Volume 9

Issue No. 2

Woon, Yuen-fong

“Filial or Rebellious Daughters? Dagongmei in the Pearl River Delta Region, South China, in the 1990s,” Vol. 9 (2), p. 137-169, 2000.

Economic opportunities in the Pearl River Delta region in Southern China have attracted a large number of unmarried female temporary workers or dagongmei from the central and western regions of the country.  Existing literature on the dagongmei  tend to cast them into either “rebellious” or “filial” daughters. This study reexamines these ideal types based mainly on data gathered from in-depth interviews with 75 female and 55 male factory workers in 1993 and 1994. Data gathered from male workers allowed the study to compare behavior patterns and life plans of male and female temporary labor migrants. The study suggests that it might be more meaningful to understand the tension the dagongmei face in their desire to be independent and their sense of family obligation.

Aguilar, Filomeno V. Jr.
“Nationhood and Transborder Labor Migrations: The Late Twentieth Century from a Late Nineteenth-Century Perspective,” Vol. 9 (2), p. 171-198, 2000.

This paper seeks to provide a perspective on contemporary Philippine labor migrations by viewing this phenomenon in light of analogous transborder movements of workers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Based on information about so-called Manilla men in Australia and British Malaya, the paper discusses living and working conditions of migrant workers in the earlier period. The paper takes up the broader context of indentured work in the nineteenth century and the reaction by such countries of origin as China and Japan to interrogate the pervasive sense of shame and victimization felt in present-day Philippines arising from the export of labor. The broad parameters of the Philippine national narrative are explored in view of the continuities and changes in the relationship between national identity and long-distance movements of workers.

Huang, Fung-Yea
“Regional Cooperation on Labor Issues,” Vol. 9 (2), p. 199-212, 2000.

Globalization in the past few decades has facilitated the growth of economies and individuals that possess mobile capital and knowledge. However, the situation of less educated workers did not improve as expected because the possibilities for employers to adopt technology, outsourcing, or moving elsewhere serve to keep their bargaining power low. Gaps are widening between less educated and educated workers and between developing and developed economies. This paper suggests that a closer cooperation among Japan, the newly industrial economies and Southeast Asia in monitoring and facilitating short-term labor migration can be a positive factor in narrowing the gaps. Enhancing the skill formation functions of the migration process and upgrading the skills of workers in labor importing economies are among the critical areas that would benefit from regional cooperation.

Tisdell, Clem and Gopal Regmi
“Push-and-Pull Migration and Satisficing versus Optimizing Migratory Behavior: A Review and Nepalese Evidence,” Vol. 9 (2), p. 213-229, 2000.

Most theories of migration assume homogenous optimizing behavior by economic agents. In contrast Lipton assumes heterogeneity of group behavior - rich persons optimize whereas poor persons are more reactive than proactive. Hence, the migratory decisions of the rural poor are more likely to be influenced by push factors while pull factors more likely apply to the rural rich. In this article, push and pull factors are associated with satisficing and optimizing migratory behavior, respectively. To some extent, Nepalese data support Lipton's hypotheses concerning migratory behavior and remitting behavior of poor and rich families.