When a pandemic disrupts the export of people

• Main Authors: ORTIGA, Yasmin Y., LIAO, Karen Anne S.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2021
• Subjects: Asian Studies; Demography, Population, and Ecology; Place and Environment; Public Health
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3578; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/4836/viewcontent/When_a_Pandemic_Disrupts_the_Export_of_People_av.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Yasmin Ortiga and Karen Anne S. Liao conducted research supported by the SSRC on the dramatic disruptions that Filipino labor migrants experienced as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the support (or lack thereof) of their plight by the Filipino state. Arguing that labor as well as commodity supply chains have been thrown in upheaval, the authors describe the limits of the Philippines’ labor export strategy. In particular, they focus on two sets of labor migrants—nurses unable to take jobs abroad, and repatriated cruise ship workers—for whom dignified work at home was unavailable. Ortiga and Liao conclude that treating labor as a commodity has deep human and social costs.