"Circulation of Care" among Migrant Care Workers: A Systematic Review of Global Evidence

Care work provides the unseen infrastructure necessary for people to engage in the labour force and support the economy. The globalised picture of development and economic success often focuses on the flow of goods and services. However, as society moves toward growing globalisation, there is a need to understand the flow and the different types of care across borders. The complex structure of the global care chains typically involves women, taking up care labour in high-income countries to perform essential care labour. In societies with ageing populations, professional nurses and care workers are increasingly depended upon to address labour shortages in hospitals and long-term care facilities. Notably, the networks and types of care that migrant care workers have access to while they are overseas are often overlooked in research. This paper is a systematic review that aims to explore the dynamics of care work involving migrant care workers. Using the PRISMA Framework, full texts of relevant articles published in English from 2015 to 2025 were screened using databases such as ProQuest, Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science Core Collection. The systematic review identifies several key actors within the care networks of migrant care workers. Migrant workers engage in transnational caring practices for their families back home and receive care in their destination countries from various social actors within local care networks, as well as from their home countries. This review emphasises the circulation of care among migrant care workers as a product of the complex structures of globalisation.