Migrants endorse faith and meritocracy as factors to mobility, study shows

A study conducted in the region shows that Filipino migrant workers’ meritocracy and faith in God are important factors that are causal for higher socio-economic mobility.

Labor migration is one of the strategies used to acquire a higher socio-economic mobility, and data from the Philippine Statistics Authority indicates that there are some 2.2 million Filipinos working overseas in a bid to improve their financial status.

These workers are usually dubbed as “unsung heroes” back home, as they are willing to be disconnected from their families to make a living outside the country.

They have opted to leave home, which implies that their income from jobs in the Philippines are insufficient to support and provide for their families. 

In a paper titled “Working for a better future: Social mobility beliefs and expectation of Filipino migrant workers in Macau,” 246 Filipino migrants answered questions on their socio-economic status, mobility causal conceptions and goal attainment strategies.

The study, whose respondents were primarily low-skilled workers, suggests that these workers expect that their work abroad will result in upward social mobility after a period of time.

They also expect further financial improvement after 10 years.

There are studies that show that the increased income flow to families of these migrant workers does not have an impact on overall the poverty gap, yet other research suggests that there have been observable improvements in the lives of these families.

Although meritocracy was not the most highly endorsed causal factor for upward mobility, the study suggested that these workers endorsed both meritocracy and faith in God as important causal factors for mobility.

This implies that there are a significant number of migrant workers in the city who hold a strong stance on religious belief.

“Causal conceptions that faith in God and social networks help towards upward social mobility represent primary control beliefs that involve a compensatory strategy on their part,” the study, which scholars from the University of Macau and University of the Philippines Diliman, conducted.

“Both social-oriented coping and belief in God are important factors in how Filipino migrant workers deal with stress, […] suggesting that the factors are salient in the minds of Filipino migrant workers,” it added.

It stated that even if there are uncertainties as to whether working in a foreign country actually leads to improved socio- economic status for the families of these migrant workers, they still envision a better future for their families back home.

“As our results suggest, the expectation of a better future is related to whether they already see improvements in their family’s current social status,” the research suggested.

“The migrant workers’ belief that meritocracy leads to socio-economic mobility tends to be associated with goal engagement strategies such as being persistent in working towards their goals, which was associated with higher social mobility expectations,” it noted.

These workers’ high expectations for their families’ future socio-economic status are  “driven by their belief in the importance of their own efforts and abilities, and their tendency to persevere and to persist in their work.”

Further, the paper concluded that there is a need to “contextualize such models within the cultural systems of individuals and point to the possibility of other meaningful pathways to seeing a better future for their families.” LV