Migration and the labour market in Asia : recent trends and policies

401 Pages·2002·3.059 MB·English

by  OECD

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Migration and the Labour Market in Asia 2
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RECENT TRENDS AND POLICIES Migration and the
This publication presents an analysis of recent trends in migration movements and policies in Asia. Labour Market in Asia
It highlights the contribution of immigration to the labour force and describes the changes that have
taken place in the sectoral distribution of foreign workers. Particular attention is paid to human
resource development and mobility of the highly skilled against the background of globalisation.
RECENT TRENDS AND POLICIES
The book provides individual reviews of recent developments in migration trends and policies in
Australia, China, Hong Kong China, Chinese Tapei, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines,
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Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.Detailed statistics on the inflow and stocks of foreign workers and
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information concerning their situation on the labour market enable meaningful cross-country g
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comparisons.
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OECD's books, periodicals and statistical databases are now available via www.SourceOECD.org, our online library. N
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This book is available to subscribers to the following SourceOECD themes: S
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Emerging Economies
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Employment D
Social Issues/Migration/Health P
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Ask your librarian for more details of how to access OECD books online, or write to us at IC
[email protected] IE
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OECD Centre for Co-operation with Non-Members
ISBN 92-64-09985-9
THE JAPAN INSTITUTE OF LABOUR
81 2003 04 1 P -:HSTCQE=U^^]ZW:
2002
Migration and the Labour
Market in Asia
RECENT TRENDS AND POLICIES
ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT
ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION
AND DEVELOPMENT
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The impact of economic growth on employment opportunities in Asian labour markets and on
international migration has been the general theme of a series of workshops for policymakers and
experts organised by the Japan Institute of Labour (JIL), with the co-operation of the Japanese
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (JMHLW), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) and the International Labour Office (ILO). The eighth workshop of this series
was held on 4-5 February 2002 with the aims of examining the current situation of international
migration and related policies in Asian countries, and to enhance the exchange of knowledge and
information between the region’s policymakers and experts.
As usual, the workshop started with its special session, focusing this year on “International
Migration of the Highly Skilled”. It began with the keynote speech of Prof. Yasushi Iguchi of the
Kwansei Gakuin University, centered on the notions of “brain drain” and “brain exchange”. Prof.
Iguchi drew attention to key points to avoid the most harmful effects of this phenomenon, and
presented a number of policy options to profit from the movement of the highly skilled. This keynote
report stimulated active debates in the panel that followed, composed of experts from Malaysia,
Thailand and Japan (Prof. Dr. Kassim Binti Azizah, Prof. Yongyuth Chalamwong and Prof. Manami
Takekuma). These debates mainly focused on three points: 1) evaluation of the experiences of each
country; 2) the utilisation of the highly skilled to promote economic development and avoid the risk of
brain drain; and 3) the formulation of regional policies to respond to external competition to acquire
highly skilled workers. The afternoon session of the special session included reports by country
experts, reflecting the differing experiences of each individual country. Overall, these reports outlined
the widening gap between countries. Some have already had experiences with and measures for highly
skilled workers; and have had a wide use of information technologies. Other countries are just starting
in these fields. There was also reporting of the one-way migration of students towards more
technically advanced countries, and the phenomenon of “brain waste” happening when these trained
students are unable to find jobs back home to utilise the skills they have acquired. Reports, including
of experiences in Europe, showed the importance of investment in education, and the necessity to
create scientific and research centres to attract and to keep skills where they are needed.
The general session, monitoring current developments in migration and migration policies,
heard reports on current economic developments, the movements of foreign workers and of national
workers, the situation of illegal immigration, social integration of foreign workers, data on remittances
and information on employment services across borders. These reports generally discussed the
slowing of economic growth in the United States, Japan and Europe, and how the economies of many
countries and regions in Asia are either stagnant or decelerating. There was also discussion of how this
is affecting the labour market. The issue of illegal immigration was raised, with reference also to
criminal organisations, and the need for international co-operation was reaffirmed.
The second part of the general session, which took place in the next morning, heard reports on
policy changes, policy-making processes and competences, and possible forms of international co-
operation. Comments from the floor pointed to recent trends in policymaking towards redesigning the
trainees’ visa system, in order to make a more productive use of the migrant workforce, which would
3
also better match the workforce’s needs. A consensus was present on the importance of the
immigration of highly skilled workers for economic development. In this regard, the linkage between
economic and immigration policies was also underlined, as well as co-operation between industry and
government, and between sending and receiving countries.
In the closing session, all participating nations and territories agreed on the necessity to search
for ways to take the maximum advantage from the movements of the highly skilled, for the economic
and social development of the region. The necessity of a more regular and comprehensive exchange of
information between nations and territories to address the specific issues raised in the special session
was also emphasised. International co-operation was also outlined with regard to combating illegal
immigration. This workshop provides an ideal forum to enhance the exchange of information and
ideas among the participating nations and territories, and the ILO and the OECD.
This publication is intended to provide the world at large with information and data concerning
migration trends and policies in Asia. It is the product of close collaboration between the JIL, the
JMHLW, the ILO, the OECD Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs (DELSA) and
the OECD Centre for Co-operation with Non-Members (CCNM), and is published on the
responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD.
Prof. Dr. Tadashi Hanami
Chairman
Japan Institute of Labour
4
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(cid:3)
Background and major recent trends ..................................................................................................9
Highly skilled workers ......................................................................................................................11
A brain drain? ....................................................................................................................................12
Unskilled workers ..............................................................................................................................15(cid:7)
Undocumented workers .....................................................................................................................16
Migration policies ..............................................................................................................................17
Conclusion .........................................................................................................................................19

