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Labour Migration in Asia and the Role of Bilateral Migration Agreements

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The Palgrave Handbook of International Labour Migration

Abstract

Since the early 1970s, labour migration has become a fixed component of the economies and societies in Asia. The participation of developing economies in labour export is diverse in terms of the number of people involved, the countries of destination and the types of occupations migrants engage in. At the same time, common elements exist. The same goes for the countries of destination, which have handled migration differently, some of them adopting a specific migration programme, others utilizing proxy schemes to achieve the same results. But the structure of labour migration is very similar in these regions, with two fundamental pillars: labour contracts are temporary and there is no possibility for migrant workers to acquire the right of long-term stay.

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Authors
  1. Graziano Battistella
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. World Trade Institute, University of Bern, Switzerland

    Marion Panizzon (Assistant Professor of International Law) & Elisa Fornalé (Postdoctoral Researcher) (Assistant Professor of International Law) &  (Postdoctoral Researcher)

  2. Federal Office for Migration, Switzerland

    Gottfried Zürcher (Former Vice Director and Director) (Former Vice Director and Director)

  3. Directorate for Migration Policy, Switzerland

    Gottfried Zürcher (Former Vice Director and Director) (Former Vice Director and Director)

Copyright information

© 2015 Graziano Battistella

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Battistella, G. (2015). Labour Migration in Asia and the Role of Bilateral Migration Agreements. In: Panizzon, M., Zürcher, G., Fornalé, E. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of International Labour Migration. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137352217_12

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