Identity Management among Indonesian and Filipina Migrant Domestic Workers in Singapore

This study examines how the identities of migrant domestic workers are likely to be endangered and how these individuals struggle to reconstitute them. It is largely based on an interview and observational study with Indonesian and Filipina domestic workers in Singapore. Inspired by the sociological discussion of Goffman and Ishikawa, the study reveals how each migrant domestic worker manages her identity in her specific social context. This study shows that domestic workers contrive tactics to negotiate their situations, given that domestic work is considered a low prestige occupation and workers tend to be divested of the usual “identity kit” to make up their identity front. Specifically, to compensate for their discredited status, domestic workers attempt to reconstitute their damaged identity, obtain a new identity kit, recall previous social and family roles, or anticipate a future identity. They also attempt to acquire new skills and increase their value, so they can identify themselves as more than “just a maid.” They obtain additional roles in an attempt to change how they feel about themselves, to alter the meaning of being a domestic worker, and to redefine their relationships with others either by individual struggles or through collective activities. This study also points out a possible pitfall of identity management among the actors. The mechanism of identity politics might lead to an erosion of value, alienation from other domestic workers, and a strengthening of conventional stereotypes and generalizations regarding ethnicity, nationality, and gender. In this context, how non‐governmental organizations play a role in mitigating the pitfalls of identity management among domestic workers is also examined.     

Newcomer Migrant Workers in the Underclass: A Yokohama, Japan Case Study

Abstract  This paper will investigate how some undocumented migrant workers survive in Kotobuki, Yokohama known as the urban underclass. Since the latter half of the 1990s, Kotobuki itself has undergone structural changes. Once a center of day laborers it is now a center of older ex-laborers, mostly surviving on welfare. However, Kotobuki holds positive associations for many Korean and Pilipino migrants, many of whom arrived at the end of the 1980s. They regard the area as a place to earn high wages and as a center for building ethnic networks. Migrants tend to help their ethnic fellows find jobs and exchange information that they may otherwise be unable to acquire given that undocumented migrants are ineligible for public services in Japan. Additionally, ethnic-related self-help activities as well as NGOs play a valuable role in sustaining the livelihood of such migrants who are denied access to public services and assistance. This paper will illustrate the role of self-help among ethnic minority migrant workers. It also aims to demonstrate that contrary to prevailing assumptions, their social status as underclass is not lower than that of their Japanese counterparts.     

Exploring Perspectives in Narrative Research: An Indonesian Case Study*

Cet article veut examiner le processus par lequel deux chercheures, situées à des endroits très différents, analysent les données d'une étude qu'elles ont menée ensemble. À partir d'un projet de recherche narrative dans un groupe de collaboration, soutenus par un groupe central du programme d'études supérieures en études de la condition féminine à L'Université d'Indonésie (programme Kajian Wanita), les rôles de la chercheure canadienne et de la chercheure indonésienne étaient d'une importance cruciale à la fois dans la conceptualisation et dans L'analyse des données. Les auteures explorent ici quelques‐unes des façons par lesquelles leur position différente influe à la fois sur leur relation en tant que chercheures et sur leur analyse des données. This paper is an attempt to examine the process whereby two researchers, situated very differently, analysed the data arising from a jointly conducted study. The roles of the Canadian and the Indonesian researcher were crucially important in both framing and analysing the data arising from a collaborative group narrative research project, carried out with a core group in the graduate program in Women's Studies at the University of Indonesia (Program Studi Kajian Wanita). In this paper we explore some of the ways in which our different positioning affected both our relationship as researchers and our analyses of the data.     

城市农民工的住房问题与改革政策

本文研究城市农民工的住房问题和改革政策。农民工住房问题的制度根源是城乡二元住房制度改革滞后。农民工住房问题主要表现为绝大多数农民工无力在城市购买住房以及住房质量和居住环境较差。住房问题对农民工市民化具有严重的负面影响,住房房租支出比重偏高削弱了农民工的经济收入,居住质量差阻碍了农民工思想观念和行为方式的市民化,居住边缘化造成严重的社会隔阂对立。本文分析了广东省农民工住房政策和实施情况,提出深化改革的建议。     

城郊社区外来工文化生活状况的调查研究——以浙江绍兴城郊社区为例

关注城市农民工生活现状,保障他们的合法权益,使他们在异乡能安居乐业,更好地为当地经济建设和社会发展服务,深受各级政府组织关注。本调查的关注点是城郊社区外来工的文化生活状况。调查显示,该市城郊社区外来工收入相对较高,但影响外来工文化生活质量的主、客观因素依然存在,仍迫切需要政府、社会和用工单位的关心帮助和积极引导。     

