This was the case for Novita Marbun, a worker from Medan, Indonesia, whom I spoke with. When Marbun originally came to Malaysia at the age of 19, she paid 1,500 ringgit—the equivalent of about $375 —to get her job, much more than she makes in a month. Her parents took out a 15-year loan on their house to help pay the fee and other costs of her trip. The money she makes now only covers daily expenses and feeding her son, who is still in Indonesia, but she cannot get enough hours to make enough to help her parents. “I can’t save more money,” she said. As MacDonald puts it, “The system is designed to make the most poor pay the costs of recruitment.”