Shifting global production systems, labour market flexibility and the new precariat in Southeast Asia

Abstract

Researchers writing on the subject of technological automation, job substitution and the rights of lowwaged migrant workers in Southeast Asia have linked the continuing exploitation of these workers to labour market flexibility and workers' declining share of national income. Moreover, the establishment of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) has also resulted in reduced labour protections, vanishing labour contracts, inadequate social security provisions and workers' recruitment via outsourcing arrangements. In contrast, the migration governance schemes for foreign skilled workers have facilitated these workers' freer movement through the establishment of Mutual Recognition Arrangements (MRAs) of professional services. This paper examines ASEAN's shifting economic policies as a reaction to the opening up of China and diminishing investment by multinational corporations in the region. It then reviews ASEAN's strategy to develop industrial clusters through growth triangles, ASEAN and the AEC. This strategy has led to an expansion of skilled and low-skilled labour migration in the region, consistent with the reform program developed following the Asian Economic Crisis of 1997-8. Generally, the future of work for low-skilled, low-waged workers has not changed, reflecting the workers' economic polarisation in society.