Exploring Working Holiday Makers’
Motivations in Australia
An investigation on the factors influencing Working
Holiday Makers’ decision to engage with the 88 days of
specified regional work criteria
Martina Frappa
International Migration and Ethnic Relations Bachelor Thesis 15 credits
Spring 2019: IM245L Supervisor: Henrik Emilsson Wordcount: 13,155
I Abstract
This study investigates the reasons why Working Holiday Makers (WHMs) in Australia decide to complete the 88 days of specified regional work to obtain a Second Working Holiday (WH) visa. The research follows a qualitative approach via the use of semi-structed interviews on a sample of fifteen current or former WHMs. The resulting data are analysed in connection to the theoretical framework of migrants’ role in bifurcated labour markets, with a further focus on the micro-level neoclassical economics principles and the concept of self-improvement through hardship. It is argued that the 88-day scheme represented for all the interviewees a form of investment to achieve a greater goal. The findings revealed that, while only a few completed the 88 days driven by the desire to achieve self-actualisation, most of the informants were driven by an economic rationale: some focused on the short-term financial benefits of a further year of work in the country, while others planned to use their Second WH as a pathway towards permanent residency.
Keywords: Working Holiday Makers; Australia; 88-day criteria; labour migration; motivations
II TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract ... I TABLE OF CONTENTS ...II
1. INTRODUCTION... 1
1.1 Aim and Research Question ... 1
1.2 Thesis Outline ... 2
2. CONTEXTUAL BACKGROUND ... 3
2.1 Historical Outline ... 3
2.2 Changes of the Working Holiday Maker’s Profile ... 4
2.3 Increasing Role in Horticulture ... 5
2.4 Introduction of the Second Working Holiday Visa Scheme ... 6
2.5 Exploitation of Working Holiday Makers... 9
3. LITERATURE REVIEW ... 11
3.1 Dichotomy between Work and Holiday ... 11
3.2 Tourism Study: Backpackers... 13
3.3 Migration Studies: Temporary Migrants... 15
4. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ... 17
4.1 Dual Labour Market Theory ... 17
4.2 Neoclassical Economics: Micro Theory ... 19
4.3 Self-Improvement Theory ... 20
5. METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK ... 22
5.1 Research Design and Semi-Structured Interviews ... 22
5.2 Sample Criteria ... 23
5.3 Sampling Technique ... 24
5.4 Interview Settings ... 25
5.5 Validity and Reliability ... 25
5.6 Coding, Presentation and Analysis of Material ... 25
III 6. EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS ... 27 6.1 Economic Motivations ... 27 6.1.1 Short-Term Investment ... 29 6.1.2 Long-Term Investment ... 31 6.2 Personal-Growth Motivations ... 33 7. CONCLUSION ... 37 8. BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 39 9. APPENDIX A ... 46 9.1Ethical Considerations ... 46
9.2 Role of the Researcher ... 47
9.3 Profile of the Interviewees ... 47
10. APPENDIX B ... 51
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1. INTRODUCTION
Working Holiday (WH) programs are an expanding phenomenon: at present, there are 59 countries that provide Working Holiday visas in the world as more governments sign reciprocal agreements allowing young people to travel and work for extensive periods of time within their territories. Even though Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Norway, Ireland, Finland, Germany are some of the main countries that offer this opportunity (Brennan, 2014; Yang and Wen, 2016), the Australia’s WH programme is indisputably the largest in the world with an average of 239,600 participants per year (OECD, 2016, p. 27).
The WH visa in Australia is an opportunity given to young people aged between 18-30 to work and travel the country for one year. The participants, known as Working Holiday Makers (WHMs), are given the chance to qualify for a Second WH if they complete three months (or 88 days) of specified regional work during their time in the country (Department of Home Affairs, 2019b). The Australian WH programme has been the focus of an increasing body of literature due to its growing economic impact on the Australian labour market (in particular on the horticulture industry) and the widespread exploitative phenomenon of its participants (Reilly et al., 2018). This thesis investigates the reasons why young people on a Working Holiday visa in Australia decide to complete the three months of specified regional work in order to obtain a Second Working Holiday visa.
1.1 Aim and Research Question
From a micro-level perspective, previous literature has studied the motivational factors that bring young people to participate in a WH programme from two main bodies of research: tourism studies and migration studies. While the first focuses on the ‘holiday’ component of the programme and views the WHM as a backpacker travelling the country, the latter emphasises the ‘work’ element of the visa and describes the WHM as a temporary labour migrant (Wilson, Fisher and Moore, 2009). However, existing literature lacks to explain why WHMs in Australia decide to pursue a Second WH visa and, therefore, agree to endure the 88-day criteria, completing three months of labour-intensive specified regional work in remote areas of the country.
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It is the aim of this study to investigate the phenomenon from the micro-level perspective of WHMs, exploring the reasons why they decide to take part into the 88-day scheme to obtain another year in Australia. Thus, the following research question has been stipulated:
- What are the factors that influence Working Holiday Makers in their decision-making process for participating into the 88-day scheme of specified regional work in Australia?
According to the aim and research question of this study, the researcher chose to conduct this investigation applying a qualitative method of research with the use of semi-structured interviews. The interviewees sample was limited to fifteen informants, selected on the basis of their previous or current participation in the WH programme in Australia and on their completion of the 88-day scheme during that time.
1.2 Thesis Outline
To facilitate a comprehensive understanding of the economic implications of the WH visa phenomenon in Australia, Chapter 2 outlines the historical and current influences of the programme on the Australian labour market. Chapter 3 presents an overview of the existing body of literature that focuses on the micro-level motivational factors of WHMs. Chapter 4 introduces the theoretical framework that supports this study. Chapter 5 provides a description of the methods and materials used for the conduction of this research. Chapter 6 presents and analyses the empirical material in connection to the previously outlined theoretical framework. Finally, Chapter 7 delineates a conclusive summary of the findings of this study.
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2. CONTEXTUAL BACKGROUND
This chapter presents an overview of the Working Holiday (WH) visa programme in Australia and its development as a growing influential scheme in the Australian labour market. After an initial focus on its original purpose, this contextual background outlines the following expansion of the WH programme and its consequences both on the Australian labour market and the WHMs themselves.
2.1 Historical Outline
The Working Holiday visa (sub-class 417) programme was initiated in 1975 with the purpose of facilitating travelling experiences and cultural exchanges among young people to and from Australia (Joint Standing Committee on Migration, 1997; Department of Immigration and Border Protection, 2015; Deapartment of Home Affairs, 2018). Originally designed as a programme to enhance cultural experiences, young people between the age of 18 and 25 were allowed to spend up to one year in the country with a maximum of three months of continuous work for the same employer (Reilly, 2015, p. 475). In the beginning, being the visa promoted not as a solution to fill on-going labour shortages, but as a mean to boost the social and cultural development of young people (Tan et al., 2009, p. 2), its participants were considerably limited in their opportunity to work. Moreover, the initially targeted Working Holiday Makers (WHMs) were solely English-speaking people, coming from countries with similar cultures and levels of economic development to the Australian context. At its preliminary stages the Working Holiday visa was conceived to preserve reciprocal agreements between UK and Australia’s governments in order to enhance the facilitation of movement of their young citizens between the two countries. Later the same year the visa was also extended to Canadian and Irish citizens (Reilly, 2015, p. 477).
