VIENTIANE (Vientiane Times/Asia News Network): The government will send more Lao workers to South Korea to work in the agriculture and fishery sectors, hoping they will learn from the experience and benefit from the expertise of Korean farmers.
Pacific Island workers contribute significantly to AustraliaŹ¼s agriculture and food security through the Seasonal Worker Programme (SWP). Previous studies show the economic benefits of the SWP to both Australian agro-industries and Pacific workers. However, there are limited studies about the agricultural knowledge exchange that occurs via the circular migration enabled by the SWP, and the experiences of workers and employers as agricultural knowledge holders. With the SWP merged into the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility Scheme, there is an opportunity to help define how circular migration is both an economic and agricultural development policy. In this paper, we present findings from interviews with 63 workers (from Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu) about agricultural knowledge and skills acquired and exchanged via SWP participation. We provide a discussion of opportunities for knowledge exchange in international labour mobility, and areas of future research in circular migration
VIENTIANE (Vientiane Times/Asia News Network): Rampant inflation in Laos and the depreciation of the kip, which has driven up the cost of living, are the prime motives for young people seeking jobs in Thailand, a labour official has said.
65% of all Pacific Labour Scheme (PLS) workers are engaged in the meat processing industry. As Holly Lawton explains, in sectors where migrants in Australia are not willing to work, employers are turning to the PLS for recruitment.