Remittances and social capital: livelihood strategies of Timorese workers participating in the Australian Seasonal Worker Programme

Abstract

Social and financial remittances from the Australian Seasonal Worker Programme (SWP) have transformed the livelihood capabilities of participating households from Timor-Leste. Timorese workers generally participate in SWP for a six-month period, with many returning for subsequent seasons. Qualitative, multi-sited research investigated the livelihood strategies of 50 Timorese worker households over a three-year period. Their net earnings averaged between 4000 and 8000 USD per season, varying with the type of employment, living costs and their ability to save. Remittances assist in strengthening livelihoods by consolidating financial, physical, social, natural and human capital, improving the quality of life for returning workers, their households and communities. Remittances maintain and consolidate social relationships, and enable investments in entrepreneurial activities, education and house building. Migrant workers exhibited a strong preference for developing social capital, with many investments in other livelihood assets underpinned by a desire to strengthen social relationships, reflecting beliefs that this enhances livelihood resilience. While remittances have made greater direct contributions to livelihoods than economic production within Timor-Leste, at least for participating households and their immediate networks, this expenditure on social capital also suggests the broader structural limitations of using remittances in a ‘productive’ way (through capital accumulation) within labour-sending countries.

Keywords:

• Remittances
• livelihoods
• development
• Timor-Leste
• Australian Seasonal Worker Programme
• social capital

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the support provided to the first-named author to undertake field research in Timor Leste, especially the support of Dr Helen Mary Hill in hosting the visit. We also acknowledge the generous time given by the Timorese research participants, especially those who warmly opened their homes in Timor Leste and allowed continued research engagement through social media.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Annie Wu

Annie Wu completed a PhD (Science) in Geography at The University of Sydney, Australia in 2020, and has been awarded a Master of Arts by Research and a Master of Cultural Studies with Gender and ­Cultural Studies, also at The University of Sydney. She has taught subjects on environmental management, urban and development geographies, gender studies, and the sociology of climate change. She was involved in the ARC-funded project Blue Economy in Asia Pacific, as the second investigator at the University of Technology Sydney, until 2021. She is fluent in English, Mandarin, Tetum and Taiwanese. Her research interests include human geography, labour and circular migration, space and gender, developmental and social impact, diasporic relations, Southeast Asia and Timor-Leste, rural economies, foreign aid, resource economies and sustainability. She is currently a research analyst for the Anti-Slavery Taskforce at the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney.

Jeffrey Neilson

Jeffrey Neilson is Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Sydney. His research focuses on economic geography, environmental governance and rural development in Southeast Asia, with specific area expertise on Indonesia. He explores the livelihood implications of market engagement for smallholder farmers in the Global South using a value chain framework. He also examines emerging forms of environmental and resource governance arising from the confluence of conventional state structures, civil society organisations and market-driven regulation such as certification schemes and payments for ecosystem services. He is currently involved in research projects addressing: (i) the livelihood impacts of value chain sustainability schemes for Indonesian coffee growers; (ii) the use of intellectual property, such as geographical indications, for rural development; and (iii) the rise of landscape governance and sustainability programmes in the pepper and coffee sectors of the central highlands of Viet Nam.

John Connell

John Connell has principal research interests in political, economic and social development in less developed countries, especially in the South Pacific region and in other small island states. Much of this research has been oriented to issues of rural development, migration and inequality, along with research on decolonisation and nationalism. More recently he has worked on the cultural geography of music and food, including the impact of tourism and festivals on rural and regional development. He has explored diverse research topics ranging from the global migration of skilled health workers to the globalisation of football. He has written several books on migration and development issues, especially concerning Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia and urbanisation in the Third World, and recently co-authored a book with Kirstie Petrou, Pacific Island Guestworkers in Australia: The New Blackbirds (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022).