However, in the years following its inception, the Working Holiday programme was extended to other countries which had much weaker bonds to the Australian culture and the English language. By 1996 Australia had WHM agreements with a totality of seven countries: UK, Ireland, Canada, Japan (1980), Netherlands (1981), South Korea (1995) and Malta (1996) (Tan et al., 2009, p. 2; Reilly, 2015, p. 477; Reilly et al., 2018, p. 12). Moreover, from 1997 to 2005 the access to the programme consistently kept increasing and the policies concerning its eligibility criteria refined: applicants needed to “be aged 18–30 at the time of applying; not to be accompanied by dependent children during their stay in Australia; to meet health, character
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and financial requirements; and to have a sufficient amount of funds for a return ticket or an actual return ticket” (Robertson, 2014, p. 1919). In those years 19 additional countries were added to the 417 visa1 (Tan et al., 2009, p. 2), counting for a total of 26 countries as active
participants in the Working Holiday visa programme by the beginning of 2005.
2.2 Changes of the Working Holiday Maker’s Profile
The extensive expansion of the programme was symptomatic of sharp changes in the role covered by WHMs both in the labour market and in the tourism sector. According to the distinction depicted by Nathan Uriely (2001) Working Holiday Makers can be distinguished in two different typologies: ‘travelling workers’ and ‘working tourists’ (see Table 1). The first type, the travelling workers, refers to more labour-oriented young people who, in order to support their travels, rely on their working activities as part of their routine, repeating it across various sites. This category includes highly and semi-skilled workers, such as ‘travelling professionals’ and ‘migrant tourism workers’ which move across popular touristic destination to engage in seasonal employment. On the other hand, the second category of ‘working tourist’ described by Uriely (2001) refers to those subjects who during their travels are less dependent on work, which is seen as a recreational activity and not as a necessity. Moreover, ‘working tourists’ have the tendency to engage in fields of work that involve unskilled manual labour that they wouldn’t otherwise engage with in their country of origin (Uriely, 2001, pp. 3–7). As a result of the continuous changes in migration policies and the variations regarding the Working Holiday programme, the profile of the Working Holiday Maker in Australia experienced a shift from the activity oriented working holiday tourist to the labour-oriented travelling worker.
1 The countries were: Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Greece, Italy, France, Spain, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Israel, Cyprus, Austria, Switzerland, Finland, Belgium and Estonia.
5 Table 1.
Source: Uriely, 2001, p. 5.
2.3 Increasing Role in Horticulture
The growing influence of Working Holiday Makers in the Australian labour market started becoming visible already in the early 1990s, after the National Population Council’s Migration Committee report in 1991, and the 1995 report by Jill Murphy titled ‘The Labour Effects of Working Holiday Makers’. Murphy (1995) defined the WHMs’ role in the labour market not as a threat to local workers but as a valuable supplement in the Australian labour force. He underlined many beneficial factors involved with the presence of these temporary labour migrants in the market: compared to local workers, WHMs had proven to be more flexible, willing to adapt to seasonal jobs with short notices and for brief periods of time, and generally more available to engage in working positions that would otherwise remain vacant (Reilly et al., 2018, p. 5). Moreover, he stated how, up to that time, WHMs already represented a decisive element in the Australian labour market ‘in key areas of shortage’ (Murphy, 1995, p. 39) such as the horticulture industry.
It was not long after Murphy’s report that a notable change of definition was, indeed, made in regard to the official contribution of WHMs in the Australian labour market. In 1997 the Commonwealth Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Migration (JSCM) described
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WHMs as a central element of the Australian labour force in the horticulture sector. The JSCM’s report analysed the shifts of labour needs in the industry and framed the role of WHMs within it. Profound labour shortages had been found in the sector and WHMs had long been playing a vital role in filling the voids created in the market by the local and itinerant Australians (Reilly et al., 2018, p. 12). However, the JSMC was also clear in stating that WHMs should not be considered as an acceptable drastic substitution of the local labour force in the industry, but merely as a supplementary element instead. In order to achieve this purpose the JSCM defined the three-months work limit per visa as “critical in ensuring that the focus of the…program remains directed at the holiday component” (Joint Standing Committee on Migration, 1997, p. 103). Moreover, the Committee expressed clear concerns regarding the effects of the WH visa programme on the horticulture industry stating that “the extensive use of working holiday makers in meeting the seasonal labour requirements in some horticulture regions of Australia reflects the desire for a ‘quick fix’ rather than a longer-term solution to the labour market needs of the industry” (Joint Standing Committee on Migration, 1997, p. xxxii). The report concluded that the WH programme should have been retained and that the original purpose of the visa, to provide young people with an opportunity of cultural enrichment (with only incidental access to work to support their time in the country), should have been reinforced.
2.4 Introduction of the Second Working Holiday Visa Scheme
In spite of the JSCM’s recommendation, the WH programme kept expanding in the following eight years, to such an extent that “in 2005 a series of amendments significantly changed the complexion of the programme” (Reilly, 2015, pp. 480–481).
As per 2005 two major changes were made regarding the Working Holiday visa policies: not only the three-months work limit got extended to six-months, but the option for a Second Working Holiday visa was introduced in the programme. Applicants who fulfilled certain specific criteria were given the chance to extend their time in Australia. To be eligible for a Second Working Holiday visa, applicants needed to perform ‘specified work’ in a regional Australian area for a minimum of 3months (or 88 days) while on their first Working Holiday visa. While ‘specified work’ included any type of work in plant and animal cultivation, fishing and pearling, tree farming and felling, mining, and construction (Department of Home Affairs, 2019b), ‘regional Australia’ consisted of a broad variety of geographic space in the country,
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from capital cities to remote territories2. The institution of the Second Working Holiday visa
represents up till present times the most significant impact on the whole complexion of the WH programme’s phenomenon. Ever since the inception of the second-year visa, the original conception of the WH programme, as a cultural exchange opportunity for young people to explore the country with access to only incidental work, could no longer apply.
Introduced in conjunction with the lowest unemployment rate since the early 1970s, the second-year visa constitutes in actual facts a labour market strategy to fill severe gaps in the horticulture labour force (Reilly et al., 2018, p. 14). Due to the mining boom of the early 2000s, which high wages attracted workers from all sectors across Australia, the horticulture industry suffered severe labour shortages which were supposed to be fixed by Working Holiday Makers. The express rationale for adding a second year-visa was, indeed, to provide harvest workers to a sector that was experiencing acute difficulties (United WHY, 2015, p. 7).
