CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION 1.1 Title The title of this research is “The Migrant Workers’ Effect on Labour Productivity towards Malaysian Agriculture Sector”. 1.2 Background of Study Based on Hoogvelt (1997:117-118), globalization can be characterized in terms of where the population is depending increasingly in a system. The phenomenon of globalization is impossible to be avoided and it forced foreign workers to penetrate Malaysian labour market. The strong recruitment of foreign workers in Malaysia is no more a new event for the country. It dated back to the early nineteenth century which is the British colonial period, where Malaysia was one of the receiving countries of foreign nationals, which particularly originated from China, India and Indonesia, to work in plantations, constructions and mines sectors (Kaur, 2010; Dannecker, 2005; Lee & Sivananthiran, 1996). In the year 2010, Amnesty International wrote that close to 20% out of the total Malaysia’s labour force are migrant workers. The number did not include the additional 2.2 million illegal migrant workers. 1.3 Problem Statement According to Statistics Department, the contribution of agriculture to the Malaysia’s gross domestic product GDP declined from 28.8% in 1970 to 7.3% in 2010. But in poorer states such as Perlis and Sabah, agriculture’s share of GDP can be as high as 25%-30%. However, recently issues regarding foreign workers migrant back to their homeland has become significant towards the agricultural sector. 1.4 Research Objective The objectives of this study are: a) to determine the impact of migrant workers towards the productivity of labour in the Malaysian agriculture sector. b) to identify the causality between the domestic labour force and the forei... ... middle of paper ... ...imates the elasticity of substitution between labour in Denmark. They divide the workers by their educational level and occupation skills. They found skilled workers with all other labour inputs and capital had a higher elasticity of substitution in larger firms than smaller firms. Besides, the elasticity of substitution between skilled and unskilled workers was also larger in the large firms. There are many studies on the consequences of impact of immigrants on different angle and the relationship between domestic and foreign workers, but currently it is important to recognize more about the economic impact of foreign workers on labor productivity especially in Malaysian agriculture sector. Additionally, it is also important to investigate the relationship between domestic labor and foreign labor, whether their substitute or complement. 2.3 Conceptual Framework
... and unsafe. The struggles the migrant farm worker faces are of the most severe of any industry, and yet, they are true to their craft. They always ensure the product they harvest meets the expectations of the American consumer.
Migrants have been the heart of building Australia into a strong economy. Migrants in modern Australia create jobs and business opportunities and continue to add to the rich social and cultural fabric of Australian society. Business Skills migrants create on average six new jobs and invest millions of dollars into the economy. They have brought new ideas and new technology to the areas of medicine, science, information technology, mining, primary industry and business. Their familiarity with different cultures, languages and lifestyles as well as how overseas business works has helped local companies compete in Australia and overseas. The current Migration Program is balanced and targeted to meet our economic, environmental and international objectives.
The phenomena of Migrant Workers would not be possible if the migrants were able to get jobs elsewhere, but as many come from Third-World Countries with little economic possibilities, this is not possible. What has resulted is an inexhaustible supply of cheap labor to the United States. This willingness on the part of the workers to work for wages otherwise unacceptable in the United States is problematic. Employers in this position are not under any pressure to reveal truthful, or even any information about wage rates, and many workers do not ask how much they will be paid. As a result, workers often do not know how much they will paid until they are thousands of miles away from their homes, and frequently not until they are paid at the end of a week. This is the story for the Mexican blueberry pickers in Maine, and the growing number of apple pickers who are Jamaican.
The other aspect is that illegal immigrants have positive effects in the U.S economy by decreasing consumer cost. Most of the illegal immigrants came to the U.S to fill the secondary labor market; therefore products and services become cheaper because illegal immigrants work for lower wages, thus providing a kind of subsidy to American consumers. Nadadur Ramanujan in his article “Illegal Immigrants” states that, “Because illegal immigrants serves to allow businesses to minimize their cost of production in the secondary sector, it positively impacts income of all native workers by decreasing
The Justicia for Migrant Workers (J4MW) is a non-profit organization run by volunteer aimed at helping the migrant framworkers to gain their rights in Canada. This organization established in April 2001 when over 20 Mexican migrant workers organized a strike in Leamington and repatriated. They demand for a employment insurance created for the migran workers by the federal government and the right to apply for citizenship in Canada. Moreover, they fight to gain the fair treat and right to appeal for the workers (J4MW website, Our Main Demands). They offers workshop to educate the migrant workers to understand their rights and collect their complaints. Through the interaction with the farmers, helps them raise the awareness of legal issues. A more active action they connect migrant worker with immigration office and humanrights organizations both in Canada and in their homeland (J4MW website, What We Do). They worlk with Centre for Spanish Speaking Peoples and ELACE to connect Caribbean and Mexican workers in a community. Also, their analysis include not only immigration issues but also gender and class conflict in the work (J4MW Website, Principles and Goals). The central goal of J4MW is to seize a better working condition and more respect for the migrate workers. Moreover, they urges Canadian to perfect the SAWP systems (J4MW WEBSITE, The Issues).
