Discussion: economics of labour migration
26
12, 2020
Policy incoherence: vaccination and repatriation
Covid-immune and vaccinated workers should be retained, not sent home. An explainer why MOM policies are counter-productve.
26
12, 2020
Trapped in time, space and a financial hole
Alam got a "plumbing" job. What exactly did the job involve? But does it matter when he had nothing to do for the past 17 months?
11
12, 2020
Pay and pay, yet outstanding loan hardly budges
Here's a close look at a bank loan a worker took out and the burden of repayments. Someone other than the worker is the main beneficiary of his labours.
17
11, 2020
Shahadat borrows from an “NGO” to fund his recruitment fee, but at what cost?
To pay the agent fee for his job, Shahadat had to take a loan. We calculate the interest rate involved. We can barely believe our math.
17
10, 2020
Sheikh Hasan’s first 24 hours with TWC2
Hasan paid over $15,000 for his first job in Singapore, which didn't materialise. After 4 months in limbo, he approached us. A case study of the social work we do.
10
10, 2020
$9,000 to help cousin get a job that pays $399 per month
Right before our noses, illegal job agents operate with impunity in Singapore itself, raking in loads of money. Employers offering jobs through these recruiters don't smell too clean either.
3
10, 2020
Monzurul accumulates wealth — of English words
Over three jobs in Singapore, Monzurul got richer in his English vocabulary, not so much in the bank.
20
09, 2020
Paying off a bank loan should be easy, until it is not
To fund the required recruitment fee for his job, Habibur took a loan from Brac Bank. Even from the beginning, the repayment demands looked tight. Then the unexpected happened.
7
09, 2020
Where was your illegal recruiter? “In Singapore,” say Kamrul and Majumder
Kamrul and Majumder share something important: both their illegal recruiters were based here in Singapore. In Majumder's case, an additional payment was demanded by someone in the company.
7
08, 2020
Loan amount goes up, up and away
Shafiqul borrowed 200,000 taka from a bank to finance his recruitment cost. He now owes 250,000.