The Role of Social Networks in Securing Social Protection during Pandemic Times: Impact on Social Security Systems Literacy of Filipino House Helpers in Tokyo, Japan

While Japan is a less known destination for domestic workers, Filipino women have been recruited into the sector either work for expat families since the 1960s, or are outsourced through the Philippine recruitment agencies connected with Japanese housekeeping service companies beginning 2018. Compared to other migrants, their precarious legal status poses greater challenges to securing adequate social protection particularly during COVID-19 pandemic.

Building on 20 interviews and four focus group discussions, the study aims to map out how social networks enable or constrain Filipino house helpers’ access to the social protection systems in the Philippines and Japan. Using the concept of social security systems literacy (Celero et al. 2022), the study examines how various actors extend information about social protection schemes in receiving and sending states, which influences the level in which Filipino house helpers are familiar with, know, and understand the policies and programs these systems make available to them. Findings reveal that migrants themselves, governance, social networks, informal channels, and media contributed toward either enabling or constraining Filipino house helpers’ social security systems literacy, which then affected the range of social protection they claimed during the pandemic. Reliance on informal networks (consisting of employer, friends, migrant organizations) while in Japan, Filipino migrant domestic workers would often disregard Philippine-based programs and policies for ensuring their health and social welfare. As a result, their level of social security systems literacy tends to improve the longer they live and work in Japan, gradually alienating them from the Philippine social security system. The study underscores that access to information about social protection for migrant workers facing vulnerable social and legal statuses in receiving states affect the overall social wellbeing of Filipino migrant workers during and beyond pandemic times.