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Introduction .......................................................................................................................................29
Definition and scope of the highly-skilled (HS) ................................................................................31
Discussions on the policy related to the movement of HS ................................................................36
Conclusion .........................................................................................................................................40

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(cid:3)
Introduction .......................................................................................................................................51
The old economy: bricks and mortar .................................................................................................51
Thailand vs new economy in Asia: click and mortar ........................................................................52
Education and training in IT human resources ..................................................................................52
Current situation of highly skilled workers .......................................................................................53
Demand ..............................................................................................................................................53
Immigrants .........................................................................................................................................54
Emigrants ...........................................................................................................................................54
Emigration and immigration policies ................................................................................................55
Policies of national cooperation and support .....................................................................................56
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(cid:3)
Introduction .......................................................................................................................................65
H-1B program ....................................................................................................................................66
Whither H-1B? ..................................................................................................................................66
Policy implications ............................................................................................................................68
5
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Introduction .......................................................................................................................................71
Linked processes: globalisation, trade in services, and skilled mobility ...........................................71
Dimensions of highly-skilled migration ............................................................................................72
What are the expected effects of the emigration of the highly-skilled? ............................................72
Briefs on country studies ...................................................................................................................73
Summary of general findings from case studies ................................................................................75
Trends in major classes of skilled mobility .......................................................................................76
Supplying transnational corporations and short-term labour shortages .............................................76
Impact of skilled emigrants on specific occupations .........................................................................77
Policy responses to highly skilled mobility .......................................................................................78
What migration policies are needed in a global economy? ...............................................................78
GATS trade in services ......................................................................................................................80
Development assistance and education .............................................................................................80
Strengthening institutions and human rights .....................................................................................81
Targeted economic development .......................................................................................................81
Conclusion .........................................................................................................................................81

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6
(cid:3)(cid:28)(cid:22)(cid:28)(cid:16)(cid:17)(cid:7)(cid:8)(cid:18)(cid:28)(cid:16)(cid:20)&(cid:7)(cid:23)(cid:16)(cid:7)(cid:29)(cid:23)"(cid:18)(cid:25)(cid:17)(cid:23)(cid:19)(cid:16)(cid:7)(cid:29)(cid:19)(cid:30)(cid:28)(cid:31)(cid:28)(cid:16)(cid:17)&(cid:7)(cid:25)(cid:16)(cid:20)(cid:7)(cid:24)(cid:19)#(cid:23)(cid:22)(cid:23)(cid:28)&((cid:7)(cid:8)(cid:27)(cid:28)(cid:7)(cid:29)(cid:19)(cid:30)(cid:28)(cid:31)(cid:28)(cid:16)(cid:17)(cid:7)(cid:19) (cid:7)(cid:1)(cid:23)#(cid:23))(cid:23)(cid:16)(cid:19)(cid:7)
(cid:24)(cid:18)(cid:19) (cid:28)&&(cid:23)(cid:19)(cid:16)(cid:25)#&(cid:7)(cid:25)(cid:16)(cid:20)(cid:7)(cid:29)(cid:25)(cid:16)(cid:25)"(cid:28)(cid:18)&(cid:7)..........................................................................................................349(cid:7)
(cid:1)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:10)(cid:21)(cid:12)(cid:8)(cid:8)(cid:7)(cid:3)(cid:25)$(cid:3) (cid:5)(cid:3)

(cid:14)(cid:23)(cid:16)"(cid:25))(cid:19)(cid:18)(cid:28)(cid:7).........................................................................................................................................367(cid:7)
(cid:1)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:27)(cid:15)(cid:17)(cid:3)((cid:12)(cid:6)(cid:19)(cid:3)(cid:13)(cid:7)(cid:26)(cid:3)
(cid:7)
(cid:4)(cid:22)(cid:19)(cid:16)(cid:19)(cid:31)(cid:23)(cid:22)(cid:7)(cid:14)(cid:17)(cid:25)"(cid:16)(cid:25)(cid:17)(cid:23)(cid:19)(cid:16)2(cid:7)(cid:17)(cid:27)(cid:28)(cid:7)(cid:11)(cid:25)+(cid:19)(cid:21)(cid:18)(cid:7)(cid:29)(cid:25)(cid:18)’(cid:28)(cid:17)(cid:7)(cid:25)(cid:16)(cid:20)(cid:7)(cid:15)(cid:16)(cid:17)(cid:28)(cid:18)(cid:16)(cid:25)(cid:17)(cid:23)(cid:19)(cid:16)(cid:25)#(cid:7)(cid:29)(cid:23)"(cid:18)(cid:25)(cid:17)(cid:23)(cid:19)(cid:16)(cid:7)(cid:23)(cid:16)(cid:7)(cid:8)(cid:27)(cid:25)(cid:23)#(cid:25)(cid:16)(cid:20)(cid:7).............377(cid:7)
(cid:1)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:13)(cid:5)(cid:6)(cid:19)(cid:2)(cid:15)(cid:21)(cid:16)(cid:3)(cid:22)(cid:16)(cid:7)(cid:8)(cid:7)(cid:23)(cid:24)(cid:5)(cid:6)(cid:19)(cid:3)
(cid:7)
(cid:15)(cid:16)(cid:17)(cid:28)(cid:18)(cid:16)(cid:25)(cid:17)(cid:23)(cid:19)(cid:16)(cid:25)#(cid:7)(cid:29)(cid:23)"(cid:18)(cid:25)(cid:17)(cid:23)(cid:19)(cid:16)(cid:7)(cid:19) (cid:7)!(cid:23)"(cid:27)#$(cid:7)(cid:14)’(cid:23)##(cid:28)(cid:20)(cid:7)(cid:5)(cid:19)(cid:18)’(cid:28)(cid:18)&(cid:7)(cid:23)(cid:16)(cid:7)3(cid:23)(cid:28)(cid:17)(cid:16)(cid:25)(cid:31)(cid:7)................................................399(cid:7)
(cid:1)(cid:2)(cid:3)-(cid:19)(cid:15)(cid:2)(cid:12)(cid:6)(cid:3).(cid:15)(cid:7)(cid:6)(cid:3)-(cid:19)(cid:15)(cid:2)(cid:12)(cid:6)(cid:7)
7
(cid:15)(cid:13)(cid:8)(cid:3)(cid:2)(cid:6)*(cid:12)(cid:8)(cid:15)(cid:2)(cid:13)(cid:7)
(cid:1)(cid:2)(cid:3)
(cid:3)(cid:19)(cid:16)(cid:25)#(cid:20)(cid:7)(cid:14)’(cid:28)#(cid:20)(cid:19)(cid:16)(cid:7)
School of African and Asian Studies, University of Sussex
(cid:10)(cid:25)(cid:22)’"(cid:18)(cid:19)(cid:21)(cid:16)(cid:20)(cid:7)(cid:25)(cid:16)(cid:20)(cid:7)(cid:31)(cid:25)0(cid:19)(cid:18)(cid:7)(cid:18)(cid:28)(cid:22)(cid:28)(cid:16)(cid:17)(cid:7)(cid:17)(cid:18)(cid:28)(cid:16)(cid:20)&(cid:7)(cid:7)
The fragility of East and Southeast Asian economies was revealed in the aftermath of the
terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11 2001. Just as they appeared
to be recovering from the effects of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, these economies were once again
thrust into an environment of declining regional and global demand. There are, of course, significant
variations but most Asian economies had resumed growth by 1999 and several, including Hong Kong,
Singapore, Korea and Malaysia had achieved rapid growth by 2000 (see Table 1). Then came a rapid
reversal. In 2001, Singapore was in its first recession since independence; Hong Kong, too,
experienced negative growth and Japan, which had never really recovered from the collapse of its
bubble economy in 1989, was in full recession. Even Chinese Taipei, which had avoided the worst
effects of the Asian financial crisis, appears to be entering a period of slower growth. Only Korea may
be on a more sustained course to recovery.
Even during the brief recoveries in economic growth in the aftermath of the Asian financial
crisis, unemployment proved persistent and rose markedly in the renewed downturn in 2001. It is now
at all-time highs in the recent histories of Hong Kong, Singapore and Chinese Taipei with no
suggestion of a reversal in the immediate future (see Table 2). The structural adjustments that these
tiger economies and Japan are undergoing that have seen an export of labour-intensive manufacturing
and an increasing reliance on high-tech industries, underlies this persistence of unemployment. While
labour deficits emerge in modern sectors, labour surpluses increase in more traditional sectors.
It is against this economic background of renewed stagnation and decline and rising
unemployment that the current trends in population migration in the region need to be viewed. Perhaps
one of the apparent paradoxes is of the increasing international migration towards Asian economies in
the face of rising domestic unemployment, a paradox that finds parallels, if for somewhat different
reasons, with the contradictions between rising urban unemployment and increasing rural-to-urban
migration in developing countries several decades ago (Todaro, 1969).
This introduction attempts to draw together the major trends in the international migration of
labour migrants to, from and within the East and Southeast Asian region over the last few years. The
basic information comes from country reports compiled by country experts and reproduced in this
report. It bears reiterating that the deficiencies in the migration data and incompatibility of definition