The new visa had a deeper focus on its work feature than the ‘cultural exchange’ one, reframing WHMs expectations towards their experience in Australia. The second-year visa that encouraged its participants to engage in three months of full-time employment, proved to be an extremely successful strategy since the vast majority of WHMs satisfied the requirements criteria via engaging in the horticultural industry (Deapartment of Immigration and Border Protection, 2016, p. 25). Tan and Lester (2012, pp. 373–374), in 2012 found that between 50-80% of the seasonal work force in Australia was made by Working Holiday Makers. In 2015-16 out of the 36,264 Second WH visas granted, 33,666 were accepted on the basis of its participants’ regional work in Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (Deapartment of Immigration and Border Protection, 2016, p. 25). According to a 2016 report of the Department of Employment, the 88-day requirement for a visa extension is responsible for at least 37,000 workers in the horticulture labour force (Reilly et al., 2018, p. 15).
Even though the number of WH visas granted has consistently risen in the years following its inception, there has been an exponential growth in WHMs after 2005. In 1975 the number of WHMs in Australia counted at only 1,855 people. Ten years later it had already grown to 18,365; twenty years later to twice that amount with 40,273 by 1996; and at the beginning of
2‘All of the states of Tasmania, South Australia and the Northern Territory, including the cities, are classified as ‘regional Australia’ under the WHM policies. In other states, only major urban centres and their surrounding areas are excluded under the classification of ‘regional Australia’, with the exception of the Australian Capital Territory, which is excluded in its entirety’ (Robertson, 2014, p. 1930).
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the 2000s the number went up to 78,642. As show in Table 2, ever since the change in policies of 2005, the amount of WHMs in Australia has kept growing extensively: combining the amounts of the granted First and Second WH visas, every year since then, the number of WHMs in Australia went much further the 100,000s, reaching its pick in 2012-13 when 249,231 visas were granted as part of the WH visa programme (Reilly et al., 2018, p. 16). After the exceptional pick of that year, numbers of WHMs in the country have decreased, but still remained constant above the 200,000s. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development data of 2016, the Australia’s WH visa programme is indisputably the largest in the world with 239,600 participants, followed by United States (90,300), New Zealand (61,400) and Canada (51,900) (OECD, 2016, p. 27).
Table 2.
9 2.5 Exploitation of Working Holiday Makers
Simultaneously to the ever-growing literature on the economic contribution of WHMs in the Australian labour market, an equally relevant line of investigation has been taking place in the past years regarding the widespread exploitation of temporary labour migrants (particularly WHMs) in the country. As of 2016, temporary migrant workers were counted at 900,000 people, comprising for 11% of the Australian labour force (The Australian Senate, 2016, p. 15). Inevitably bounded to a state of precariousness caused by the inherently insecure type of work that they are entitle to pursue, temporary labour migrants constitute a category of workers that is intrinsically vulnerable and often subjected to exploitation (Reilly, 2015, p. 482). Already in 1997 the first allegations of exploitation cases in the WH programme were made to the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMA), but, at the time, reports came only in the form of individual complaints and did not receive much attention (Joint Standing Committee on Migration, 1997, p. 97). However, in the following years the underpayment of WHMs became increasingly known due to a growing media coverage of the phenomenon (Clibborn and Wright, 2018, p. 210). Wage theft, extremely long working hours, lack of contracts, unsafe work environments, injuries, threats, withholding of passports, discrimination and sexual harassment are some of the many elements that have been reported by former WHMs during their work under the 88-day scheme (United WHY, 2015, p. 3). Nonetheless, official channels did not undertake proper investigations until 2015, when several inquiries were made to recognise the vulnerability of temporary migrant workers in the labour market. WHMs were increasingly found to be particularly liable to exploitation due to their lack of English skills, knowledge regarding their working rights, and their highly dependent relationship with their employers for their visa (Productivity Commission, 2015, p. 919). Most significantly, in 2016 a report of the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO), the government’s labour inspectorate, revealed high levels of exploitation among WHMs pursuing a second-year visa. Out of the 4056 workers surveyed, 28% reported not being paid for their work, 45% reported being unaware that when completing the 88 days of specified work they were entitled to wages, and 59% stated that they were unlikely to complain in case their employers refused to signed off their work (Fair Work Ombudsman, 2016, p. 25).
The lack of appropriate regulations and the inception of ‘employer-friendly labour immigration policies’ (Clibborn and Wright, 2018, p. 210) has made of the 88-day scheme in Australia a remarkable example of ‘misbalance of power between the worker and the employer’ (United
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WHY, 2015, p. 5). WHMs are solely depending on employers to get their worked recognised and signed off to obtain a second-year visa, and this has created for them a form of ‘institutionalised dependence on [their] employers’ (Clibborn and Wright, 2018, p. 209). In conclusion, this “power imbalance created by workers’ precarious visa arrangements” (Pen, 2018, p. 25) has enforced a cultural mindset among several employers to believe to be in possess of a “licence to determine the status, conditions and remuneration levels of workers’” (Fair Work Ombudsman, 2016, p. 33). Today, “the exploitation and abuse of workers on temporary visas appears to be so widespread it is becoming the norm” (Clibborn and Wright, 2018, p. 212).
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3. LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter outlines the existing literature regarding the figure of the Working Holiday Maker, focusing on previous research’s findings about the motivations and the factors that lead young people to pursue a Working Holiday visa.
Even though the aim of this study is to investigate the motivations that bring WHMs in Australia to engage with the 88-day scheme, and consequently to pursue a Second Working Holiday, this issue has not been clearly addressed by previous research yet. On the other hand, from the analysis conducted on existing studies on WHMs’ motivations, literature appears to be dived between two major body of research: tourism studies and migration studies. While the first views the WHM as a backpacker whose travelling expenses are covered by casual labour experiences, the latter rather portrays it as a temporary migrant who seeks permanent residency. Due to the fact that previous literature yet lacks to explain the reasons why WHMs, during their first year in Australia, choose to endure with the 88-day scheme to obtain a Second Working Holiday, this literature review outlines the existing research on WHMs conducted by tourism and migration studies.
Therefore, this chapter is structured as follows: the first section delineates the embedded dichotomy between the two opposing concepts of ‘work’ and ‘holiday’ existing within Working Holiday programs; the second section presents tourism studies’ results on the motivations of backpackers-WHMs; and finally, the third section describes migration studies’ findings on WHMs viewed as temporary labour migrants.
3.1 Dichotomy between Work and Holiday
By definition, the term ‘working holiday maker’ embeds a degree of ambivalence, joining together two concepts that would otherwise be opposed: work and holiday. Positioned in an intermediate level between travel and migration, the working holiday maker bears a correlation between the legal opportunity to work and travelling that “leads to a cross-over with forms of temporary migration” (Wilson, Fisher and Moore, 2009, p. 4). Because of their dual nature, divided between work and holiday, working holiday programs have been seldomly studied under the same discipline, often making WHMs a widely misunderstood category of migrants that combine both work and leisure.
