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Nepalese migrant workers are at heightened risk of adverse mental health problems. However, the social mechanisms by which experiences of labor migration create such vulnerabilities are not well understood. Moreover, limited attention has been paid to the experiences of left-behind spouses. This study explores how migrant fathers and left-behind mothers experience labor migration and how migration affects mental health across migrant household members, paying special attention to the role of gender. We conducted 29 in-depth interviews with Nepalese migrant fathers (N = 18) in South Korea and left-behind mothers (N = 11) in Nepal. Labor migration imposes substantial stress on the entire family. Migrant fathers discussed their feelings of guilt and worry regarding their relationships with their children due to physical and emotional distance. Left-behind mothers indicated loneliness and caregiver stress due to additional responsibilities as a single parent. Migrant fathers reported that they felt respected by their communities for their work, while left-behind mothers felt heavily scrutinized. Our findings highlight how labor migration reinforces gender inequalities in domestic responsibilities and norms regarding the expected roles of migrating men and left-behind women. These findings suggest that psychosocial services must be tailored to the unique needs of migrant workers and left-behind families.

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Temporary labor migration is a household phenomenon among rural communities in India. This study seeks to understand the subjective experiences influencing the temporariness of labor migration among internal migrants in India by examining various factors such as migration conditions, motivation, migration arrangements, coping and adaptation strategies, and determinants of stay. To achieve this objective, the current qualitative study utilized 14 in-depth interviews and 2 focus group discussions to investigate the temporary nature of labor migration among internal migrants in India. Our findings reveal that migration decisions are rational choices made collectively at the household level, considering socio-economic outcomes. We also find that social networks and contractors facilitate migration arrangements and job connections, and migrants employ various strategies to reduce costs and cope with expenses in urban areas. However, migration destinations often fail to meet migrants' expectations, exposing them to low-wage employment and precarious working and living conditions, which are detrimental to their health. Limited housing and sanitation facilities further contribute to the challenges faced by migrants. Work conditions, including poor wages and high job demands, also affect their well-being. These findings highlight the need for improved support systems that address accommodation challenges, work conditions, and the overall welfare of labor migrants.

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Migration is commonly seen as a last resort for households impacted by climate shocks, given the costs and risks that migration typically entails. However, pre-existing labor migration channels may facilitate immediate migration decisions in response to climate shocks. This study explores the relationship between migration and droughts in a rural Sub-Saharan setting from which men commonly migrate in search of non-agricultural employment. We use data from the Men's Migrations and Women's Lives project, which includes a longitudinal household panel conducted in rural Mozambique between 2006 and 2017, and combine it with the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index, a high-resolution climate measure. The fixed-effect models assess the lagged impact of droughts on the labor migration status of male household heads. We find an immediate increase in migration following a drought, peaking in the first year, then diminishing in the second year, with a slight resurgence in the third year. However, by the sixth-year post-drought, the likelihood of being a migrant turns negative. These findings demonstrate the complex associations of climate shocks with labor migration in low-income rural settings.

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Payment for watershed ecosystem services (PES) has been applied to water conservation and poverty reduction in an increasing number of developing countries. This study evaluates the effect of payment for watershed ecosystem services on farmers' income in conservation intervention areas using a difference-in-differences model and a panel dataset that covers 18 countries in the Xin'an River Basin in China for fourteen consecutive years (2006-2019). The results show that PES programs increase farmers' income and that the poverty reduction effect is sustainable. The PES programs mainly increase the farmers' income in conservation intervention areas through two paths: triggering the transfer of agricultural labor and promoting agricultural restructuring. PES programs are pro-poor and more conducive to increasing the income of farmers in upstream regions and counties with lower levels of economic development. This paper reveals the specific role played by PES in promoting rural poverty reduction in developing countries, providing insights into alleviating the contradiction between poverty and watershed ecosystem protection.

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BACKGROUND: Parent‒child communication in migrant families is essential to family bonds and the mental health of left-behind children (LBC). Little is known about the different patterns of communication between migrant parents and LBC and associated communication quality and mental health outcomes. METHODS: A sample of 2,183 Chinese children (mean age = 12.95 ± 1.29 years) from Anhui province, including LBC whose parents had both migrated (n = 1,025) and children whose parents had never migrated (never-LBC, n = 1,158), was analyzed. With the LBC sample, latent class analysis was applied to identify the patterns of parent‒child communication. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was conducted to assess the associations between the sociodemographic variables and class membership of LBC. Analysis of covariance and chi-square tests were used to compare communication quality and mental health outcome differences among the classes of LBC and between each of the classes and never-LBC. RESULTS: Five latent classes of communication formed through different media or channels between migrant parents and their LBC were identified. Higher household economic status (OR = 2.81, p < 0.05) was associated with adequate communication. LBC in Class 1, defined by frequent technologically-mediated and face-to-face communication, had a significantly higher quality of communication with their migrant parents (F = 8.92, p < 0.001) and better mental health than those in other latent classes; these children did not have significantly worse mental health outcomes compared to never -LBC. CONCLUSIONS: Facilitating multichannel parent‒child communication is a practical way of reducing mental health inequities between LBC and their peers.

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Food waste has emerged as a critical global concern, with households identified as major contributors to this pressing issue. As the world grapples with sustainability challenges, addressing food waste in the context of rural labor migration is crucial for achieving broader sustainable development goals. However, there is still limited research regarding the relationship between labor migration and food waste. We utilized propensity score matching to analyze cross-sectional data collected from 1270 rural households in China. Labor migration led to significant increases of 37% in overall food waste and 35% in plant-based food waste, respectively. Furthermore, households with labor migration exhibited 29%, 31%, and 30 % higher energy, protein, and carbohydrate waste, respectively, compared to non-migration households. Regarding micronutrients, migration led to a 39% increase in iron waste, a 42% increase in zinc waste, and a 47% increase in selenium waste. The results of the categorical analysis indicate variations in the impact of labor migration on food wastage within rural households. Food wastage in rural households with chronic illness patients responds differently to labor migration. Moreover, labor migration predominantly affects households without courier services in villages, where dietary diversity plays a significant role. Understanding these variations is essential for crafting targeted interventions and policies to address food waste in different rural contexts. The policy implications of our study are crucial for addressing food waste and advancing sustainable development in rural China, where labor migration plays a significant role.

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Resumo A história da sociedade latino-americana é influenciada pela colonização que subjugou, sobretudo, as mulheres não brancas às violências de gênero, ao racismo e ao sexismo. Este artigo tem por finalidade discutir o trabalho de migrantes latino-americanas a partir da abordagem interseccional, para se pensar nas realidades históricas e sociais de mulheres latinas, que se deslocam para a procura de emprego ou para escapar das violências sofridas no meio social. Mediante as contribuições da socióloga Patrícia Collins, são discutidos o conceito de interseccionalidade e os temas pertinentes às análises interseccionais (relacionalidade, relações de poder, desigualdade social, contexto social, a complexidade e justiça social). A interseccionalidade como teoria social crítica em construção aprofunda as análises das opressões vividas pelas trabalhadoras migrantes, como a xenofobia, o racismo, as inclinações ao trabalho escravizado e/ou à exploração sexual, as condições de trabalho precarizadas etc. Pensar nas violências sofridas pelas trabalhadoras latino-americanas sob a perspectiva interseccional é escutá-las, compreender suas resistências, visibilizar as ações coletivas e garantir que políticas públicas sejam implementadas, considerando as experiências e as perspectivas dessas trabalhadoras.

Abstract The history of Latin American society has been influenced by colonization, which has subjugated non-white women to gender violence, racism and sexism. This article discusses the work of female Latin American migrants through the lens of intersectionality to reflect upon the historical and social realities of Latin women who migrate in search of employment or to escape violence. Drawing upon the contributions of the sociologist Patricia Collins, this article discusses the concept of intersectionality and topics pertaining to intersectional analyses (relationality, power relations, social inequality, social context, complexity and social justice). As a critical social theory that is under construction, intersectionality deepens the analysis of oppressions experienced by female migrant workers, such as xenophobia, racism, slave labor, sexual exploitation and precarious working conditions. Thinking about the violence experienced by female Latin American workers from an intersectional perspective implies listening to these women, understanding their resistance, increasing the visibility of collective actions, and guaranteeing the implementation of public policies considering their experiences and perspectives.

