Asia on the Move :International Migration andSocial Transformations in
Asia
In-Jin Yoon
Professor of Sociology and Head of the BK21 Project Group
for Conflict Society,
Korea University
Presentation to the 2009 Summer
Institute of Waseda University

6th August 2009http://yoonin.hosting.paran.com
E-mail: yoonin@korea.ac.kr

Age of migration
 Globalization

has caused a dramaticincrease in the number of migrants
worldwide—from 75 million in 1965 (ILO
2000) to more than 200 million in 2008
(IOM, 2008).
 According to the IOM, in 2005 migrants
accounted for 2.9% of the world
population. Migrant workers are
estimated to be around 90~95 millions,accounting for 41.7~49.7% of all
migrants.
2

Asia on the move
 Asia has become one of the most significant

and “globalized” regions in the world not onlyin terms of the cross-border movement of
capital and goods, but also in terms of the
movement of people.
 International migration is having a significant
impact in the social, demographic andeconomic development of all Asian nations.
 Over 20 million Asian workers are estimatedto be living outside their native countries.
3

Asia on the move (cont.) The continent is also the leading source of family

and authorized economic migration to most of
the world‟s immigrant-receiving regions andcountries.
 The nine largest immigrant-exporting countries(Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Myanmar,
Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka andThailand) together contribute between one half
and two thirds of all documented immigrants andrefugees to the international migration stream.

4

Asian Countries: Numbers Residing in OECD Countries
Source: OECD Database on Immigrants and Expatriates

5Developments in Mobility in
Asia-Pacific Countries
The Myth of Traditional Immobility
 Increased scale and complexity of movement Migration now within the reach of many
 Increased female involvement in migration
 Involvement of both high and low skilled groups Increased government involvement Growth of the migration industry
 Growth of both documented and undocumented
migrationSource: Graeme Hugo, “Population Movement and Human Development in
the Asia Pacific – A Demographer’s View of the Major Issues”,
Presentation at the 2009 ISSBD Asia-Pacific Workshop, Flinders
University, Adelaide, Australia, 4th July 2009.

6

Trends and characteristics
 The various subregions of Asia have beencharacterized by specific migratory
movements.
 Traditionally, South Asia is identified as asubregion of origin of migration, East Asia
as a subregion of destination and SouthEast Asia as a subregion of both origin
and destination.
7

Diverse patterns
 At the same time, however, migration flows

have developed in different directions,particularly within the various regions, so that itis difficult to maintain the traditional
characterizations.
 In East Asia, for instance, migration from China,
although unauthorized, has become importantin Japan and the Republic of Korea, andKoreans continue to enter Japan.
 South Asia cannot be considered just a
subregion of origin, in view of the substantial
migration from Bangladesh and Nepal to India.
8

Recent trends
 The very recent period has seen an

increase in relatively more skilled temporary
migration from Asia to other parts of theworld, especially North America, Europe
and Australasia.
 There have also been increases in
outsourcing of a range of activities whichhave implied much greater expansion ofservices trade without necessarily involving
the movement of people.

9Recent trends (cont.) Recent migration has been rather different interms of its nature and its duration.
 The movement of more educated and skilled
professional workers has been dominantly todeveloped countries, either to the US, or
western Europe or even to Australia and New
Zealand.
 By contrast, the movement of unskilled or
relatively less skilled workers has displayed amuch more diverse pattern, with a large andgrowing extent of intra-Asian region migration.
10

Major Types of Migration
 South-North permanent and temporary

skilled migration
 Constant Labour Migration – largely
unskilled Student Migration
 Forced Migration
 Marriage Migration

11

Important points about labor
migration
 Attention should be given to the fact that

migration is not just an individual choice,but a choice taking place within ahousehold.
 International labour flows do not occur
randomly, but respond to linkages
established through history (colonialsm)
and economic interaction.
12

Labor migration (cont.) The costs involved in international migration are

offset by social networks that facilitate themovement of people who can enter into suchnetworks and ensure the continuation of
migration beyond the attractiveness ofdifferentials.
 The cumulative changes in both sending andreceiving countries brought about by migration
ensure that migration flows will continue beyond
the original intentions.

13

Contract Labour Migration
 Mainly unskilled workers
 Contracted to particular employers usually for 2

years Restricted rights in destination
 Increasing involvement of women Both undocumented and documented
 Excessive rent taking and exploitation
 Increasingly segmented labour markets indestinations
Source: Graeme Hugo, “Population Movement and Human Development in
the Asia Pacific – A Demographer’s View of the Major Issues”
14

Southeast Asian Countries: Estimates ofStocks of Migrant Workers in Other Countries
Origin Countries
Burma/Myanmar
ThailandNumber
1,840,000
500,000

Laos
Cambodia
VietnamPhilippines

173,000b
183,541
400,000
8,726,520

Malaysia
Singapore
Indonesia

250,000 Japan, Taiwan
775,000a
5,800,000a Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan,
Singapore, South Korea, United
Arab Emirates
18,648,061

Total

Main Destinations
ThailandSaudi Arabia, Taiwan, Myanmar,
Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia
ThailandThailand
Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan
Middle East, Malaysia, Japan

Source of Information
BurmaNet News, 8 January 2007
Sciortino and Punpuing, 2009

Year
2006
2007

Migration News, January 2005
Lee, 2006
Migration News, October 2007
Philippines Overseas Employment
AgencyAsian Migrant Center, 1999
Beng and Chew, 2008
Asian Migration News, December 2008

2004
2006
2005
2007

a. Documented
b. Undocumented

Source: Graeme Hugo, “Population Movement and Human Development in
the Asia Pacific – A Demographer’s View of the Major Issues”

1995
2008
2008

Forced Migrations
 Mandated

Refugee movement – 29.3
percent of global total in 2008 (10million persons) Increased asylum seeking
Key transit centres of Thailand, Malaysia andIndonesia

45 percent of all Asylum applications from Asia
(383,000 in 2008, 12 percent higher than in 2007)
 Potentialof climate change related
displacement

Source: Graeme Hugo, “Population Movement and Human Development in
the Asia Pacific – A Demographer’s View of the Major Issues”

Overseas Students in Australian Universities,
1983-2007
DEST Students: Selected Higher Education Statistics, various issues

300,000

Overseas S tudents from S outhern andC entral A si aOverseas S tudents from Northeast A si a

250,000

Overseas S tudents from S outheast A si a

200,000

Other Overseas S tudents
Total Overseas S tudents (1983-90)

150,000
100,000
50,000

Year

2007

2005
2006

2003
2004

2001
2002

1999
2000

1997
1998

1995
1996

1994

1992
1993

1990
1991

1988
1989

1986
1987

1984
1985

0

1983

N umber

Source:Student migration: Expanding
educational landscapes

There are at least 1.8 million international stu
dents pursuing higher education outside their home countries - 45% of these students are from A
sia, mostly from China, India, Japan, South Kore
a and Malaysia.



Established education markets of the UnitedStates, Europe, Australia and NZ increasingly
joined by new spaces of expanding educational
opportunities in the globalising universities ofEast Asia.

Source: Brenda Yeoh, “Families/Households in Motion”, Presentation at the2009 ISSBD Asia-Pacific Workshop, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia,

Globalizing universities in East Asia
Japan‟s Global COE program• To provide funding support for establishing education and research centers that

perform at the apex of global excellence to elevate the international
competitiveness of the Japanese universities. The program will strengthen andenhance the education and research functions of graduate schools, to foster highly
creative young researchers who will go on to become world leaders in theirrespective fields through experiencing and practicing research of the highest world
standard.

Singapore‟s Global Schoolhouse policy• To fashion “a world-class education hub internationally renowned for its intellectual

capital and creative energy” that is “global in institutional composition and global instudent mix”. Target: “double or triple the number of international students in Singapore to 100,000 or 150,000”, focusing primarily on attracting Asian students.



China

• Plans to further develop its global capacity and potential, particular in the scienceand technology disciplines has led to policies aimed at re-investing in its top
universities, increases in agreements to collaborate with foreign universities, andprograms to induce former nationals particularly in the science and technology
fields to return home.



Korea‟s BK21 Project• Brain Korea 21 is one of several policies aimed at steering the country towards

knowledge economy status - tasked with building seven world-class universities
through an increased emphasis on global connections, to be fostered by scholarly
exchanges, the recruitment of overseas staff, and re-connections with diasporicscience and technology networks.

Source: Brenda Yeoh, “Families/Households in Motion”.