Welfare Index of Migrant Workers in the Gulf: the Case of Qatar

In December 2010, Qatar won the rights to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup games. The FIFA announcement came with increasing pressure from international human rights organizations, media and other groups for Qatar to reform its labour law, which governs the lives and working conditions of foreign workers in the country. Although Qatar continues to develop and implement major reforms to its labour laws, until now there was no one unique tool based on survey data to evaluate the impact of the government’s policies on guest workers. The objective of this article is to present the Qatar Guest Workers’ Welfare Index (GWWI),¹ a multi-dimensional comprehensive tool based on survey data of migrant workers developed by the Social and Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI). In addition to assessing and tracking the welfare of this population, the objective of the index is to identify areas of improvement to guide policy formulation.     

农民工流入对城市工资的影响研究——以广东省为例

伴随中国经济改革的深入和工业化的加速,大量农村剩余劳动力流入到城市劳动力市场寻找就业机会,对城市劳动力市场必然造成影响.本文利用2005年广东省1％人口抽样调查数据考察了农村劳动力流入城市对城市工资的影响,发现总体上农民工对城市工资没有显著影响,但农民工对城市低技能工资有显著的负面影响,对城市高技能工资有正面影响,而对城市中等技能工资没有显著影响.背后的影响机制主要是农村剩余劳动力流入城市会诱导企业资本调整,通过资本扩张或新创企业的形式利用便宜的低技能劳动力,从而在农民工流入不断推动城市劳动力供给增加的同时增加了劳动力需求,抵消了农民工对城市工资可能的负面影响.另外,农民工与城市高技能工人具有一定的互补作用,从而促进城市高技能工资的上升.如果考虑到农民工收入与消费的分离,可以推断"市民化"政策的作用可能使农民工对城市工资的影响变成正值,因而,本文的结果对"市民化"政策的实施也提供了一定的支持证据.     

城市工人与农民工的收入差距研究

本文选择2008年社会状况综合调查数据中城市工人和农民工样本,使用布朗分解方法解析城市工人与农民工收入差距,重点解答城市工人与农民工收入差距形成的原因和过程。研究发现单位之间的收入差异是总体收入差距的主要部分,而入职户籍门槛是阻碍农民工进入公有制单位,获取较高收入的重要原因。在同一所有制性质单位内部,城市工人与农民工同工不同酬占总体收入差距比例不大。人力资本差异能够解释收入差距的36.2%,说明人力资本要素虽然能够影响到收入状况,但统一、竞争的劳动力市场并未完全形成。     

新生代农民工融入城市的预期与构想——以珠三角“民工荒”为例

新生代农民工的社会心理比较脆弱,他们虽然生活在城市,却无法融入城市。每年春节前后,人们都在关注农民工返乡与回厂问题,于是产生一个热门话题——“民工荒”。“民工荒”是真荒还是假荒？“民工荒”的真正原因何在？值得一辩。如今,新生代农民工已经登上了城镇化进程的舞台,并成为新产业工人阶层的主体部分。新生代农民工往往把自己看成“准城里人”,希望在公民权利、择业就业、工资待遇、生活方式、社会保障等方面,能够与城里人享有同等待遇,他们不再是廉价的劳动力。     

新生代农民工生活压力源及群体差异——以深圳市产业工人为例

对新生代农民工生活压力的研究发现,消极事件、子女教育、经济困难、人际疏离是该群体主要的生活压力来源,其中,经济困难与人际疏离两个维度的压力相对突出。并且,生活压力存在显著的群体差异:男性的子女教育压力小于女性;已婚群体的子女教育压力较大,经济困难压力较小;年龄越大的群体受人际疏离压力的影响越大;受教育程度越高的群体受消极事件与经济困难压力影响越小;个人租房的群体在经济困难方面面临较大的压力;工作职位越高的群体经济困难压力越小,但受人际疏离压力的影响越大。上述研究结果表明,关注多维的生活压力,为新生代农民工提供切合需求的社会服务,有利于破解新生代农民工生活压力难题。     

消除农村土地流转中阻力的有效途径:农民工返乡创业——以安徽为例

工业化和城市化的发展吸纳了大量的农村剩余劳动力,农村的土地出现了相对剩余,规模性的土地流转成为一种必然的趋势,但在流转过程中仍存在着一定的阻力。近年,农民工返乡创业潮流的兴起,为加速土地流转提供了机会。毫无疑问,农民工是促进农村土地流转的重要力量之一,有效的土地流转对农村经济发展起着良好的推动作用。本文以安徽省为例,首先阐明农民工返乡创业对于加快农村土地流转的意义,然后对农村土地流转中的阻力进行分析,最后提出相应的对策,以供有关部门参考。     

