The Lives of Migrant Remittances: A Myth of "Foreign Exchange Heroes"
Description
Migrant workers have often been glorified as foreign exchange heroes because of the remittances they send to their countries of origin. The governments often say that migrants' remittances play an important role in the economic and social develoment. However, we often overlook its imoact on migrant workers as the biggest part of migrant workers' salaries are spent on remittances. Meanwhile, the remittances has not always been able to lift families out of poverty while much is spent on daily needs.
Since 2017, a research project entitled "Lives of Migrant Remittances: An Asian Comparative Study" has been conducted as a collaborative study by academic-based researchers in Canada and migrant communities in Indonesia, Hong Kong, and the Philippines. The study highlights how remittances are generated, managed and distributed. Its findings show the initial problems of sending migrant workers are not small, starting from high-cost placement fees, cheap labor wages to deep-rooted poverty, and that the remittance policies actually add to the long list of structural problems that are already stifling many migrant workers.
In this episode, VOICESEA Podcast has a conversation with Professor Denise from the Alberta University as the private investigator of this research, alongside with Eni Lestari, chairperson of International Migrants Alliance.
If you are eager to find the answers, this episode is definitely for you!
United States
