The process of economic capital accumulation of migrant workers’ household from generation to generation

Abstract

Remittances are considered as direct benefits for the family of migrant workers in home country. This research aims to investigate the process of capital accumulation, planning, as well as how such migrant workers manage to send remittances home through a lenses of families whose members go to work abroad from generation to generation. Qualitative approach was adopted in this research and in-depth interviews were used to collect data from 33 households, which each household has 2 or more generations of migrant workers, in Nong Khai province. Data collection were carried out from January to March 2020, which content data analysis method was employed. The results revealed that first-generation migrant workers who were not able to accumulate economic capital experienced due to high migration costs. As a result, the families were in a large amount of debt. Remittances  were used to pay off loans only. It was impossible for them to plan for any investment. The process of economic capital accumulation is often managed by the first generation workers, who decide together with the migrant workers on how to use remittances to create jobs and income for the family. However there are some families that could not communicate or plan for a transformation of remittance to economic capital accumulations. Therefore, great supports should be implemented to increase agriculture alternative jobs’ skill development, and particularly  use of technology during the agriculture’s production process. This will provide knowledge and guidelines for an increasing efficient economic capital accumulations.