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In researching this category, previous literature expresses a clear contrast between tourism and migration studies. While the first focuses on the correlation and dissimilarities between ‘host’ and ‘guest’, the latter focuses “on economic inequalities and consequent cultural domination, [challenging or modifying the] notion of economic dependency as a driver of temporary migration” (Ibid.). In 1964 Pape first attempted to define a connection between the two field of work and holiday describing the word ‘touristry’ as “…a form of journeying that depends upon occupation, but only in a secondary sense in that it serves the more primary goal, the travel itself” (Pape, 1964, p. 337). Later, in 1973, Cohen talked about ‘working holidays’ as a form of tourism "...in which youth from one country travel into another to work for short periods, mostly during summer school vacations" (Cohen, 1973, p. 91). However, as the working holiday program kept expanding as a growing phenomenon across the globe, deeper attention has been paid to this category of people and further research has been done in both tourism and migration studies to address the working holiday experience. As previously mentioned in Chapter 2, the most significant contribution was made in 2001 by Nathan Uriely, who deepened the understanding of this figures and distinguished them in two major categories: ‘travelling workers’ and “working tourist” (Uriely, 2001). Uriely based his grouping on motivations, work characteristics and demographic profile of those who travel and work, although admittedly describing it as a not concrete categorization, since commonalities in behaviour overlap between work and tourism.
Later in 2009 Wilson, Fisher, and Moore made a further attempt to describe working holidays defining them as “extended stays in other countries by 'holidaymakers' with consequential immersion, to varying degrees, in the economic, social and cultural dimensions of the host locales” (Wilson, Fisher and Moore, 2009, p. 4).
Therefore, my conclusion is that since “a universal academic consent in definition for a working holiday [maker] does not seem to exist at present” (Brennan, 2014, p. 182), they have been studied in correlation to only one of their major components, either the work or the holiday element. This has brought previous academics to distinguish the working holiday maker either as a backpacker or as a temporary migrant worker.
The following sections will outline the existing literature that has studied Working Holiday Makers’ motivations to engage with Working Holiday programs, according to their categorisations either as backpackers or as temporary migrants.
13 3.2 Tourism Study: Backpackers
When focusing on the holiday component, Working Holiday Makers are frequently studied as a subset of backpacker studies. Viewed as young travellers who pursue a working holiday visa to explore the world, visit a new country and work to finance their travels, WHMs are often assimilated in the group classification of backpackers.
Mcintosh & Bonnemann (2006, pp. 91–96) grouped motivations behind working holiday experiences in five main categories: 1) learning and education; 2) gaining an out-of-the-ordinary life experience in natural regions far from the urban context; 3) making friends; 4) cultural exchanges; 5) self-realisation in the pursuit of inner achievement and self-affirmation. In this context, existing research that has focused on participants’ motivations to pursue a Working Holiday visa, has recognized self-identity as one of the main core issues and key driving forces that brings young people to engage with such a phenomenon. WH experiences are “regarded as a mean of gratification… in relation to the values which are not being realized in daily life” (Ho, Lin and Huang, 2014, p. 469) and perceived as a way of pursuing personal growth and self-improvement. WHMs construct a new temporary identity during their experience and gain a different level of independence (Elsurd, 2001; Clarke, 2004; O’Reilly, 2006; Kawashima, 2010).
Moreover, Pearce (1990) recognised travel via Working Holiday programs as a form of escape. Young people, constrained by the predictability of a predetermined money-driven working routine and conscious of their limited chances to develop their career, seek freedom in a life-changing experience in the attempt of regaining control over their lives.
Furthermore, studies show that participants’ motivations significantly differ based on their country of origin. Studies conducted on participants from non-English-speaking countries have shown substantial difference compared to their counterparts. A qualitative study conducted by Kawashima (2010) on Japanese WHMs in Australia showed as one of the main reasons the desire to connect with the positive imagine of the ‘Western culture’: the English-speaking society and its ‘white people’ are seen as an attractive example of progress and modernity, with which cosmopolitan-conscious Japanese would like to associate (Seargeant, 2005).
The English language component results as one of the main reasons that drives non-English-speaking WHMs to participate in the program. The pronounced desire to enhance their linguistic skills emerges in the existing literature as one of the most significant driving forces: WHMs from South East Asian and European countries engage with WH schemes around the
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world with the aim to improve their English skills and increase their marketability in their home countries (Newlands, 2006; Kawashima, 2010; Tai et al., 2012; Brennan, 2014; Ho, Lin and Huang, 2014; Peng and Aparna, 2014; Yoon, 2015; Yang and Wen, 2016).
On the other hand, Wilson et al. (2009) studied the case of New Zealanders participation in WH programs in the UK and underlined the central role played by cultural aspects in the decision-making process of these actors. In new Zealand participating in WH program, or ‘overseas experience’(OE), has become part of the social norm and it is considered a ‘rite of passage’ (Jamieson, 1996 in Wilson et al., 2009, p. 7).
Overall, Table 3 offers an overview of the most relevant motivational factors identified by previous literature. The table summarises the main motivations involved in the decision making process of WHMs categorized as backpackers in the study of Ho et al. (2014, p. 471).
Table 3.
Source: Ho et al., 2014, p. 471.
15 3.3 Migration Studies: Temporary Migrants
On the other hand, the Working Holiday phenomenon has also been studied as a sub-branch of migration studies, which analyses the Working Holiday Maker as an unusual form of temporary migrant. As discussed at the beginning of this chapter, a considerable amount of previous research on the subject has been conducted in migration studies, which has put a greater emphasis on the work component of the visa rather than the holiday one in studying Working Holiday Makers’ experiences and motivations.
In the case of New Zealanders in the UK, Wilson et al. (2009, pp. 13–16) recognised that during their experiences, participants spent most of their time working, besides travel being their main reason for going overseas. When asked to estimate a travel-work ratio, interviewees reported spending 65 percent of their time working, and more than half of the respondents declared working for more than 80 percent of their time abroad. Moreover, Jarvis et al. (2013) also stressed the key relevance of the work element in researching WHMs’ motivations: in their qualitative study conducted in the regional area of Mildura in Australia, 94.9 percent of the WHMs surveyed selected employment as the primary motivation for being in the area (Ibid., p. 118).
Furthermore, existing literature has reported, as a major result, the tendency of WHMs to use the Working Holiday visa as a “backdoor immigration method” (Brennan, 2014, p. 286). Participants in several qualitative studies conducted in Australia have expressed, as a key motivational factor for taking part into the Working Holiday scheme, the desire to extend their stay in the country and the intention to use the Working Holiday visa as pathway to a prolonged stay in Australia (Wilson, Fisher and Moore, 2009; Birrell and Healy, 2012; Velayutham, 2013; Brennan, 2014; Reilly, 2015; Stevens, 2019).
