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Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia

49 (2) 2015 3 – 15

The Role of Labour Standards in Shaping Migration: The ASEAN Perspectives
Peranan Piawaian Buruh dalam Membentuk Migrasi: Perspektif ASEAN Peranan Piawaian Buruh dalam Membentuk Migrasi: Perspektif ASEAN

School of Graduate Studies
Universiti Putra Malaysia
43400 Serdang, Selangor
MALAYSIA

ng.karyee11@gmail.com

Faculty of Economics and Management
Universiti Putra Malaysia
43400 Serdang, Selangor
MALAYSIA

rusmawatisaid@gmail.com

Abstract

This study attempts to investigate the role of labour standards in explaining the pattern of bilateral migration flows in ASEAN; and it is motivated by the target of ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint that aims to promote free flow of skilled labour in the region. To answer the research question, this paper used a panel data set consisting 45 countries and applied pooled ordinary least squares technique for the empirical analysis. The study proxies labour standards with four different indicators: number of strikes, average actual weekly hours worked, cases of occupational injuries, and trade union density rate. Interestingly, the analysis obtained mixed results to explain the effect of labour standards on bilateral migration flows in ASEAN countries, depending on what indicator being used to measure the level of labour standards in the empirical analysis. When the level of labour standards was represented by number of strikes and/ or average weekly hours worked, the results demonstrated that better labour standards increase the bilateral migration flows among countries selected in the analysis. Nonetheless, the migration increased when there were more cases of occupational injuries reported, which implies that better working conditions do not attract workers to move. The findings suggest that governments should review and improve the existing labour policies in order to attract immigrants, especially those high-skilled.

Keywords

ASEAN; bilateral migration; Labour standards

Author’s Acknowledgement

We are grateful for the financial support from the Malaysian Ministry of Education Exploratory Research Grant Scheme (Grant No.: 5527083). We would like to thank the comments and suggestions given by the participants of International Conference on Business, Economics, Finance and Management Sciences held in Paris, 2015 where the earlier version of this paper was presented.

http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/JEM-2015-4902-01
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Ng, , & Said, (2015). The Role of Labour Standards in Shaping Migration: The ASEAN Perspectives. Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, 49(2), 3–15. http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/JEM-2015-4902-01

@article{ng2015role,
  title={The Role of Labour Standards in Shaping Migration: The ASEAN Perspectives},
  author={Ng, Kar Yee and Said, Rusmawati},
  journal={Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia},
  volume={49},
  number={2},
  pages={3—15},
 

year={2015},
}

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