Labor migration is a subject that is very familiar to most Filipinos. More than any nation in East Asia, the Philippines has the most number of migrant workers with more than 4.75 million (2004 figures) distributed in 190 countries around the world. Our nearest "rival," Indonesia, has about 2 million workers abroad. Indeed, labor migration is a global phenomenon and already an accepted way of life in many developing countries. But, as the proponents of the research project on understanding international labor migration in East Asia reveal, the subject has not been given much attention in terms of research, especially in the perspective of economic integration. The project studies, some of which are featured in this issue, examined both the economic and sociological dimensions of labor migration.
