The Skill Question in International Labor Migration

Presentation of a research project as part of the "Jeudis de la Maison Suger", a residents' research seminar.

Gracia Liu-Farrer is professor of sociology at the Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies, and Director of Institute of Asian Migration at Waseda University, Japan. Her research examines immigration into Japan, transnational labor and student mobilities in East Asia as well as between Asia and Europe. She hopes to bring Asian experiences to migration and mobility theorization.

Presentation of the project

"Skill-based selective migration policies are a dominant contemporary form of migration governance in labor receiving countries. However, there are often discrepancies between their intended goals and the actual labor market outcomes for immigrants. The social construction of skill offers a sociological interpretation of this migration phenomenon, emphasizing that skills and their categorization in international migration are intrinsically political. Skills are socially constructed by actors in specific local, national, transnational, and global contexts. In the presentation, I will explore these dynamics from Asian perspectives, and identify the various positions that countries in Asia occupy in skill mobility and highlight the critical issues related to both outbound and inbound skill migration in this region, as well as intraregional mobilities."

Speakers

• Gracia Liu-Farrer is professor of sociology at the Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies, and Director of Institute of Asian Migration at Waseda University, Japan..
• Discussant: Patrick Le Gales is Director of Research at the CNRS and professor of sociology, political science and Urban Studies at Sciences Po's CEE (Centre for European Studies and Comparative Politics).