Migration and Development: A case study of Indonesian migrant workers

Abstract

This article aims to investigate how poor people in developing countries gain benefit from globalization by examining the opportunity to work as migrant worker. To respond the research gap, this study adopts a case study approach with a fieldwork survey in East Java Indonesia. The result indicates that diaspora strategy is almost impossible for the poor if he or she notices a high possibility for the employer to cheat those who work in domestic jobs, like nanny, driver, or baby sitter. Unless protection from both house and home countries is available, the diaspora strategy is not a better option for the migrant-work applicant. The paper contributes to the scholarly interest in the diaspora strategy to interrogate the assumption underlying the Migration-as-Development (MAD)