Floating care as institutional positioning
Professional reclassification of domestic work in the pilot foreign caregiver project in South Korea
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21057643 |
|---|---|
| Authors | R P De Guzman (0000-0003-3963-1013, Jeonbuk National University), Jooyoung Kim (0000-0001-9410-2021, Jeonbuk National University Hospital, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 35 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 271-296 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Asian and Pacific migration journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0117-1968 • E-ISSN: 2057-049X |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/01171968261460098 |
| OpenAlex | W7165120693 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 18 |
This paper analyzes South Korea’s pilot foreign caregiver project from the perspective of the sending country, the Philippines—an angle often less visible in existing debates. Drawing on Migration Infrastructure and Relational Inequality theories, the study argues that labor precarity in the pilot project is a structural outcome co-produced by the institutional reclassification of domestic work as “professional caregiving” and the social closure through visa regulation and labor governance. Based on a focus group discussion and semi-structured interviews with Philippine stakeholders and an analysis of the Korean service mobile apps, Daeri Jubu (Proxy Homemaker) and Dolbom Plus (Care Plus), and an unpublished report from the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business (KBIZ), the study examines how care workers are constructed and governed within transnational migration infrastructures. The findings indicate that the state-led professional narrative is often misaligned with the material conditions under the pilot project. This study conceptualizes “floating care” as a structural positioning where workers are symbolically elevated as professionals yet remain situated in devalued domestic labor. By foregrounding the sending-country perspective, this study contributes to discussions on transnational migration governance by demonstrating how sending states reproduce and negotiate inequality within bilateral labor arrangements
Care work · Domestic work · Focus group · Foregrounding · Inequality · Negotiation · Precarity · Situated · Structural inequality · Work (physics) · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Aging, and Tourism Studies · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy
Relational Inequalities
The Rights Movement for Domestic Workers in the Philippines
Servants of globalization
A hidden yet emerging Asian racial capitalism
Migration Infrastructure
Live-in Migrant Care Workers in Taiwan
Immigration and labor shortages
New immigrant destinations and the role of the migration industry
Negotiating Public Space
Oligarchic rule and best practice migration management
Supermaids
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |