Myanmar migrant workers in Japanese firms and the impact of human capital accumulation on migrants and their families: a case study of Thilawa special economic zone in Myanmar

Abstract

Due to the recent democratic and economic reforms in Myanmar in 2011, Myanmar started to provide greater access to foreign direct investment (FDI). Since the establishment of the Thilawa Special Economic Zone in Myanmar, the integration of foreign firms into the market has increased, and it has become attractive to migrants from rural areas. Migration in the context of this study focuses on skills that are in demand in the foreign labor market and human capital accumulation by rural migrants. This thesis consists of three parts which attempt to explore and utilize the conceptual framework; (1) the management practices of Japanese companies in managing Burmese migrant workers inside TSEZ and how its practices shape migrant workers’ lives, (2) how migrant workers’ lives improve by accumulating human capital by working inside the zone, and (3) the socio-economic impacts of migration on migrants’ families back home due to their daily interaction and remittances. This study discusses that the migration process could lead to a change in societies and the creation of new social relationships in the new land. Consequently, I discovered how Japanese employers practice their traditional business concept of kaizen by incorporating Burmese Management practices, the broad nature of the transferability of human capital between the migrants and their families, and the change in families’ perceptions caused by the change of their socio-economic practices due to the transmission of cultures and social norms adopted by the migrants in Yangon. In terms of research methodology, the study involves participant observation, individual in-depth interviews, key informant interviews, and gathering secondary data from government officials and local news. A total of 23 individual in-depth interviews, including four key informant interviews from two Japanese companies in TSEZ and government officials from TSMC, were conducted between September 2020 and January 2021. In order to explore the research phenomena, this study draws upon three main intertwined concepts: internal migration, Special Economic Zones, and the transferability of human capital. This thesis has focused on the Japanese-kaizen management practices combined with Burmese management, migrants’ human capital accumulation for their own development, which is then transferred back to their families via daily communication and helping them to engage in non-agricultural activities. Through observing the migrants’ lives from the TSEZ, I have examined the combined-management system under SEZ policy which serves as a channel for shaping human capital development and its spillover effects, through the flows of remittances and via the migrants-family interaction.