With this rapid increase it is seen that in the 1990’s alone, “the number of Mexican immigrant workers in the U.S. grew by 2.9 million, which is a 123% increase in this segment of the labor force. In contrast, the overall number of American workers grew by only 13% in the same time period”(Paral 4). Also in the 1990’s, “8.8% of Mexican immigrants were in agricultural, forestry, fishing, and hunting. Then in the 2000’s there were 15.3% in these same categories In the 2000’s a total of 33.8% of Mexican immigrants were in the agricultural workforce, which is the highest amount of all industries”(Paral 8). These numbers show the job readiness of Mexican immigrants coming into the United States spoken about beforehand which helps connect how Mexican immigrants have contributed vast amount labor in growing the United States agricultural
One major contribution to the growth of the agricultural economy was the creation of the Bracero Program (Carlos Marentes and Cynthia P. Marentes, 1999). A historical example is that on August 4, 1942, the U.S. and the Mexican government united to make the Bracero program (Carlos Marentes and Cynthia P. Marentes, 1999). Many had abandoned their home and headed to the U.S to work as Braceros. More than 4 million Mexican farm laborers came to work in the fields (Carlos Marentes and Cynthia P. Marentes, 1999). The Mexican migrant workers have been the foundation for the development of the rich American agricultural industry (Carlos Marentes and Cynthia P. Marentes, 1999). Many farm laborers arrived to the U.S as hard working and extremely skilled. The majority of the workers had a high experience in the field labor, because many came from agricultural regions of México.
Research shows that immigration will positively affect U.S. workers’ wages and employment. Immigrants generally do not have a direct negative impact on the earnings of native-born workers, as native-born workers and immigrant workers generally complement each other rather than compete for the same job. There are some instances when immigrants and the native born are similarly skilled and substitutable for similar jobs. Recent research has found, however, that firms respond to an increase in the supply of labor by expanding their
As of what Asia-Pacific says, “They offer a wide variety of job opportunities and economic stimulation to areas of the world that are in desperate need of this type of help.” Each facility has all different kinds of duties that need to be done daily. Not just one person would be able to run a factory farm by their self. That is why we have teamwork and communication to work together to get jobs done on a daily basis. As told by Factory Farming Hidden Impacts, “Alongside of the pressures on small and medium sized farmers there has been a trend towards the increasing casualization of farm work, with a preference for temporary or migrant workers” (Web). This shows that all farms can use help and that the help could be for
Immigration to the United States has been happening since the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock in 1492. America is one of the most diverse nations in the world, attracting people from every corner of the globe in hopes of a better way of life. America in the past has relied on migrant workers to balance the economies growth when internal resources have been exhausted; moreover, the agriculture business has depended on the seasonal employment of migrant workers from Mexico to meet the labor demand. Programs have been created in the past granting work contracts for the flood of Mexican labor into the United States, and new work programs are being analyzed to suffice the needs of the agriculture business today.
Nierenberg, Danielle. "Factory farming in the developing world: In some critical respects, this is not progress at all." World Watch 1 May 2003: n. pag. eLibrary. Web. 3 Dec. 2013. .
When the term “Globalization” is discussed, most academics, scholars, professionals and intellectuals attempt to define and interpret it in a summarized fashion. My main concern with this approach is that one cannot and should not define a process that altered decades of history and continues to, in less than 30 words. Global Shift is a book with remarkable insight. Peter Dicken rather than attempting to define the commonly misused word, explains Globalization in a clear and logical fashion, which interconnects numerous views. Dicken takes full advantage of his position to write and identify the imperative changes of political, economic, social, and technological dimensions of globalization.
Nowadays governments, NGOs and other organizations try to limit the migration, but it isn’t possible as successfully as it is expected, because the main causes of migration are rooted in the society and it is hard to uproot them. The main migration aims can be divided into two aspects- economic and social aspects. Economic aspect includes mainly problems with money and desire for better job and salary. Migration to achieve better job and salary is only chance for women to gain poverty, because then they can be economically independent from their husbands and families. For men it is easier to get better job whit better salary and better working conditions. Unfortunately for women it isn’t so easy. Mostly they get works that is connected with entertainment, manufacturing, social works or education. But not always the conditions are good. The job could be illegal, irregular, with lower incomes and with poor working conditions. But ...
Globalization’s history is extremely diversified and began during the beginning of civilization. Now we live in a world that is constantly evolving, demanding people to use resources in locations that are very difficult to obtain certain resources. This could make it completely impossible to operate in these specific parts of the world. However, globalization allows people across the world to acquire much needed resources. Globalization creates the opportunity for businesses to take advantage and exploit the ability to take part of their business to a different country. Nevertheless, globalization is part of today’s society and will be involved in virtually all situations.
Globalization is one of the main aspects in the 21st century. Globalization has brought the world closer; all the things that are happening nowadays are recognized globally even if they happened locally (Buckley). According to Nayef Al-Rodhan GCSP (Geneva Centre for Security Policy) globalization is not a single word or concept. It contains many other concepts within itself. Globalization is composed of different concepts like incorporation regarding the economics, transmitting information or understandings, stability within beliefs, and other concepts (Al-Rodhan p.3). This paper deals with the definition of Globalization, the advantages and disadvantages of globalization, and based on these information the views that to which extend the globalization is beneficial for majority of the world's population. The concept of globalization has changed the whole shape of the world. It has both its positive and negative impacts on people's life. However, by taking both the advantages and disadvantages into consideration we can find that to a large extend globalization is beneficial for majority of the world's population. With the help of globalization the works that were difficult in past is getting easier in today's environment. People are getting closer to each other, which is a product of globalization. Moreover, the knowledge and informations are being circulated in very good way which is a very good sign for having a good and prosperous life.