The economic boom resulted in drawing large numbers of indigenous peoples out of their villages and into the unskilled or low-skilled sector of the urban workforce.DGBAS 2000; CIP 2004 Manufacturing and construction jobs were generally available for low wages. The aborigines quickly formed bonds with other communities as they all had similar political motives to protect their collective needs as part of the labor force. The indigenous became the most skilled iron-workers and construction teams on the island often selected to work on the most difficult projects. The result was a mass exodus of indigenous members from their traditional lands and the cultural alienation of young people in the villages, who could not learn their languages or customs while employed. Often, young aborigines in the cities fall into gangs aligned with the construction trade. Recent laws governing the employment of laborers from Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines have also led to an increased atmosphere of xenophobia among urban indigenous, and encouraged the formulation of a pan-indigenous consciousness in the pursuit of political representation and protection.
The economic boom resulted in drawing large numbers of indigenous peoples out of their villages and into the unskilled or low-skilled sector of the urban workforce.DGBAS 2000; CIP 2004 Manufacturing and construction jobs were generally available for low wages The aborigines quickly formed bonds with other communities as they all had similar political motives to protect their collective needs as part of the labor force. The indigenous became the most skilled iron-workers and construction teams on the island often selected to work on the most difficult projects. The result was a mass exodus of indigenous me.mbers from their traditional lands and the cultural alienation of young people in the villages, who could not learn their languages or customs while employed. Often, young aborigines in the cities fall into gangs aligned with the construction trade. Recent laws governing the employment of laborers from Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines have also led to an increased atmosphere of xenophobia among urban indigenous, and encouraged the formulation of a pan-indigenous consciousness in the pursuit of political representation and protection.