Increasing nexus between student
migration and skilled migration
 Conceptof ‘designer’ migrants
 In Australia in 2005-6, 16,296 AsiaPacific people on student visas took out
permanent residency
 81 percent of Asia-Pacific settlers had
an Australian qualification
Source: Graeme Hugo, “Population Movement and Human Development in
the Asia Pacific – A Demographer’s View of the Major Issues”

Brain drain or brain
circulation
 Coined by the British Royal Society, the term

brain drain appeared in the 1960s andreferred to the migration of highly-educatedskilled scientists and technologists to theUnited Sates in the 1950s and 1960s.
 Today, brain drain refers only to cases of
emigration related to the continuation ofscientific activities while brain waste tosituations when researchers abandon
science altogether.
21

Brain drain (cont.) Another important distinction is whether brain drain

occurs internally or externally.
 Internal brain drain refers to situations when
researchers lastingly abandon science for private
business or other areas where they use theirscientific expertise.
 External brain drain refers to situations when
researchers lastingly leave their country of origin to
do research.
 Brain exchange refers to various forms of short-termscientific migration (less than one year).

22

Brain circulation
 In some parts of the world, the old dynamic of"brain drain" is giving way to one I call "brain
circulation." Most people instinctively assume that the
movement of skill and talent must benefit one
country at the expense of another.
 But thanks to brain circulation, high-skilled
immigration increasingly benefits both sides.
Economically speaking, it is blessed to give andto receive.

23

A Model of the Australia‟s Migration Relationship with theAsia-Pacific24Return migration
 Millions of international migrants return homeevery year, many remaining permanently, whileothers emigrate again.
 Some return because they are required to do so
by host countries, others return because they
have accomplished their goals as migrants andstill others find that the costs of migration
outweigh its benefits.

25

Return migration (cont.) Migrants who return home often bring expertiseand savings.
 Some use their savings to start businesses that
contribute to job creation, even if on a modest
scale.
 Some pass their expertise along to others asteachers or trainers. Some form part of a new
critical mass of skilled workers that may launch
new ventures in their countries and promoteeconomic development.

26

Feminization of Asian migration
 Women constitute almost half of all immigrants

in Asia.
 In several countries, considerably more womenthan men are emigrant workers: In 2005, forexample, over 65% of the nearly 3,000 Filipinosthat left the country every day for work or
residence abroad were women. In 2002, two
women left Sri Lanka for every male emigrant.
Between 2000 and 2003, 79% of all migrants
leaving Indonesia to work abroad were women.

27Increasing feminisation of migration

Women are taking an
increasingly prominent partin contract labour systems:• Women now comprise the majori

ty of migrant workers legally
deployed from the Philippines
and Indonesia, of which mostare employed as domestic workers (and entertainers in thecase of the Philippines).
Filipinas in
Hong Kong

Calling home from Singapore
New migrants
at a party
organised by
the Anglican
church in
Cyprus

Source: Brenda Yeoh, “Families/Households in Motion”.

Female labor migrants Asia is one of the world‟s largest suppliers offemale domestic workers, with Indonesia, Sri
Lanka and the Philippines being the largest
exporters.
 Many of these women become domestic
workers in other Asian countries as well as inother regions, especially the Middle East andEurope. The ILO reports that in 2003 there were200,000 foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong
(SAR, China) and 155,000 in Malaysia.
 One third of the labor migrants within the region
are women, the great majority of whom work indomestic services or entertainment, sectors
often not covered by national labor laws.
29

Female labor migrants (cont.) Among female migrants from Asia who move

to work, low-skilled women predominate.
 They are concentrated in a relatively small
number of occupations. However, highly
skilled Asian women also migrate for work
abroad, although many end up doing meniallabor.
 For instance, many Filipino women who havetertiary level education have become
domestic workers overseas.
30

Female labor migrants (cont.) The demand for nurses is a major pull

factor, especially to meet shortages in
wealthier countries.
 In 2003, an estimated 85% of employed
Filipino nurses were working abroad. In
Singapore, 30% of the nurses registered in2003 were born outside the country.

31

Female trafficking
 One third of the global trafficking in women andchildren occurs in South East Asia, where there
are an estimated 230,000 victims.
 The Greater Mekong Subregion, comprisingCambodia, Yunan Province of China, Lao
People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar,
Thailand, and Viet Nam, are major trafficking
areas, as is Indonesia.

