One of the biggest challenges facing the Asia-Pacific region in the 21st century is the large scale cross-border movement of people. This book explores: sovereignty; security issues and border-management strategies of major states, in the face of intensified transnational economic and social processes; and the expanding global governance regime.

Driven by demographic changes, and reinforced by intensifying globalization, international labour mobility has been on the rise in recent decades in the Asia-Pacific region. It seems that, after trade and investment, labour mobility constitutes the final frontier for regional integration among the Asia-Pacific economies. There is no doubt that labour movements are integral to regional economic integration and critical to the long-term health of the regional economies and business operations. In reality, however, such movements are much burdened with political and social problems in the labour origin economies as well as the labour destination economies, and yet many of these problems remain not just unaddressed by the relevant governments but not even well studied. The present volume seeks to fill this gap by offering synthesis papers stemming from the studies on international labour migration in twenty Asia-Pacific economies which were discussed at a joint PECC-ABAC conference held in Seoul, Korea, on 25-26 March 2008, organized by KOPEC. These papers examine the demographic transition, the associated pattern of international labour migration, the national policies associated with it as well as their implications for business and the issues they raise, and, finally, the implications of these analyses for cooperation among the APEC governments, for each of the four subregions in the Asia-Pacific, as well as for the whole region.

The movement of people in Southeast Asia is an issue of increasing importance. Countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are now the origin of 8 percent of the world's migrants. These countries host only 4 percent of the world's migrants but intra-regional migration has turned Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand into regional migration hubs that are home to 6.5 million ASEAN migrants. However, significant international and domestic labor mobility costs limit the ability of workers to change firms, sectors, and geographies in ASEAN. This report takes an innovative approach to estimate the costs for workers to migrate internationally. Singapore and Malaysia have the lowest international labor mobility costs in ASEAN while workers migrating to Myanmar and Vietnam have the highest costs. Singapore and Malaysia's more developed migration systems are a key reason for their lower labor mobility costs. How easily workers can move to take advantage of new opportunities is important in determining how they fare under the increased economic integration planned for ASEAN. To study this question, the report simulates how worker welfare is affected by enhanced trade integration under different scenarios of labor mobility costs. Region-wide, worker welfare would be 14 percent higher if barriers to mobility were reduced for skilled workers, and an additional 29 percent if barriers to mobility were lowered for all workers. Weaknesses in migration systems increase international labor mobility costs, but policy reforms can help. Destination countries should work toward systems that are responsive to economic needs and consistent with domestic policies. Sending countries should balance protections for migrant workers with the needs of economic development.

Focusing on the issues associated with migrating for work both in and from the Asian region, this book sheds light on the debate over migration and trafficking. With contributions from an international team of well-known scholars, the book sets labour migration firmly within the context of globalization, providing a focused, contemporary discussion of what is undoubtedly a major twenty-first century concern. Transnational Migration and Work in Asia analyzes workers motivations and rationalities, highlighting the similarities of migration experiences throughout Asia. Presenting in-depth case studies of the real-life experiences and problems faced by migrant workers, the book discusses migrants’ relations with the state and their vulnerability to exploitation, as well as the major policy issues now facing governments, employers, NGOs and international agencies.

Labour migration has been on the agenda of many countries around the globe at the same time as governments of both sending and receiving countries have been trying to develop regulatory mechanisms. This book opens the debate on the global politics of labour migration by proposing a re-assessment of the interaction between states regarding labour migration. Presenting case-specific scholarship from leading experts from five different continents, each contribution engages with the changing landscape of migration control and teases out emerging control patterns, dynamics and correlations that can be made between them and existing control paradigms. The multidisciplinary and global focus in 'Constructing and Imagining Labour Migration' sheds much needed light on the mechanisms deployed by states in their attempts to control labour migration and on the manner in which these mechanisms impact upon migrants themselves, leaving some caught up in the politics of labour market control

This book explores the daily survival strategies of people within the context of failed states, flourishing informal economies, legal uncertainty, increased mobility, and globalization, where many people, who are forced by the circumstances to be innovative and transnational, have found their niches outside formal processes and structures. The book provides a thorough theoretical introduction to the link between labour mobility and informality and comprises convincing case studies from a wide range of post-socialist countries. Overall, it highlights the importance of trust, transnational networks, and digital technologies in settings where the rules governing economic and social activities of mobile workers are often unclear and flexible.

This report analyzes labor migration trends in Asia and puts them in the context of demographic and policy trends. It provides an overview of the population trends in different Asian countries and looks at policy settings in several sending and destination countries of labor migrants.