Employment as an anchor: The prospects of emerging East Asian skilled migration 
regimes through the lens of migrants’ access to the labor market

Hof, Helena; Muranaka, Aimi; Park, Joohyun Justine

doi:10.1177/01171968241292376

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Employment as an anchor: The prospects of emerging East Asian skilled migration regimes through the lens of migrants’ access to the labor market

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Hof, Helena
Socio-Cultural Diversity, MPI for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Max Planck Society;

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Citation

Hof, H., Muranaka, A., & Park, J. J. (2024). Employment as an anchor: The prospects of emerging East Asian skilled migration regimes through the lens of migrants’ access to the labor market. Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, 0(0), 1-23. doi:10.1177/01171968241292376.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0010-381F-E

Abstract

This paper uses social anchoring to emphasize the psychological dimension of foreign professionals’ access to employment in South Korea and Japan. South Korea’s “occupation-centered” employment system provides relatively easy access to migrants in high-tech fields. However, migrants outside such fields face psychological insecurity because of stringent visa regulations and limited job opportunities. In contrast, migrants in Japan’s “organization-centered” employment system have easier access to stable employment, but only if they conform to Japanese homogenizing business norms. In sum, highly skilled migrants may not foresee a promising future in either country given the elusiveness of socio-psychological security.