The Gender Politics of Human Waste and Human‐as‐Waste: Indonesian Migrant Workers and Elderly Care in Japan

Significant decline in mortality and fertility rates has led to a rapid aging population in many parts of the globe. Coupled with a decrease in caring for one's senior parents at home, this condition creates a crisis in elderly care. Most studies on elderly care in Japan, the country with the highest percentage of senior people in the world, employ theoretical approaches rooted in the fields of aging and migration studies. This article offers a new perspective by not only focusing on the voices of the Indonesian women migrant care workers in Japan by way of in‐depth interviews, but also intersecting feminist and waste studies in its analysis. This different theoretical approach allows this article to argue that the politics of disposability in the ‘global care chains’ is a gendered and ‘affective’ phenomenon. Drawing from Jaggar's ‘emotional hegemony’ and Saraswati's ‘affective structure’, this article shows that emotions matter in constructing the disposability of these migrant workers and elderly people, particularly within the capitalist currents that drive the gendered supply chains.     

新生代农民工体面劳动问题研究

目前,新生代农民工仍然在就业领域内面临着一系列的歧视,对于发达的珠三角和长三角地区而言,积极推进体面劳动,让新生代农民工不仅有一份工作,而且有一份满意的工作,应当是当前和未来相当长时期内改善民生的重心所在,为此必须要在思想观念和具体的体制机制等方面进行相应的调整。     

新生代农民工的收入影响因素:基于社会交换理论的实证研究

新生代农民工的收入影响因素,是中国城镇化进程中的一项重要的研究议题。本次研究以社会交换理论为基本的理论视角,利用上海、深圳和天津等10个城市的问卷调查数据,运用OLS回归模型探讨新生代农民工收入的影响因素,发现地区生产总值、受教育程度、职务岗位的重要程度对新生代农民工的收入存在显著的正相关,劳动合同签订和劳动力资源的供不应求均有助于提高新生代农民工的收入,而单位工龄和工作更换次数则存在倒U型的影响效应。劳动关系的经济社会结构、劳资双方的资源依赖以及关系的稳定性,对新生代农民工的收入具有影响作用。     

新生代农民工婚恋问题研究

新生代农民工较第一代农民工在婚恋行为方面已经出现了明显的转变,包括初婚年龄上升、婚恋对象更广、婚恋途径更丰富等。择偶观方面,男性新生代农民工会比较注重异性的长相,而女性则会更加注重异性的能力和收入。频繁的职业流动对新生代农民工的婚恋决策有着显著的负影响,而住房条件对新生代农民工的婚恋决策有着显著的正影响。     

外来务工人员教育培训需求与对策

在上海城市流动人口逐年递增、外来务工人员在城市生存竞争中培训需求不断增强的情况下,上海外来务工人员教育培训工作存在着一些困境和问题:外来务工人员的教育培训缺乏制度化、教育培训信息不畅达、教育培训课程不尽合理、教育培训资金难以到位等。上海应健全外来务工人员教育培训制度和规范,畅通外来务工人员教育培训信息和渠道,合理安排和设置外来务工人员教育培训课程,加强落实外来务工人员教育培训资金和项目。     

新生代青年农民工继续教育意愿

新生代青年农民工继续教育问题是新时期教育发展框架中不容忽视的重大课题,群体意愿影响到具体教育表达行为。以西安市调查样本统计,结果分析表明,新农工继续教育意愿受婚姻状况、教育层次、收入水平、工作稳定性、教育认知度、企业支持度、继续教育学习模式等因素影响且作用效应显著。提高新农工群体继续教育意愿,促进其劳动力素质优化需要政府、企业、教育机构三方协同用力。     

农民工子女生存状况及发展问题

本文立足于农民工子女自身的切身感受,从农民工子女的身体和精神状况、家庭及其生活质量、受教育状况、社会交往等维度进行研究分析。研究结果表明,农民工子女群体存在着自我认知有待调适、社会关系有待优化、家庭教养模式亟需改善及学校育人环境需要改观等突出问题。     

Financial Knowledge and Behaviors of Chinese Migrant Workers: An International Perspective on a Financially Vulnerable Population

ABSTRACT

Making informed financial decisions is crucial to the wellbeing of Chinese migrant workers. Using interview survey data (N = 329), this study examined financial knowledge and behaviors of migrant workers in China. Results showed that participants demonstrated low levels of financial knowledge (51.4%) and beneficial financial behaviors (51.0%). Multivariate results indicated that a modest proportion of the variance in financial behaviors was explained by financial knowledge, attitudes, and socio-demographic characteristics (e.g., marital status and income). Findings underscore the importance of disseminating culturally-relevant educational interventions to financially at-risk, low-paid migrant workers in China.