WH visas, in these occasions, operate as a way of securing access into the labour market to temporary migrants, who will then apply to other visas which could potentially lead to permanent residency and settlement in the country. Research shows that WHMs, who use their WH visa as a mean to long-term settlement, predominantly move to the 457 skilled visa (sponsorship), or to the partner visa (Khoo, Hugo and Mcdonald, 2008; Birrell and Healy, 2012; Reilly, 2015; Wright, Groutsis and van den Broek, 2017; Stevens, 2019). The Australian Centre of Population and Urban Research issued a report in 2012 (Birrell and Healy, 2012) analysing the effects of temporary migrants on the Australian labour market and the visa churning phenomenon of WHMs. As previously shown in Table 2, in 2011-12 the Government
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of Australia granted 184,143 new first-year WH visas, and 30,501 second-year WH visas to candidates who had completed three months of specified regional work. Moreover, the same year, 8,924 WHMs were granted a 457 visa while in the country. These data, according to Birrell and Healy (2012) are significant indicators that the WH program constitutes a pathway to permanent residence for numerous migrants: to many, the WH program does not represent a cultural exchange opportunity, but rather a way to engage with the Australia labour market and slowly proceed towards permanent settlement.
Another study conducted by Stevens (2019) analysed the growing phenomenon of demand- driven temporary migration and the resulting changes in migration objectives of its actors. The author researched the experiences of Chinese temporary migrants in Perth (Western Australia) and underlined how temporary residents, such as WHMs, move between multiple visa classes in order to prolong their stay in Australia and pursue permanent residency. However, the imagined ‘two-step’ migration pathway, from temporary-to-permanent, often results into much more complicated procedures that the author rather defines as “a full flight of stairs” (Stevens, 2019, p. 298) (Birrell and Healy, 2012; Velayutham, 2013; Robertson, 2014; Walsh, 2014). In conclusion, these results outline the existence of a trend for many WHMs that do not perceive the WH program merely as a cultural exchange but rather as a pathway to permanent settlement. Therefore, the profile of the contemporary WHMs cannot be limited to a definition of global backpacker, whose main purpose is to travel and work to finance its movements, but rather results into a much more complex figure of contemporary migrant (Brennan, 2014; Reilly, 2015).
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4. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
This chapter presents the theoretical framework within which this research’s material is analysed. Even though this research seeks to investigate WHMs’ motivations from a micro-level perspective, it is in the interest of this study to first present an overview of the theoretical framework within which this phenomenon takes place. For this reason, this chapter initially outlines, from a macro-level perspective, the Dual Labour Market theory that frames the bifurcated Australian labour market context. Subsequently, the neoclassical economics micro theory and the self-improvement theory are introduced to analyse the decision-making process of migrants from a micro-level point of view.
4.1 Dual Labour Market Theory
When analysing the initiation of labour migration, one of the main existing economic theories used to explain this phenomenon is the Dual Labour Market theory (DLM), which addresses international migration from a macro level prospective, arguing that labour migration exists as a natural and structural consequence of modern industrialised societies. The major exponent of this theory was Michael J. Piore (in Massey et al., 1993, p. 440) who argued that international migration is not caused by push factors from sending countries (such as low wages or high unemployment, as other theories would state), but rather by pull factors in receiving countries (such as the intrinsic need of foreign workers of industrialised modern societies) (Castles, Haas and Miller, 2014, pp. 35–36).
The mass industrial production that characterised the Fordist era, and its subsequent aftermath, have had as a result the development of advanced industrial societies (King, 2012, p. 17), which economies have grown into what Piore defined as dual (or segmented) labour markets. The prime characteristic of this theory stands in the economic duality of developed countries’ labour markets, where a clear distinction between a primary and a secondary sector can be drawn (Hagen-Zanker, 2008, p. 7). While the primary sector entails high-skilled, secure and well-paid jobs for native workers, the secondary sector includes unskilled, insecure and low-paid work positions mainly filled by immigrant labour force (Pfeifer, 2005, p. 407). The unpleasantness of such jobs and the precariousness linked to their status, makes of the secondary sector an undesirable option for local workers, which tend to refuse these occupations, leaving a gap in the labour force that is filled by migrants. This process leads to what Piore described as a “built-in demand for immigrant labour” “built-in advanced societies (“built-in Massey et al., 1993, p. 441).
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Piore explained this phenomenon by first analysing the underlying social meaning that is given to wages and its critical role played in industrialised economies. Wages are defined as an essential social element that reflects both status and prestige: people link wages to a strict social hierarchy where the higher the salary, the higher the corresponding social status is. In this regard, primary sector high-skilled jobs are expected to ensure not only high remuneration to its workers, but also a series of informal social benefits where the equivalent level of prestige and status can be reflected. This concept equally applies to the secondary sector, where to an unskilled low-paid job corresponds a lower social status, establishing a well-defined social hierarchy based on the correlation between status and remuneration. Therefore, in times of labour scarcity in the secondary sector, employers are unable to raise salaries to attract more native workers, which leaves them to seek immigrant labour instead: being the migrant demographic the one willing to accept low wages jobs, linked to unpleasant work conditions and low social status (Massey et al., 1993, pp. 440–444; Stahl, 1995, pp. 223–224).
Moreover, foreign workers prove to be more willing to accept these secondary jobs thanks to their different attitude towards the so-called ‘motivational problems’. Native workers tend to thrive for well paid jobs in the primary sector in order to maintain a high social status, therefore lacking motivation to engage with low-skilled labour (which will undermine their position in the social hierarchy). The instability, precariousness and lack of upward mobility in the workplace linked to the labour-intensive secondary sector, make of bottom-level jobs an undesirable option for local workers. However, on the other hand, these factors do not affect immigrant labour in the same way, since migrant workers view unskilled jobs mainly as a mean to a greater end rather than a symbol of status and prestige. This element enhances a crucial distinction between local and migrant labour and the consequential different roles they play in the labour market. Most migrants, unlike native workers, do not classify secondary level jobs as degrading to their social status, but rather as a mere form of income. Being mostly immigrants target earners, they value the access to the labour market in developed countries as a mean to achieve a specific goal. They seek employment in order to earn money to be able to achieve their desired objective (which could include goals such as paying debts in the home country, saving money to buy properties or to build a house etc.). Moreover, even though they understand that the role they cover in the local labour market is corresponding to a low social status, they do not view it as such. They do not see themselves as members of the receiving society, therefore, detaching themselves from the social status inherently linked to their secondary sector job. The migrant worker perceives himself as part of his home community,
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instead, where he is considered with respect for being an international worker, sending remittances at home (Massey et al., 1993, pp. 440–444; Stahl, 1995, pp. 223–224; Hagen-Zanker, 2008, pp. 4–8; King, 2012, pp. 3, 16–17; Castles, Haas and Miller, 2014, pp. 35–36).
