight the need to engage in explicit analytical, intervention and policy research. Am. J. Ind. Med. 53:338,343, 2010. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]