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Contesting migrant precarity in the Global South? Informal labor markets, high-risk coping strategies and low-income Filipino migrants in the United Arab Emirates

Froilan Malit & Kristian Patrick Alexander

Asian and Pacific Migration Journal2025https://doi.org/10.1177/01171968251341986article
ABDC C
Weight
0.41

What the paper says

Despite extensive host state labor reforms, scholars contend that temporary labor migrants are systematically subject to economic precarity under the Gulf states’ kafala sponsorship system. Using the case of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), this article posits that, despite legal and financial sanctions, low-income migrants navigate their transnational economic precarity status by strategically engaging with host country informal labor markets through three high-risk coping strategies: Accumulating debt, subleasing and enterprising. Ultimately, the study highlights low-income migrants navigate and co-produce precarity while simultaneously weaponizing informal labor markets as a (marginal yet) central “site” of everyday contestation within restrictive migration system in the Global South.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/01171968251341986

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@article{froilan2025,
  title        = {{Contesting migrant precarity in the Global South? Informal labor markets, high-risk coping strategies and low-income Filipino migrants in the United Arab Emirates}},
  author       = {Froilan Malit & Kristian Patrick Alexander},
  journal      = {Asian and Pacific Migration Journal},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/01171968251341986},
}

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Contesting migrant precarity in the Global South? Informal labor markets, high-risk coping strategies and low-income Filipino migrants in the United Arab Emirates

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Evidence weight

0.41

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.25 × 0.4 = 0.10
M · momentum0.55 × 0.15 = 0.08
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.