Order (and Disorder) at the Border: Mobility, International Labour Migration and Border Controls in Southeast Asia

Amarjit Kaur

Chapter 3 in Mobility, Labour Migration and Border Controls in Asia, 2006, pp 23-51 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Labour migration was a dominant feature of Southeast Asian labour history from the 1870s, consistent with open borders, colonial migration goals and the region’s increased integration into the global economy. After the Second World War and decolonisation, restrictive legislation was introduced to halt unskilled labour migration into the region. Since about the 1970s labour migration has assumed ‘new’ regional patterns, coinciding with changing patterns of labour market demands. Migration goals and migratory streams have also changed and emphasise the nationality, race, geographical origins, gender and skills of migrants. Free migration has thus given way to restrictive migration policies and intensified border controls, more sophisticated internal enforcement measures, and a swathe of bureaucratic regulations and procedures. Paradoxically, although the economic incentives for people to move have become stronger, immigration restrictions and intensified border controls in labour-exporting countries now constitute the principal barrier to international labour migration in the region.

Keywords: Migrant Worker; Labour Migration; Domestic Worker; Foreign Worker; Southeast Asian Country (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-50346-5_3

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DOI: 10.1057/9780230503465_3

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