ABSTRACT
It is axiomatic that cross-border flows of population are both the cause and consequence of several important and lasting social, economic, and political developments in the sending and host countries. This chapter examines the pattern of labour flows across national boundaries in Southeast Asia and provides an inventory of factors and policies shaping them. Existing labour flows in Southeast Asia can be classified under the following three major categories: the flow from countries in the region to destinations outside the region, the flow of labour among countries within the region, and the flow from countries outside the region into the region. An important component of Southeast Asian emigration consists of settlement migration to major immigrant-receiving countries of the world: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. The outflow of Southeast Asian labour is in two directions: westward-bound migrants flock to the Middle East and Europe while destinations in the East comprise Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and lately South Korea.
