Discussion: economics of labour migration
11
10, 2025
A hard trek to a hard-hearted place
A family in Burma fears the army will be knocking on their doors soon. Where can they send their sons to be safe? What does it take to get there?
29
09, 2025
Learning the lines for showtime
A Bangladeshi welder paid $3,400 to get a shipyard job. No receipts given, he says. Then he had to memorise some lines to say in front of the camera, and to express deep gratitude.
19
09, 2025
Foolish questions
A first-time construction worker from Bangladesh walks us through the months in which he prepared for a working life in Singapore. He spent 15 months in preparation. His working life was 6 months. We haven't even mentioned money!
30
08, 2025
Fog and minefields
(Mis)information given to migrant workers before they decide to take up a job, inability to ask the right questions, reliance on agents can lay the ground for serious difficulties after they start work.
30
07, 2025
Going international: Singapore’s toothless laws
A recruiter goes onto Facebook to publicise his scheme to hire low-wage workers in violation of Singapore law; he seems to have nothing to fear.
3
07, 2025
“If you complain, we will kill you”
Employers abused the Training Employment Pass scheme to hire cheap day labour; now hear it from the worker's perspective: distress, helplessness and financial disaster.
28
06, 2025
Resign? What fiction is this?
Without a sense of financial security, resigning from a bad job may be an unrealistic move for migrant workers – even when salary isn't fully paid.
16
04, 2025
Honeypot for illegal agents
Government policy is that migrant workers with valid claims against their employers will be allowed to look for new jobs with first being repatriated, but how do they find new jobs?
4
03, 2025
Good diet and good health remain challenges
Workers know they need good health. For many, what they get every day is catered food which "nobody like".
27
02, 2025
Such is our lot: Awareness of law violations and reluctance to confront them
In this brief study, we assessed migrant workers' awareness of three key legal protections and, if violated, what holds them back from asserting their rights.