In this paper we argue that the common discourse on labor export as a kind of economic development policy to raise poor people's social welfare is doubtful. The question we raise is ”who benefits from this labor export”. Through the analysis of Taiwan-Vietnam labor migration, we document how most surpluses produced by these migrant workers are appropriated by elites in the two countries. All activities involved in the migratory process are profit-oriented. This highly commercialized international labor market, constructed by numerous intermediary agents scattered in both countries, set in the institutional context of Taiwan government's guestworker scheme and employer-bonded regulation, creates the bonded migrant workers in the bottom of a transnational social hierarchy. Based on extensive fieldwork in Vietnam and Taiwan, this paper offers a detailed example of the context and problems with the international market of migrant workers within Asia.
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