4.2 Neoclassical Economics: Micro Theory
The neoclassical economics represents one of the most relevant and best-known economic theories of international labour migration. Initially established in the 1950s (Lewis, 1954), and then further developed in the following years (Sjaastad, 1962; Todaro, 1969; Borjas, 1989), it views international migration as a natural consequence of the global differences in supply and demand of labour. The theory focuses on the redistribution of labour and capital across countries, defining migration as an essential component of global developed economies (Massey et al., 1993, pp. 442–446; Castles, Haas and Miller, 2014, pp. 29–30), addressing migration from both a macro and micro level perspective. However, for the purpose of this research only the neoclassical economics micro theory will be presented, in order to analyse the theoretical framework of migrants as rational actors that make the decision to move. Among the variety of migration theories that focus on the individual perspective on a micro-level analysis of migration, the microeconomic model of the neoclassical migration theory represents one of the most relevant ones. In this theory migrants are viewed as rational actors who decide to migrate based on a cost-benefit calculation to maximize their income. Sjaastad (1962) was one of the major exponents of this approach underling that individuals make a calculated decision in migrating looking for the possibility to increase their earnings in a more favourable labour market than the native one (1962, p. 88). Borjas (1989) also stressed this view saying that “individuals migrate because it’s in their benefit” (1989, p. 457), searching for the country that better maximizes their well-being. Therefore, job opportunities, together with the probabilities of employment, play an essential role in the decision-making process (Todaro, 1969, p. 140) undertaken by migrants: seen as rational actors making a cost-benefit calculation, they compare various countries earning streams and decide to migrate in the one with the largest ones (Borjas, 1989, p. 463).
It is, indeed, this rational component (together with the economic one) that plays an essential role in explaining individual’s behaviour in this theory. Simon (in Boudon, 1989, pp. 173–174) defined rationality as the “style of behaviour that is appropriate to the achievement of given goals” (Ibid.), meaning that actors choose the path of action that will allow them to better
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achieve their objectives according to their means (Scott, 2000, p. 128). Together with the economic rationale involved in their decision-making process, migrants’ behaviour can be explained and studied in the light of their beliefs and desires towards the maximization of their profits. Therefore, the key point of this economic approach is that decision-makers have clear goals that they want to achieve, and, given all the possible options, chose the best available one (Gächter, 2013, p. 33).
Nevertheless, even the most prominent supporters of the economic approach and the rational model, point out that economics does not aim to explain all human behaviour. Even a major neoclassical economists like Becker (1976) declared that “although a comprehensive framework is provided by the economic approach, many of the important concepts and techniques are provided and will continue to be provided by other disciplines” (Becker, 1976, p. 14). In other words, there are parts of human conduct that do not involve wealth as prime object. Economics does not explain all human motives and, therefore, noneconomic actions must be studied by other appropriate disciplines like social and related sciences (Zafirovski, 2018, pp. 196–197).
4.3 Self-Improvement Theory
In this regard, it is useful to pay attention to an alternative theory that has been used to explain human behaviour in social sciences. Anthony Giddens (1991) has outlined the concept of the self and the phenomenon of individual’s actualisation through self-improvement. Giddens (1991) work starts with a critique of the late modern era, focusing on the fundamental changes that late modernity has brought into society and ultimately on the individual’s actualisation (1991, pp. 1–2).
The weakening of traditional institutions such as marriage, family and communities, have had as a major consequence a change in how people make transitions in their lives. The absence of the traditional rites of passage that used to help individuals grow and move into new stages of life (such as the shift from adolescence to adulthood for instance), has impacted society in a way in which people increasingly see themselves as active and self-responsible agents in charge of their personal growth (1991, pp. 32–34). Self-identity is, therefore, described as a reflexive project, in which people create their own narratives about “what to do, how to act, who to be” (1991, p. 70).
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This emphasis put on the individual and its search for self-identity, are described as characteristics typical of the modern era. Baumeister (1986) stressed this aspect, describing a complete absence in pre-modern culture of the self as a unique individual, with distinctive characteristics and unfulfilled potential. He described it as a concept that has its origins in Western individualism and goes back to medieval times to stress the differences with modern era. At that stage in history, identity shaping attributes like gender, social status and lineage were controlled by institutionalised forces, which did not involve the individual on an active level but rather saw it as a passive recipient. Transition between various stages in life was a fix element through which people were guided and forced upon.
In Giddens theory, individuals in late modernity are responsible for the development of their own self, which is strictly dependent on the actions and activities they choose to pursue. This reflexive project is seen as a continuous process in which they try to build and rebuild a sense of identity and accomplishment, creating a trajectory from the past to the anticipated future. Self-actualisation becomes a balance between opportunity and risks, in which individuals seek to let go of their past self and move forward towards their future, which is seen as rich of opportunities for self-development. Getting involved with the unknown and unfamiliar is, therefore, essential for self-growth. Significant transitions in life such as “leaving home, getting a new job, facing up to unemployment, forming a new relationship, moving between different areas or routines, confronting illness” (Giddens, 1991, p. 79) are the change bringing opportunities that can help individuals to grow and develop a unique sense of self-identity (1991, pp. 74–80).
In conclusion, this risk-taking behaviour is viewed as a decision-making exercise that will contribute to self-actualisation. Therefore, by choosing their unique path of action, individuals work through different challenges in order to achieve personal growth: overcoming obstacles and difficulties become necessary aspects in a continuous journey of self-improvement.
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5. METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK
This chapter presents the methodological procedure applied in the development of this study. Starting from the research design and sampling criteria, followed by the interview conduction and the coding of the collected data.
5.1 Research Design and Semi-Structured Interviews
This research has been developed following a qualitative approach based on semi-structured interviews. The qualitative approach was chosen because, as one of its major strengths, it gives to the researchers the ability to get under the surface of social phenomena in order to understand people’s experiences from a micro-level point of view (Silverman, 2006, p. 18). In its most basic definition, the qualitative method has been described as the one in which words, and not numbers, constitute the main data to be collected and analysed by the researcher (Braun and Clarke, 2013, p. 2). The primary goal of qualitative researchers is, indeed, to understand how people make sense of the world they live in by analysing the meaning they construct around their experiences (Merriam and Tisdell, 2015, pp. 6, 14–16). Denzin and Lincoln (2003) described this method as “a set of interpretative, material practices that make the world visible” (Ibid., p. 6) and Van Maanen (1979) as “ an umbrella term covering an array of interpretive techniques which seek to describe, decode, translate, and…come to terms with the meaning… of certain… phenomena in the social world ” (Ibid., p. 520). In other words, qualitative research focuses on understanding the meaning that people give to the reality that surrounds them: concentrating on the participants’ perspective, researchers investigate how people construct their world and the way they interpret their experiences, making of this approach the most-suited method for this study.
