Structured vulnerability: nationality stratifies wages, working conditions, and labor rights among migrant workers in Malaysian oil palm plantations

Information from the abstract

Malaysia’s palm oil industry, the world’s second-largest, depends on migrant labor, with foreign workers making up 80% of its plantation workforce. Despite well-documented labor exploitation, research has typically focused on single nationalities, overlooked the interplay of structural and individual factors, and largely excluded Thai workers from comparative analyses. This study addresses these gaps by comparing the experiences of Thai, Indonesian, and Bangladeshi migrants on plantations along the Thai-Malaysian border. The study uses in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, field observations, and NGO input. A four-dimensional framework—structural, institutional, social, and individual—guides the analysis. Findings reveal that nationality-based vulnerability is generated through the interaction of global commodity chain pressures, governance failures, social network structures, and individual constraints. While all three groups occupy precarious, second-tier positions in the labor market, important differences emerge: Bangladeshi workers are concentrated in the highest-risk roles, earning less than 900 MYR per month and burdened by heavy employment debts; Indonesians fill a wider variety of jobs with moderate debts and earnings ranging from 600–1,300 MYR; Thai workers, mostly near the border, have lower debt and greater mobility, but remain highly vulnerable due to their undocumented status. Contrary to expectations from formal bilateral agreements, most Thai migrants enter Malaysia through informal networks, leaving them outside all institutional protection. Theoretically, the study introduces the concept of infrastructure shortcomings to capture how exclusion from regulatory frameworks—not just their distortion—creates risk for migrants, expanding Sunam’s notion of unstable infrastructure. The paper also develops the idea of secondary stratification within multi-national labor markets and distinguishes between freedom of exit and freedom of expression as distinct political dimensions. These contributions highlight the need for policy reforms that address both specific vulnerabilities and overarching structural barriers: employer-tied work permits, exclusion from union protections, and the institutional invisibility of undocumented migrants.

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Related topics: Oil Palm Production and Sustainability · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact