The Consequences of Overseas Employment on Parents Who Go and Children Who Stay

Florio O. Arguillas, Cornell University
Marie Joy B. Arguillas, Cornell University
Lindy Williams, Cornell University

This paper examines the consequences of overseas labor migration of parents who leave children behind in the Philippines on those migrants themselves and on their children. We draw on two sources of data, semi-structured interviews with parents who migrated to Ireland in response to opportunities created during the Celtic Tiger era, and semi-structured interviews with high-school aged children in the Metro Manila area who had one or both parents overseas. The interviewees are not related to one another, but each describes the consequences of the parents’ migration for the family. The children’s interviews focus primarily on their own experiences, while the parents’ interviews examine a range of impacts on the entire family.