{"id":68843,"date":"2021-11-24T12:30:37","date_gmt":"2021-11-24T01:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=68843"},"modified":"2021-11-24T12:17:07","modified_gmt":"2021-11-24T01:17:07","slug":"australias-asean-worker-scheme-and-southeast-asias-migrant-labour-dilemma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australias-asean-worker-scheme-and-southeast-asias-migrant-labour-dilemma\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s ASEAN worker scheme and Southeast Asia\u2019s migrant labour dilemma"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

Covid-19 has disrupted labour markets around the world, causing a global manpower shortage<\/a>. Lockdowns in the early months of the pandemic triggered an exodus of millions of rural migrant workers<\/a> from booming megacities like New Delhi and Dhaka. In the global north, the United Kingdom has experienced the largest decline<\/a> in its foreign-born labour force since World War II. ASEAN countries have also been affected: Vietnam<\/a>\u2019s labour shortage recently worsened after the easing of travel restrictions in Ho Chi Minh City led to a large outflow of migrant workers.<\/p>\n

Some high-income countries are trying to lure back foreign workers from emerging Asia as part of their national recovery plans, creating new challenges for the global governance of labour migration. In particular, ASEAN economies like Singapore and Malaysia that have large migrant labour flows now face a tricky choice: should they curb outward migration or encourage greater labour mobility?<\/p>\n

This dilemma has come to the fore in Malaysia following the Australian government\u2019s recent announcement of a visa scheme<\/a> for ASEAN agricultural workers. Under this program\u2014a response to Australia\u2019s own shortage of farm labour<\/a>\u2014employers will sponsor farm workers from ASEAN countries, subject to a formal employment contract that complies with specified standards and obligations. In contrast to Australia\u2019s earlier Seasonal Worker Programme<\/a>, the new initiative allows Australian farms to employ skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled ASEAN farm workers on a longer-term basis. The first cohort<\/a> is expected to arrive in Australia next month and then in March 2022.<\/p>\n

But Malaysia\u2019s recently elected government initially ruled out<\/a> the country\u2019s participation in the Australian scheme, causing an uproar in the local media. After opposition MPs demanded<\/a> that the decision be reversed, the senior human resources minister issued a statement<\/a> saying that the government has no plans to restrict overseas migration by Malaysians for employment purposes.<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s initial opposition to Australia\u2019s visa program reflected at least three considerations. First, policymakers fear a large-scale brain drain. An estimated two million Malaysians<\/a> currently are living abroad, many of them in neighbouring Singapore. And because the Australian program offers a possible route for ASEAN nationals to secure permanent residency and citizenship, the government is worried about losing key agricultural workers.<\/p>\n

Second, political pressure to reduce the country\u2019s dependence on foreign unskilled labour has increased significantly as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the Australian scheme competes with the Malaysian government\u2019s plans<\/a> to replace foreign plantation workers with local labour. Lastly, Malaysia\u2019s farmers are ageing rapidly, creating an agricultural workforce crisis similar to that in Australia<\/a>, but young Malaysians are reluctant to work in the sector owing to its unattractive pay and conditions.<\/p>\n

Whether developing countries like Malaysia benefit or lose out from labour migration to advanced economies depends on the institutional arrangements governing labour mobility. Work-related migration from ASEAN countries to Australia is not a new phenomenon. But in the past, many migrant workers\u2014especially from Malaysia\u2014lived in the country illegally<\/a>, making them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse by employers. Australian\u2019s new program will ensure that foreign nationals have full labour rights and access to social-protection provisions. Malaysian MP William Leong therefore warned<\/a> that the government\u2019s opposition to the scheme would leave Malaysians working in slave-like conditions<\/a> in Australia.<\/p>\n

For ASEAN source countries, the Australian program will also increase the potential for brain gain<\/em>, provided that it contains the right mechanisms to ensure reverse migration. Building a critical mass of Malaysian farmers with overseas experience and technological know-how in areas such as precision agriculture can be crucial to ongoing efforts to boost productivity in the country\u2019s farm sector.<\/p>\n

The Malaysian government\u2019s recent flip-flop on migration-control policy also highlights a deeper structural challenge: the lack of a political consensus regarding the country\u2019s own large population of migrant workers. Malaysia is a major destination for migrants in Southeast Asia, and millions of undocumented foreign workers<\/a> are thought to be in the country.<\/p>\n

Yet, soon after declaring its opposition to the Australian visa scheme, the government announced<\/a> that thousands of low-skilled workers from Indonesia and Bangladesh would soon arrive in Malaysia to take up plantation jobs. Senior officials justified the decision on the grounds that Malaysians are unwilling to enter the sector because of its unfavourable working conditions. The US government late last year banned imports<\/a> from Malaysia\u2019s Sime Darby Plantation, one of the world\u2019s largest palm-oil producers, citing concerns about the use of forced labour.<\/p>\n

Malaysian policymakers therefore need to shift from short-term coercive measures such as migration controls to long-term remedies for the country\u2019s poor labour standards and low agricultural productivity.<\/p>\n

Globally, cross-country differences in wages and working conditions remain the two most reliable predictors of international migration. Average wages in Malaysia are relatively low<\/a> and declined by nearly 10%<\/a> in 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 crisis. Most of the country\u2019s farmers are in the bottom 40%<\/a> of the income distribution, and many live in poverty. On top of this, a significant share of employers are not complying<\/a> with the country\u2019s minimum-wage legislation.<\/p>\n

Scaling up technology adoption in agriculture should be another long-term priority. Taiwan\u2019s early investment in precision agriculture<\/a>, for example, reduced its farm sector\u2019s dependence on labour. While the introduction of commercial drones by some of Malaysia\u2019s palm oil plantations has already yielded positive results<\/a>, adoption of such technologies is far from universal.<\/p>\n

Addressing these wage and productivity issues will go a long way towards stemming Malaysia\u2019s brain drain and encouraging skilled Malaysians working overseas to return home. Malaysia has just taken up a seat<\/a> on the United Nations Human Rights Council. Instead of curbing citizens\u2019 freedom to work abroad, the government should focus on improving labour standards at home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Covid-19 has disrupted labour markets around the world, causing a global manpower shortage. Lockdowns in the early months of the pandemic triggered an exodus of millions of rural migrant workers from booming megacities like New …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":709,"featured_media":68848,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3032,189,2631,2071,25],"class_list":["post-68843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-agriculture","tag-asean","tag-labour-mobility","tag-migration","tag-southeast-asia"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAustralia\u2019s ASEAN worker scheme and Southeast Asia\u2019s migrant labour dilemma | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australias-asean-worker-scheme-and-southeast-asias-migrant-labour-dilemma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Australia\u2019s ASEAN worker scheme and Southeast Asia\u2019s migrant labour dilemma | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Covid-19 has disrupted labour markets around the world, causing a global manpower shortage. 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