Moreover, since this research aims to explore the reasons why WHMs decide to engage with the 88-day regional work scheme, qualitative semi-structured interviews have been chosen as the most appropriate method of inquiry3. In a study like this, qualitative interviewing is a
generally preferred method of analysis because it allows the researcher to get a greater access to individuals’ attitudes and values. In semi-structured interviews, by encouraging interviewees to talk about a particular issue via asking flexible questions, researchers tend to get more
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considerate responses that differ greatly from formal questionnaires. Also defined as ‘conversations with a purpose’ (Burgess in Byrne, 2004, p. 208), they provide better access to respondents’ opinions, views and understanding of experiences, allowing for a more complex analysis of the phenomenon that is being studied (Byrne, 2004, p. 209). Semi-structured interviews follow a guideline of questions that aims to explore specific issues in a non-preestablished order. Flexibility, indeed, is one of the main characteristics of this method, making possible for the researcher to easily adjust to the interviewees’ potential new ideas or emerging thoughts (Merriam and Tisdell, 2015, pp. 109–111).
5.2 Sample Criteria
This study has been conducted following a non-probabilistic, purposeful sampling method (Merriam and Tisdell, 2015, pp. 95–97). This method derives its name from the specific criterion-based selection of its participants. Patton (2002) stressed the usefulness of purposeful sampling when conducting qualitative research because it allows to gain a deeper understanding of information-rich cases (Ibid., p.53). When a researcher is studying a particular phenomenon, it is of central importance to choose carefully and systematically where to obtain the needed information. In order to do so, the investigator has to establish specific requirements that will determine the relevance of the subjects that he will select for his study.
Therefore, participants to this study have been selected based on the following criteria: every interviewee had to be either a former or current Working Holiday Maker who had completed the 88-day regional work requirement in Australia, to obtain his/her Second Working Holiday visa. This factor alone constituted the main characteristic needed for this study to fulfil its purpose. Other elements, such as age and nationality of the participants, were of no relevance to this sampling procedure due to the fact that these are pre-determined characteristics of WHMs established by the Australian Department of Home Affairs (ADHA) (Department of Home Affairs, 2019b). As previously explained in Chapter 24, in order to be eligible for a
Working Holiday visa in Australia, every participant must fulfil certain conditions: only applicants aged between 18-30 years, from an approved list of partnering countries5 are allowed
4 See Chapter 2. Contextual Background, p. 8.
5 The eligible countries are: Belgium, Canada, Republic of Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France,
Germany, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Taiwan (other than an official or
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to take part in the WH visa programme. Therefore, via identifying former or current WHMs who had completed the 88-day of specified work, a pre-established selection of the participants was implicitly made: all the candidates had to be aged between 18-30 years and hold a valid passport from the approved list of countries given by the ADHA. One the other hand, the gender of the participant was taken into consideration but only as a marginal factor. The aim of the researcher was to obtain a sample of fifteen candidates as gender balanced as possible to ensure the validity and generalisation of this study. Therefore, in conclusion, all the possible WHMs to be selected for this research were defined by the ownership (in the past or present) of this visa status and not by their age, gender or nationality.
5.3 Sampling Technique
Participants to this study have been reached through a variety of sources (mainly via social networks and friends) via the use of the snowball (also defined as chain or network) technique (Merriam and Tisdell, 2015, p. 99). An initial draft of seven possible informants was contacted among the researcher personal network, based on the previous knowledge of their participation and completion of the 88-day scheme during their first WH visa6. These candidates have been
contacted via social media channels or private phone numbers between the months of June and July 2019 and asked for their participation in the research. All seven candidates were ensured of full anonymity and requested for their consent to participate in the interview: they all gave a positive response to the inquiry, followed by full consent and completion of the interview. The researcher has then proceeded to ask every participant to redirect her to further possible candidates suitable to this study: thanks to this technique, eight further participants were reached and interviewed. Therefore, the initial targeted amount of participants, as gender balanced as possible, was successfully reached: a final sample of fifteen interviewees, composed by eight women and seven men, was formed and the participants’ name changed in order to protect their identity and ensure anonymity7.
diplomatic passport), The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Department of Home Affairs,
2019a).
6 Age and nationality of the participants are intentionally left unknown to the reader due to their irrelevance in the purpose of this study. Only the interviewees’ completion of the 88-day scheme has been used as determining criteria for their selection.
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Every interview has been held in English via a phone call of the average length of 25 minutes. Voice-to-voice, real-time calls have been chosen as the most-suitable method of interview due to the interviewees’ various physical locations at the time of inquiry (Salmons, 2015). The fifteen candidates were indeed located across four different continents when the calls took place: eight were in Europe, four in Australia, two in North America and one in Asia. Seven interviews were conducted via regular phone calls, while the remaining eight were evenly divided and performed via the use of two online applications, namely the WhatsApp Call tool and the Messenger Call tool. This method guaranteed full accessibility: the researcher was able to reach every candidate regardless of his/her location around the world. However, scheduling constituted the main challenge due to the extremely diverse time differences between the researcher location (Malmö, Sweden) and the interviewees. Every interviewee was thanked for his/her participation and further ensured of his/her anonymity prior to the beginning of the interview. No technical interference or difficulties occurred during any of the interviews and candidates were particularly delighted to participate in the study and share their thoughts and experiences. All conversations were purposely not recorded, but meticulous notes were taken by the researcher, instead, to document the data.
5.5 Validity and Reliability
In the development of this study both validity and reliability have been respected to ensure the legitimacy of the resulting data and avoid what Moses & Knutsen (2012, p. 132) defined as the ‘measurement error’. To guarantee the validity of this study, questions have been developed in a clear and accurate style, in the interest of preventing possible misunderstandings in interpretation by the interviewee and obtaining verifiable information. Moreover, to ensure reliability this research has been designed in the most structured and transparent way, so that it will “produce identical answers under different conditions (and at different times)” (Ibid, p. 132).
5.6 Coding, Presentation and Analysis of Material
It was a reasoned choice of the researcher to not audio-record the interviews. This decision was based on several weakening factors linked to the practise of audio-recording, most of all the respondent’s potential uneasiness with being recorded. Moreover, being the researcher familiar
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with the practise of interviewing and of collecting responses via directly taking notes during the interview, this method of documenting data seemed the most appropriate. Data were carefully organised according to a coding scheme established in the early stages of the study. Since the main focus of this research is to understand the reasons why WHMs make the decision to engage with the 88-day scheme, I expected interviewees to communicate a variety of factors that brought them to make that decision.
Therefore, the given responses were summarised, categorised and prepared for an overview of the content after every interview. This procedure allowed me to divide responses into two main groups: the economic factors and personal growth considerations. Further subcategories have been developed and recognised during the data collection and following analysis of the interview material. These categorisations will be better explained in the following chapter “Empirical Analysis”.
