Dynamics of Push and Pull Factors of Migrant Workers in Developing Countries: The Case of Indonesian Workers in Malaysia

Abstract

Low income and high unemployment in labour sending countries and high income and low unemployment in labour receiving countries are frequently justified as push and pull factors of migrant workers, respectively. Indonesia is the main labour-exporting country to Malaysia but the studies on the push factors in Indonesia and the pull factors in Malaysia are very limited. This paper has three objectives. The first objective is to examine the long-run relationship among income and unemployment in Indonesia and Malaysia and the Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia. This is followed by examining the causality between the variables in the second objective, and the extent to which income and unemployment in Indonesia and Malaysia determine the Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia in the third objective. Time series data were employed and analysed by utilizing the Vector Autoregressive (VAR) framework. The findings show a long-run relationship among income and unemployment in Indonesia and Malaysia and the Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia. Only unidirectional causality is found in the long-run, which is from income and unemployment in Indonesia and Malaysia to Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia. The findings also show that the Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia are significantly determined by income and unemployment, positively in the case of Indonesia, and negatively, in Malaysia.