Excluding migrant labor from the Malaysian bioeconomy: working and living conditions of migrant workers in the palm oil sector in Sabah

Abstract: In 2012, Malaysia launched its bioeconomy program, with the palm oil sector as one of the main pillars. In focusing on the societal processes that accompany the Malaysian plans to establish a bioeconomy, it is of special interest to understand which occupation groups in the palm oil sector are included and which are excluded from the socio-economic targets of the program. Research on the bioeconomy, as well as a green economy more broadly, often neglect the possible effects of green economy models on labor markets. I argue that low-skilled migrant workers employed in the Malaysian palm oil sector are structurally excluded from the national goal of enhancing the living and working conditions of the population by transforming into a bioeconomy. This exclusion intersects with a specific precarity caused by the socio-economic status of low-skilled migrant workers. The article shows that Malaysia’s bioeconomy program reinforces the precarity of this group of workers, expressed in the la

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: Veröffentlichungsversion ; begutachtet (peer reviewed) ; In: ASEAS - Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studies ; 12 (2019) 1 ; 31-48

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Mannheim
• (when): 2019
• Creator: Puder, Janina

Further information

• DOI: 10.14764/10.ASEAS-0012
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2019103006085225725062
• Rights: Open Access; Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 15.08.2025, 7:26 AM CEST