ABSTRACT
The ongoing effects of the Covid-19 pandemic have underscored the extent to which the global economy relies on migrant labor in certain job sectors while simultaneously compounding the insecurity and uncertainty faced by migrant workers. Yet, while the pandemic-related effects on migration and work are no doubt extraordinary, the insecurities in the landscape of migration and work have imposed a state of “permanent temporariness,” particularly for migrant workers in low-skilled jobs, even prior to the pandemic. This chapter provides an overview of the complex layers of challenges faced by migrant workers, within the current and ongoing context of the pandemic. I pay particular attention to challenges that result from broader systemic issues within the host nation, alongside “local” workplace-related challenges. Current events, spurred on by the pandemic, have also ignited calls for immigrant rights and justice at a global scale. This chapter offers a snapshot of how nations are responding to these calls and discusses implications at both systemic and organizational levels to alleviate the perpetuating precarity and insecurity faced by migrant workers in the long run. The chapter concludes by offering an alternative lens of human security and relational ethics through which labor-migrant governance can be reimagined.
