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Building Inequality: Wage Disparity between Bangladeshi and Thai Guestworkers in Singapore’s Construction Industry

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  • Katie Rainwater

Abstract

Existing research on wage inequality in the construction industry focuses on dual labour markets in which migrants earn considerably less than native workers. This article examines occupational inequality between higher-paid Thai and lower-paid Bangladeshi first-time guestworkers in Singapore’s low-wage construction industry. It argues that differently priced national groups of first-time construction guestworkers persist in Singapore’s industry; first, because Singapore wages are established with reference to the economies of sending states, and second, because construction firms associate worker productivity with nationality. Alleged differences in productivity between Thai and Bangladeshi guestworkers are related to the workers’ differently classed socialization in their home countries: Bangladeshis are recruited from their country’s middle-class, whereas Thais are working-class. Sourcing reflects the subset of each sending state’s population who can afford the considerable recruitment and training fees and are attracted by Singapore wages and work.

Suggested Citation

  • Katie Rainwater, 2021. "Building Inequality: Wage Disparity between Bangladeshi and Thai Guestworkers in Singapore’s Construction Industry," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 35(3), pages 509-526, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:35:y:2021:i:3:p:509-526
    DOI: 10.1177/0950017020942448
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Justin Byrne & Linda Clarke & Marc Van Der Meer, 2005. "Gender and ethnic minority exclusion from skilled occupations in construction: a Western European comparison," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(10), pages 1025-1034.
    2. Brenda S.A. Yeoh & Grace Baey & Maria Platt & Kellynn Wee, 2017. "Bangladeshi construction workers and the politics of (im)mobility in Singapore," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(5), pages 641-649, September.
    3. Simon Alexander Peth & Harald Sterly & Patrick Sakdapolrak, 2018. "Between the village and the global city: the production and decay of translocal spaces of Thai migrant workers in Singapore," Mobilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(4), pages 455-472, July.
    4. Nicholas Van Hear, 2014. "Reconsidering Migration and Class," International Migration Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48, pages 100-121, September.
    5. Wajihah Hamid & Dylan Tutt, 2019. "“Thrown away like a banana leaf”: precarity of labour and precarity of place for Tamil migrant construction workers in Singapore," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(9), pages 513-536, September.
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