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This paper analyzes how policy-relevant actors understand the causes and effects of labor immigration to Malaysia, the country that receives the highest number of migrant workers in Southeast Asia. Whereas most research on international migration governance has focused on governance system outputs, this paper adopts an actor-centered perspective to investigate how actors narratively construct labor migration dynamics in Malaysia and how they conceptualize the drivers and impacts of labor migration policies and practices. The empirical material comes from 41 in-depth interviews with government officials, policymakers, international and regional organizations, nongovernmental organizations, employers' organizations, trade unions, and embassy representatives. The study found that Malaysia's migration governance system was perceived as "chaotic" due to the seemingly inconsistent, unclear "ad hoc" policy measures implemented, and that the governance system is perceived as "corrupt." Economic incentives were also seen as the primary driver of labor immigration, yet the main impact on Malaysian society was perceived as the spread of criminality, violence and disease, a narrative centered on migrant men. This paper argues that this discourse is problematic as it may drive types of policy measures that target migrant men.

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Income inequality is a critical issue of socio-economic development, particularly in rural areas where forest-dependent people are often vulnerable to the intervention of forest policies. This paper aims to elucidate income distribution and inequality of rural households influenced by China's largest reforestation policy implemented in early 2000s. Drawing on socioeconomic and demographic data from household surveys in two rural sites, we applied the Gini coefficient to measure income inequality and used a regression-based approach to examine the underlying factors that are associated with income generation among households. We also performed a mediation analysis to test the role of labor out-migration in shaping household income distribution under the reforestation policy. Results show that remittances sent by rural out-migrants substantially contribute to household income but tend to worsen inequality, particularly for households having retired cropland for reforestation. The inequality in total income depends on capital accumulation for land endowment and labor availability that render diversified livelihoods possible. Such linkage reveals regional disparity, which, along with policy-implementing institutions (e.g., rules for tree species choice for reforestation), can influence income generation from a given source (e.g., agriculture). Rural out-migration of female labor significantly mediates the economic benefits of the policy delivered to the households with an estimated mediating share of 11.7%. These findings add value to the knowledge of poverty-environment interrelationships in a sense that supporting rural livelihoods of the more vulnerable and underrepresented groups is essential for securing and sustaining the stewardship of forests. Policymaking for such forest restoration programs needs to integrate strategies for targeted or precise poverty alleviation to strengthen the conservation effectiveness.

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This study examines the impact of foreign direct investment in forestry, a prominent phenomenon in China, on forestry industry structure upgrading, using comprehensive economic theory and the panel data of 27 provinces from 2003 to 2019 in China. We used fixed and moderating effect models, and regional heterogeneity tests were conducted. Our results indicate that, at the national level, foreign direct investment in forestry and labor migration promotes forestry industry structural upgrading. In addition, our results indicate that labor migration as a moderating variable weakly promotes forestry industry structural upgrading via foreign direct investment in forestry, and these effects have regional heterogeneity. Finally, different control variables also have influence on forestry industry structural upgrading, such as the number of forestry stations. Based on these empirical results, we provide an explanation and give policy implications, such as developing secondary and tertiary forestry industries, building forestry infrastructure, and improving the efficiency of forestry foreign investment utilization to promote the optimization of the forestry industry structure in China.

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Economic and social conditions have deteriorated worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic. Migration theory and international organizations indicate that these increasingly fragile social conditions represent powerful incentives to migrate. Normally, studies addressing international migration and COVID-19 focus on transit and destination countries, with substantially less literature centered on origin nations. Trying to close that gap, the present article aims to identify and quantify economic determinants that explain the intention of Salvadorians to migrate abroad. Using a probabilistic sample and a logistic model, a number of renowned economic variables for migration studies were used to investigate Salvadorian's intention to emigrate. Results demonstrated a stark reduction in migration intentions in 2020. Moreover, the risk of losing one's job is by far the most prominent factor explaining the intention to migrate. Other aspects, such as employment and salaries, also showed statistically significant values. Additionally, results report women being less likely to migrate and age to have a negligible effect. The text concludes by indicating some public initiatives that could be implemented to support people who choose to act upon their intentions and embark on emigration.

