This article asks two questions: for immigrants, how is an exploitative labor market constituted, and how do immigrant employees and employers understand exploitation involving co-ethnics? Taking ethnic Chinese immigrants (PRC-Chinese, Taiwanese, Hong Kongese) as an example, this article examines employer hiring strategies, employee economic rationales, cultural perceptions, and the work experiences of ethnic Chinese migrant workers who find work in the informal sector in Australia. This article argues that language barriers, relatively higher earnings than home countries, the flexibility of cash-in-hand jobs, and the low expectation that job-seekers have of co-ethnic employers increase the willingness of ethnic Chinese migrants to work in the cash economy. On the other hand, employers look for an 'obedient' employee and create the image of a 'good boss' to decrease the expression of hostile emotions from their employees. Considering how economic factors and mutual cultural perceptions are embedded and reflected in the informal labor market, this article concludes that co-ethnic exploitation is formulated and justified by both employers and employees in Australia.

Studies have shown the unequal treatments temporary migrants face in the processes of immigration. In Australia for a short period of time and not citizens, they face conditions that allow for employer exploitation. This article is interested in exploring how institutional structures shape and normalize the choices that migrants make to work in the cash economy or other exploitative conditions. To do this, we take PRC‐Chinese, Taiwanese, and Hong Kongese temporary migrants who hold either a student or Working Holiday visa in Australia as an example. Focusing on the policymaking process, we argue that the policy outcomes produced by visa restrictions placed on international students and Working Holiday Makers sometimes do not reach an ideal outcome and at times even exacerbate problems identified in the input stage of the policy process. Such institutional effects result in a more vulnerable and exploitable situation for temporary migrants in Australia's labour market.

Racial microaggressions appear in different forms and affect racial and ethnic groups through everyday practices. We know little, however, about how racial microaggressions are perceived and operate in the context of institutionalized racism. In an immigration context, the structural mechanisms that influence migrant workers’ interpretations of racial microaggressions remain understudied. This article examines job-search processes, self-perceptions of foreign-ness, group interactions, and work experiences of Chinese migrant workers in Australia. I argue that the intersection of foreign-ness, human capital, and migrant status reflects structural inequality in the field of overseas employment, which involves an ideological system that reminds migrant workers of their differences/otherness when racial microaggressions happen. The intersection also influences how migrant workers interpret and react to such microaggressions. Meanwhile, workplace relations and interaction patterns ease tensions between advantaged and disadvantaged groups, yet persistent racial stereotypes and unequal race relations are maintained in everyday life.

This study examines the conflicting self-presentations when using the term ‘ghost island’ in Taiwan, a self-mocking way to belittle the homeland. While some view this term as a form of social critique, others consider it to be suggestive of a social malaise affecting contemporary Taiwanese. Drawing on online posts and comments from the most popular bulletin board system in Taiwan, this study combines topic modeling with a discourse-historical approach (DHA) to critical discourse analysis (CDA) to examine the constructions of ‘ghost island’ by Taiwanese netizens. A computer-aided content analysis was implemented using Structural Topic Modeling (STM) to identify discourse topics associated with netizens’ discourses on ghost island. Our findings suggest that the images of ‘us’ (the ordinary people) are presented as victims as against powerful ‘others’ (e.g. mainland China and local elites). Specifically, self-mockery was often invoked to project a loser image and marginalized status living on the island, whereas self-assertive narratives were invoked to affirm Taiwanese society’s democracy and freedom. The conflicting narratives – with a mixture of grudge, helplessness, pessimism, hope and pride – point to Taiwanese netizens’ ambivalent articulation of marginalized identities that operates to strengthen affective connectedness and virtual bonding.

The emergence of COVID-19 has led many countries to take strong border control measures. In Hong Kong, in reaction to government reluctance to close the border, more than 9000 medical workers went on strike. The strike lasted for five days only, yet it provoked a moral dilemma for healthcare occupations – when workers strike, citizens’ medical needs may be sacrificed. This article presents Jenna, a medical worker who went on strike, and her evaluation of the moral dilemma. Her account shows the ways in which different narratives shape power and politics and lend legitimacy to striking. Her example reveals the contested framing of professionalism – the struggle between job duties, workplace safety and a commitment to the public interest (public health). This contribution highlights how the moral dilemma of medical strikes can be resolved, and how the politicization of strikes can be legitimized by medical workers.