Lessons from the Gendered Impact of Global Crisis on Asian Migrant Workers and Their Families

Guntur Sugiyarto (gsugiyarto@adb.org)Economics Research and Regional Cooperation Department

Asian Development Bank

The views expressed here are personal.

BackgroundConcerns on the Impacts of Global Crisis on Migration and Remittance in Asia.Global crises impacted Asian migration and remittances at different levels: global, country and household levels.

Impacts at the global and country levels were examined using Econometrics and Computable General Equilibrium Models.Impact at household level: based on migrant household surveys in BAN, INO and PHI (ADB and IOM 2011).

Results were presented (journals, books, working papers) and further analysis with more gender dimension was done based on follow-up surveys with gender lens in 2012 in INO and PHI, where feminization of migration is very strong.

Main Objectives

Using gender lens:

• Examine the trend and impact dynamics.• Analyze the gender-differentiated impacts.• Identify the coping mechanisms.

Unit of analysis: Migrant workers and migrant households.

MethodologyAnalyzed gender-disaggregated data from

• ADB-IOM survey in 2010 (first survey).• Period covered: Oct 2008 to Sept 2009.• Sample: 217 and 200 migrant households in INO and PHI.

• Revisit (second) survey in 2012 to collect more gender-relevant data.• Period covered: 2009 to 2012.• Re-sample: 100 households each in INO and PHI.

Conducted FGDs and RTDs with migrant households, returning migrants and key informants.

Combined results of surveys and FGDs/RTDs in the analysis.

Impacts Examined

Impacts

Migrant Workers

Earning and Remittance

Job and working

condition

Coping Mechanism

Migrant Households

Income and Expenditure

Employment and Job status

Coping Mechanism

General Findings ...

Crisis had limited impact on international migration and remittances at global and country levels.

Migrants and Remittances proved to be resilient.

But the crisis affected men and women migrant workers and migrant households differently.

There seems a Macro-Micro mismatch and strong impact dynamics at the micro level.

Policy implications (1)

Better job creation in the domestic economy

Investing more in education and skills especially for women migrant workers and household members.

Lower transaction costs, remove barriers to remit and facilitate the use of formal channels.

Provide better assistance to returning migrants in times of crisis.

Reintegration programs need to have better targeting especially for women to ensure their success.

Policy implications (2)

Provision of cash and job search assistances, and training.

Institutions must be improved in the framework that men and women have equal rights and are treated equally.

Home and host governments and civil society organizations need to act better following reports of abuses.

Improve targeting and coordination.

Policy implications (3)

Home and host governments and other stakeholders have to combat discrimination against migrants, which tend to increase during challenging times.

Make migrant labour inflows more flexible to changing demand in the destination countries.

Pre departure training on contract familiarization, cultural adjustment, financial literacy for migrant workers and their families.

Women migrant workers are more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.• Host governments are to guarantee basic human rights of

migrant workers and provide them with adequate labor protection.

• Missions of sending countries need to provide assistance to affected migrants and liaise with host governments.

Selected Publications..