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Labor migration policies within the European Union and its Member States typically address two conflictive labor market policy goals. They aim to attract and retain foreign workers in a situation of labor shortage, while at the same time protecting the national workforce from additional labor market competition. The balancing of these two goals is commonly resolved in favor of nationals and with fewer rights for migrant workers. It is precisely this nexus between migrant rights and the protection of the national workforce that is central to the understudied question of whether and under what conditions migrant workers from third countries (i.e. non-EU countries) may change their employer to quit low-quality work or exploitative employment, or for career reasons. Building on scholarly discussions on employer dependency and bureaucratic complexity as general sources of migrant precarity, as well as on international and EU law on the rights of migrant workers, this article presents three policy variations of the right to change employers currently in place in the European context. Thereby we fill a gap in the literature on labor migration, labor market regulation, and migrant workers' rights. To illustrate the mixed ambitions of EU institutions to reduce migrant precarity the article then presents and critically discusses the high-level negotiations over the recast of the EU Single Permit Directive 2011/98 that were centered around the right to change employers.

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Low fertility rates and an aging society, growing long-term care needs, and workforce shortages in professional, industrial, and care sectors are emerging issues in South Korea and Taiwan. Both governments have pursued economic/industrial growth as productive welfare capitalism and enacted preferred selective migration policies to recruit white-collar migrant workers (MWs) as mobile elites, but they have also adopted regulations and limitations on blue-collar MWs through unfree labor relations, precarious employment, and temporary legal status to provide supplemental labor. In order to demonstrate how multiple policy regulations from a national level affect MWs' precarity of labor in their receiving countries, which in turn affect MWs' im/mobilities, this article presents the growing trends of transnational MWs, regardless of them being high- or low-skilled MWs, and it evaluates four dimensions of labor migration policies-MWs' working and employment conditions, social protection, union rights and political participation, and access to permanent residency in both countries. We found that the rights and working conditions of low-skilled MWs in Korea and Taiwan are improving slowly, but still lag behind those of high-skilled MWs which also affects their public health and well-being. The significant difference identified here is that MWs in Taiwan can organize labor unions, which is strictly prohibited in Korea; pension protection also differs between the nations. Additionally, an application for permanent residency is easier for high-skilled migrant workers compared with low-skilled MWs and both the Korean and Taiwanese immigration policies differentiate the entry and resident status for low-skilled and professional MWs from dissimilar class backgrounds. Policy recommendations for both countries are also discussed.

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This article compares the paradoxical conditions of migrant care workers in two major receiving countries in Asia: Taiwan's policy regime has positioned live-in care workers as "unskilled" foreigners, who nevertheless have gained increasing desirability and mobility in the labor market. By contrast, Japan has maintained the regime of skilled migration but the recent expansion of the trainee program reinforces paternalistic control over migrant caregivers, who are considered culturally inadequate. Contesting the assumption that skills indicate desirability and mobility in the labor market, I argue that we must examine the context-dependent constitution of skills at the intersection of migration, care, and skill regimes. I propose a multifaced framework to examine how the state and intermediary agencies co-produce the skill regime of care migration, including the following dimensions: migrant skills as a political language and structure of governance, care work skills as social and cultural constructions, the infrastructure of recruitment and training, and the consequence of labor market mobility.

