ABSTRACT

In pre-pandemic times, the labour migration regime in Asia based on principles of enforced transience is largely dependent on the ease and low cost of transnational mobility across national borders. Stalled mobility in COVID-19 times has both deepened the precarity that transient migrant workers face and also laid bare the unsustainability of the temporary migration for nation-states. At the same time, the pandemic presents an opportunity to reconfigure and move temporary migration toward a more sustainable and equitable basis. This could involve offering visas and contracts of longer duration and selective pathways towards residency status to reduce ‘churning’, incorporating migrant workers into national healthcare safety nets to improve migrant welfare and societal resilience, and careful recalibration of using automation and technological substitutes to replace migrant labour.

摘要

在大流行前时期，亚洲基于强制暂缓原则的劳务移民制度在很大程度上取决于跨国流动的便捷性和低成本。COVID-19 时代的流动停滞既加深了临时移民工人所面临的不稳定性，也暴露了民族国家临时移民的不可持续性. 同时，大流行提供了重新配置临时移民并将其推向更可持续和公平的基础的机会。这可能涉及提供更长期限的签证和合同以及获得居留身份的选择性途径以减少“流失”，将移民工人纳入国家医疗保健安全网以改善移民福利和社会复原力，并仔细调整使用自动化和技术替代品来取代移民劳动。