Beyond Push and Pull: The Narratives, Aspirations, and Remittance Practices of OFWs in Hong Kong and Taiwan and their Families.

This study examines the labor migration subjective meanings of the experiences of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) in Taiwan and Hong Kong and their families. Like previous studies, it shows that the main driver of labor migration is a better life for both the OFW and their loved ones left behind, citing the sending country's lack of better income opportunities, along with the receiving countries' better pay scales and lower tax schemes. This hews to the dominant literature on migration research, which has examined such reasons as the primary push-and-pull factors. However, modifying this standard model, the study reveals that mediating factors (between the push and the pull) are equally important. On the one hand, facilitative mediating factors refer to the presence of OFWs' relatives in the receiving country, high regard for overseas work, and the education of the OFWs' children. On the other, constraining mediating factors include illness or disability of the worker, economic downturns, and restrictive labor policies in the receiving country. Finally, the study illustrates some facets of the labor migration experience and its implications on national development policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]