Discussion: economics of labour migration
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.
3
02, 2025
Work permit holder has never met his boss, directed by agent to work here and there
Despite having worked 15 months, a foreign worker has not met his boss; it's his agent who gives him work and pays his salary. The arrangement smells fishy.
28
01, 2025
Faruk’s career journey and how much he has paid to agents along the way
Agents earn huge sums off the backs of migrant workers from Bangladesh coming to work in Singapore. Do these agents contribute to our economy?
8
09, 2024
The 20-day obstacle course
The no-consent transfer scheme – do workers know about it? Do they make use of it? Are they successful in transferring to new jobs if their Work Permits are not renewed?
12
08, 2024
Seven checkboxes on page two
A worker shows us a document wherein his employer had declared that the worker did not pay any recruitment fees or costs. Then the worker tells us what he had to pay.
9
07, 2024
Jahirul assaulted and thrown to the wolves, part 1
Six weeks into his job as a landscaping worker, Jahirul was assaulted by his boss and terminated from the job. Do bosses not care about morale and productivity? What skewed incentives promote such behaviour?
29
05, 2024
Let this end with me
This research report examines the recruitment experiences of male migrant workers from Tamil Nadu, focussing on how much they paid to get their jobs, to whom and where. How do these costs compare with salary?