Global-Local Structures and Care Migration

Care migration is a complex process that involves the intersection of local realities with global forces or vice versa. The structural adjustments in place in many developing countries are consistent with the regulations set forth by global institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and have resulted in the promotion of national policies attuned to the demands of the global market. Migration is thus one byproduct of the shift in the international division of labour, where care workers come mostly from the global South to serve the needs of the global North. Remittances boost national accounts and the transfer of public accountability on welfare provision into the hands of migrant workers. As well, there is a corresponding shift towards the internationalization of education to produce a flexible and mobile workforce that fosters the development of supply of migrant care workers. Arguably, in the global North, the availability of this human resource at a cheap cost enables private agencies to absorb the care deficit instead of the state. This discourse will be the focus of this presentation with examples from developing countries like the Philippines.