32Female trafficking (cont.) Thailand, in addition to being a destination country,

serves as a source and transit hub for traffickedpersons to other Asian countries, Australia, the UnitedStates and Western Europe.
 South Asia has the second largest number ofinternationally trafficked persons, estimated at 150,000.
 India and Pakistan are major countries of destination
for trafficked women and girls and are also transit
points into the Middle East.
 ILO estimates that once victims are in destination
countries, traffickers net $32 billion a year – half
generated in industrialized countries and almost one
third in Asia.

33

Marriage migration
 Due to a high demand for foreign brides,

migration for marriage is increasing in Asia.
 In many East and South-East Asian countries,
the increase in women entering the workforce –coupled with a trend towards delaying or
forgoing marriage and childbearing altogether isleading to a demand for more „traditional‟ brides
in order to maintain the household.

34

Marriage migration (cont.) In Taiwan, brides now represent about half of thetotal migrant population. Since the 1990s, nearly
100,000 Vietnamese women have married
Taiwanese men.
 There is also a surge in the numbers of women
migrating to South Korea to marry local men.
Significant numbers of Filipino women have married
men in Japan, Australia, North America and Europe.
 In South Korea, international marriages account for
11% of all marriages, and in rural areas 33% of
marriages are interracial or interethnic marriages.

35

Rising cross-nationality marriages
Asian countries



Taiwan• „experienced dramatic increase in international marriages‟ (UNESCAP, 2007)• majority of involve foreign women and local men.
• international marriage comprising 32% of the nation‟s marriage statistics in 2003 (Jones&
Shen, 2008): 92% are female immigrant spouses, two thirds from China and the rest
from Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines).



Korea

• 14% of new marriages in 2005 were between Koreans and foreign spouses, of which

65% were women (ethnic Koreans from China‟s Liaoning, Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces(seven out of ten), Vietnam, Japan, the Philippines, Mongolia and Uzbekistan).



Japan

• 1980 international marriage figure of 4,386 quadrupled after a decade to 20,026 (Wang &Chang, 2002) – foreign spouses from the Philippines, China, Korea and Taiwan.

Singapore• 8,086 marriages (38.9% out of 20,775 registered marriages, 2007) between citizens &non-citizens• Non-citizen brides: 96.9% from Asia; Non-citizen grooms: 65.3% from Asia

Source: Brenda Yeoh, “Families/Households in Motion”.

Marriage migration (cont.)
 Increasingly significant because- more young adults travelling – students,
tourism, education- commodified marriage
 Breaking down previously strong antimigration stance in places of S. Korea, Taiwan
and Japan

Marriage migrants and(non)incorporation
 „Foreign brides‟ from developing countries in Asia

often face a number of challenges in host nations:• Lack of social networks and support• Obstacles to finding jobs given language barriers andsocial isolation• Discriminatory discourses (e.g. „low quality‟ of „new Taiwan
children‟)• Barriers to obtaining formal and substantive citizenship• Vulnerability (e.g. economic dependence on husbands, fea
r of deportation)

Source: Brenda Yeoh, “Families/Households in Motion”.

Remittances Remittances are a major part of the economiesof the South Asian countries.
 The Sri Lankan government has stated thatoverseas remittances “have now become thebackbone of the country‟s economy.” About amillion overseas contract workers from thatcountry, 60% of them female domestic workers,
sent home $1.2 billion in 2002.

39

Remittances (cont.) Of the roughly $6 billion remitted annually to

the Philippines in the late 1990s, migrant
women transferred one third. Bangladeshi
women working in the Middle East sent home
72% of their earnings on average.
 Remittances sent by Mongolian workers andwomen married to South Korean men are asignificant source of foreign currency for
Mongolia.
40

Consequences of migration
 Demographic diversity and cultural diversity
 Creation of ethnic communities (e.g., theBorderless Village in Ansan city of South Korea)
 Transnational family and social and economic

linkages Impetus for change of attitudes toward foreigners

and the concept of national identity

Becoming multicultural
 Northeast

Asian countries are entering
the first phase of multiethnic andmulticultural society.

 Thecurrent trend is a challenge for NE
Asian countries known for strong
homogeneity and nationalism.

 NE

Asian countries need to develop newvalues and systems for social
integration in multiculturalenvironments.

From migrant worker problem tosocial integration problem
 Initiallymigrant worker problems
involved labor supply and human rights
issues.

 Nowother issues related with social
integration are important: marriage,family, naturalization, citizenship,
education, health and medical service,welfare, community, assimilation, andidentity.

References
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