Outsourcing the Working Class

What is it about?

Theoretical discussions about “risk” as it relates to the world of work have largely stemmed from the disintegration of stable employment relations in the Global North. This chapter argues that the ideas of “risk” and “uncertainty” are also relevant to the experiences of millions of low- resourced guestworkers or transnational temporary contract workers from the Global South who toil in affluent economies around the world. Focusing on the impact of the covid- 19 crisis on guestwork, it argues that while the pandemic spotlights the exploitation of contract migrants, it also underlines the significance of their work in “essential” industries in labour- importing societies. The chapter ends with some reflections on what these contradictory revelations around guestwork and workers might imply for both the immediate and long- term futures of labour mobility regimes that are designed to keep migrants from settling in host economies

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