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Because the decision to migrate is a product of gendered negotiations within households, households formed through forced marriage may have different migration strategies than households formed through voluntary marriage. In Kyrgyzstan, we anticipate two possible effects of the traditional practice of bride kidnapping on migration. Households headed by a kidnap couple may be more cohesive and patriarchal, facilitating men's labor migration and remittance-sending. Alternately, women may use migration to escape such households. We test these two hypotheses using a sample of 1,171 households in rural Kyrgyzstan. Kidnap households are more likely to include women migrants, compared to other households. Kidnap households are also more likely to be receiving remittances, even when controlling for migrant household members. However, traditional beliefs about kidnapping are negatively associated with men's and women's migration. While higher levels of remittance receipt among kidnap households resembles the unified, patriarchal households envisioned in the New Economics of Labor Migration, it also appears that women use labor migration as a means to escape patriarchal constraints. We demonstrate that forced marriage in Kyrgyzstan plays a larger social role than is often believed, and highlight a new pathway through which gendered power dynamics can shape household migration strategies.

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Between 2000 and 2020, undocumented migration declined, temporary labor migration rose, and legal permanent residents arrived at a steady pace-together creating a new system of Mexico-U.S. migration based on the circulation of legal temporary workers and permanent residents. Drawing on data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Mexican Migration Project, we specify multinomial event-history models to predict the likelihood of departure on first and later trips via four entry categories: no documents, noncompliant tourist visas, temporary work visas, and legal residence visas. The models reveal how the accumulation of entry mode-specific social and human capital powered a system of undocumented migration that emerged between 1965 and 1985, and how that system deteriorated from 1985 to 2000. After 2000, employers took advantage of new visa categories to recruit legal temporary workers, leading to the accumulation of migration-related human and social capital specific to that mode of entry and the emergence of a new system of Mexico-U.S. migration.

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The COVID-19 pandemic intensified border control and disrupted international labor migration, but the complex consequences for migrant workers, including deepened marginalization and countervailing opportunities, have yet to receive sufficient scrutiny. Drawing on the case of Taiwan, this article examines how a host country reorganizes the multiple layers of physical and social borders for the purpose of sanitization, leading to an entanglement of mobilities and immobilities in migrant workers' lives. I illustrate how bordering practices have had uneven impacts on Filipino and Indonesian migrant workers across different circumstances of risk management. The findings highlight the geographic scales and temporal changes of shifting borders, which involve the negotiation of social membership for migrant workers in relation to the public health crisis and labor market shortage.

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Considerable cross-national research has examined the impact of international labor migration on livelihoods in sending households and communities. Although findings vary across contexts, the general underlying assumption of this research is that migration represents a novel income-generating alternative to local employment. While engaging with this assumption, we also argue that in many sending communities where labor migration has been going on for generations, it is the decision not to migrate and instead to pursue local livelihood opportunities that might constitute a true departure from the expected behavior. Importantly, both the decisions to migrate and not to migrate are part of a household strategy shaped by gendered negotiation and bargaining. Building on these propositions, we use rich survey data from rural Mozambique, a typical setting of long-established large-scale international male labor out-migration, to examine married women's gainful employment outside subsistence agriculture as it relates to their husbands' migration or local work. We find a somewhat lower likelihood of employment among migrants' wives, compared with nonmigrants' wives, and this pattern strengthens with increased duration of migration. However, we also find substantial differences among nonmigrants' wives: women married to locally employed men have themselves by far the highest probability of employment, while wives of nonemployed men are no different from migrants' wives, net of other factors. These findings are discussed in light of interconnected gendered complexities of both migration-related and local labor market constraints and choices.

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Recent studies suggest that the hiring of migrants in the food processing industry has increased the migrant population outside large cities among affluent migrant-receiving countries. This study examines how the U.S. meatpacking industry and the Japanese seafood processing industry, in particular, have developed a dependence on migrants; it does so to identify whether and how a common-thus cross-nationally generalizable-process may account for migration outside large cities. A comparative historical analysis revealed that, with significant national differences between the United States and Japan, including in the legal and institutional contexts of migration, there is little commonality in the processes through which the industries have come to depend on migrants. Yet, there is a similarity in the development of mass production. Such production necessitates an undisrupted availability of full-time as well as low-wage workforce, and migrants on both sides of the Pacific are employed to ensure this availability. Thus, while urban-centered migration studies often emphasize the growth of low-wage services or small-batch manufacturing as an economic driver of migration, this study argues that, outside large cities, a different pattern of industrial transformation is associated with labor migration.

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[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fsoc.2021.590760.].