make any attempt at comparative analysis hazardous. Nevertheless, the data are sufficient to identify
the major underlying trends even if the detail must await more specialized surveys and analyses.
The East and Southeast Asian economies under consideration are all characterized by
movements both into and out of their respective territories. It is altogether too simple to conceptualize
9
economies into sending and receiving areas. All have inflows as well as outflows, although the
composition and relative volume of the flows vary. For example, the Philippines can be considered as
a country of emigration par excellence with over 7 million of its citizens living or working overseas,
but that country, too, also imports highly skilled migrants to assist in certain key sectors of the
economy. In 1999, there were almost six thousand foreign workers in the Philippines, the majority of
whom were Japanese executives, a tiny number compared with the number of emigrants but
nevertheless significant for the local economy (Go, 2002). Indonesia also follows this general pattern,
while Thailand and Malaysia both import and export large numbers of workers and Japan, Korea,
Chinese Taipei, Singapore and Hong Kong are all economies of net immigration.
Any population movement in Asia has to be placed in its demographic context of declining
fertility in the region. Fertility levels have fallen precipitously in Japan and most of the Chinese
culture areas (see Table 3). With the exception of China itself, these areas tend to be the destinations
for migration as economies come to terms with very slow growth in their labour forces. Conversely,
those countries with higher fertility tend to be areas of origin of migration. This statement should not
be interpreted to mean that demography dictates the patterns of migration, as fertility itself is a
function of differential economic development in the region. Nevertheless, different levels of fertility
profoundly influence the supply of that key factor of production, labour.
The stock of foreign workers has increased steadily throughout the 1990s in Japan,
Hong Kong, Singapore, Chinese Taipei and Korea (see Table 4). Among these countries, only in
Korea can an “Asian financial crisis” effect be seen, with a sharp reduction in the number of foreign
workers during 1998. The situation among those economies lower down the development hierarchy is
different. There, the crisis effect was more marked in population migration with the numbers of
foreign workers declining in Malaysia and Thailand as well as in Indonesia. Here, however,
considerable caution needs to be used in the interpretation of the available figures. In contrast to Japan
and the tiger economies, data-gathering systems are not as well developed in those Southeast Asian
nations. More important, is the fact that the long land and sea borders, so common in that part of the
region, are difficult to control adequately and it is easy for people to cross from one country to another
without detection. Undocumented movements account for a very significant proportion of total
international migration among the large countries of Southeast Asia and it is difficult to know to what
extent the figures provided represent the real situation. These will be discussed in more detail below.
The summary figures on foreign workers in Asian countries have been subdivided as far as
possible to indicate three sub-classes: the legal and highly skilled; the legal unskilled; and the
undocumented unskilled. These data are not available for all countries and again it must be
emphasized that differences in definition and coverage make ready comparison deceptive.
Nevertheless, general trends can be identified with respect to the various categories. It should be
pointed out that for Hong Kong there is a class of immigrant that is virtually unique among the
countries under consideration. This covers one-way permit holders from China who are granted
residence rights in the Special Administrative Region (SAR). Essentially, this category refers to a
family reunification or settlement programme with the majority entering the city under this category as
either minor children or spouses of Hong Kong men. Their number is currently set at 150 a day. As
these migrants are not directly entering the labour force in large numbers, no further reference will be
made to them in this chapter. Particular attention will be directed towards the highly skilled, unskilled
and undocumented workers.
It is worth reiterating that many of those who leave Asian economies as immigrants or as
more or less permanent settlers are highly skilled. The points criteria of Australian and Canadian
immigration policy and the increased emphasis on independent rather than family migrants in all the
immigration programmes in North American and Australasian countries emphasizes the increasing
10