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6. EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS
This chapter introduces the field material collected by the researcher and analyses it in connection to the theoretical framework presented in Chapter 4. This study aimed to understand the reasons why WHMs in Australia decide to complete the 88 days of specified regional work in order to obtain their Second WH visa. At first, the fifteen interviewees of this research’s sample have been encouraged to briefly introduce their background story and describe what has initially led them to apply, and eventually participate, into the WH programme in Australia. The researcher has then proceeded to ask the informants what were the factors that influenced their decision to endure the 88-day scheme. In accordance to their responses, the interviewees have been divided in two distinct groups, characterised by the predominant element behind their decision to participate in the 88-day scheme. While the substantial majority has been led by economic related motivations, the remaining sample has been guided by non-financial factors.
6.1 Economic Motivations
The majority of the interviewees of this study has declared that their reasons for completing the 88-day criteria were prevalently connected to a financial factor of some form. Eleven informants have, indeed, stated that one of the main motivations to endure the 88-day scheme was related to the economic benefits of working in Australia. At first, they explained how they were pleasantly surprised by the significant difference between their Australian salaries and their home countries’ ones. Most of them accessed the local labour market via unskilled positions and soon realised the substantially higher gains in income given by their jobs. In this regard, indeed, temporary labour migrants in bifurcated economic markets, tend to perceive low-skilled secondary jobs differently compared to natives. They have proven to be more willingly to cover low-skilled positions because they do not view them as damaging to their social status, but rather as good earning opportunities (Pfeifer, 2005, p. 407; Hagen-Zanker, 2008, p. 7). Matthew and Edward for instance said:
“I never earned as much money as I did in Australia for being a simple construction worker. I was able to make more than AU$ 1000 per week. Life was good, I could afford things that I
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“Things are better in Australia. I am 23, and there I was earning more than € 2000 a month to work in a farm. In only a few weeks’ time I was already able to buy a car. This would never
be possible where I come from.” (Edward)
Moreover, these eleven participants stated that, not long after their arrival, they started to perceive the possibility of working in the country for a longer period of time as a decisive investment regarding their financial situation. Influenced by the economic advantages of the more favourable Australian labour market, they developed personal goals regarding their economic status that all involved the possibility to pursue the Second WH visa. Scott (2000) stated that, see as rational actors, individuals choose the best path of action according to their means, to achieve their goals (Ibid., p.128). In this sense, even though none of the interviewees had ever before covered a work position in the primary sector of their home countries, they can all be viewed as rational actors who decided to complete the required 88 days of specified regional work to obtain another year of legal stay in Australia. The jobs included in the list of specified work for the Second WH (such as plant and animal cultivation, fishing and pearling, tree farming and felling, mining, and construction) were all new to these former WHMs that declared to have no previous experience in any of these industries.
Nonetheless, the informants decided to meet the requirement, enduring three months of labour-intensive and physically demanding manual work. In this regard, when studying migrants’ behavioural choices in bifurcated labour markets, Piore (in Massey et al., 1993, pp. 440-444) described the different social meaning given to wages by labour migrants and natives. While native workers view high-skilled, well-paid jobs as a symbol of social prestige and, consequently, unskilled jobs as degrading to their image, migrant workers perceive low-skilled positions as valuable income opportunities that will allow them to achieve personal goals. At that stage, when faced with the opportunity to obtain a second year of work in Australia, these interviewees reported that they viewed the 88-day criteria not as a diminishing, nor degrading, factor to their social status, but rather as a necessary mean that would have allowed them to achieve a greater goal (Stahl, 1995, pp. 223–224).
This particular aspect constituted a central element in the development of this study. When interviewees started to precisely state what their personal objective actually was, the researcher was able to identify two distinct patterns of answers. Overall, these eleven interviewees all
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made the decision to complete the 88-day scheme driven by a financial rationale: they recognised the economic benefits of being able to work in Australia and the substantial earning differentials compared to their country of origin. However, there was an evident distinction in the way these eleven informants perceived the economic advantages that the Australian labour market had to offer. They completed the 88-day scheme in order to achieve two different goals: while five interviewees focused on the short-term benefits of working for another year in Australia, the remaining six sought to obtain a Second WH to use it as a pathway towards permanent residency. Therefore, these interviewees have been further subcategorised in two groups and analysed based on their different objectives.
6.1.1 Short-Term Investment
Five informants of this study have expressed their interests to complete the 88 days of regional work, and therefore to pursue the Second WH visa, because they saw it as a form of short-term economic investment to be used in their immediate or forthcoming future. They declared that, after a brief period of time spent in Australia, they all started to consider the option of a second year: they realised that the economic benefits of an additional 12 months of work in Australia would have made a substantial difference in their financial situations. Mary for instance said:
“I wanted to keep that option open for the future. The work [88-day scheme] was s**t but I really thought it was worth it. That second year represents an opportunity that can be exploited in the future. Something I can keep in my pocket and use later when I will need money again. The kind of money that you can make in Australia are something unbelievable. It’s a great resource for me to know that I can go there and work again for a whole new year.”
(Mary)
Originally, Mary was not considering the idea of another year in Australia, but after realising the income differentials with her home country she made the rational decision to complete the 88 days and pursue the Second WH visa. This decision-making process could be interpreted via the neoclassical theory’s principles: for instance, Borjas (1989) described migrants as rational actors who make calculated decisions to maximise their income. Mary knew that she
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could earn more money in Australia and therefore, after a cost-benefit evaluation, she decided to complete the 88 days. Likewise, Margaret and Peter stated:
“I realised that it would have been handy to have another year. I always need to save money and I saw the Second WH as my ace in the hole. I thought that 88 days of hard work was
something I could have done if in return I could have gained another 12 months there.” (Margaret)
“I saw the benefits of those salaries. Another year of work would have meant a lot more money in my pockets. I liked the life I had there, and I didn’t want to miss out. I knew that if
I didn’t do it then, I wouldn’t have been able to do it ever again in my life.” (Peter)
These interviewees realised that the completion of the 88-day criteria represented an investment for their future earnings. They focused on the short-term benefits of what working for another year in Australia could have meant for them, both if used right after the first WH or in a few years time. In this regard, Sjaastad (1962) stressed the economic aspect of labour migrants’ decision-making processes: migrants make decisions based on what they consider being their best financial interest and, in this sense, Margaret and Peter realised that another year of work in Australia could have been useful in the future. After carefully evaluating the situation, they decided that the benefits were outweighing the unpleasantness of three months of regional work. They made a cost-benefit calculation and chose to act according to their most favourable economic outcome. Furthermore, among the interviewees of this group there were also Matthew and Amanda, a couple that decided to participate in the WH programme together. Soon after their arrival they both realised the larger economic advantages of working in Australia. The earning differentials were a determining factor for the couple because they were able to experience a better lifestyle compared to their home country. In this regard, Amanda said:
“We wanted more time in the country. We were making a lot of money out of very simple jobs. We had time to enjoy ourselves, enough money to afford trips and to put aside decent savings. The farm days weren’t easy, nor amusing, but turning down the opportunity to stay
