ILO International Labour MigrationStatistics Database in ASEAN

Technical Working Level Meeting:Realizing post-2015 aspirations for migrants and migration

16-17 OctoberBy Manuel Imson

Senior Programme Officer and Project Coordinator ofthe ASEAN TRIANGLE Project

ASEAN TRIANGLE ProjectTripartite action for the protection & promotion of the rights of migrant workers in ASEAN

The ASEAN TRIANGLE Project – funded by the Government of Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development – has a threefold objective:

1. To strengthen regional legal and policy framework to more effectively govern labour migration and protect the rights of women and men migrant workers

2. To enhance the capacity of governments to oversee enforcement of labour and migration laws and regulations

3. To enhance the capacity of social partners to influence migration policy and protect the rights of women and men migrant workers

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Our ongoing work on developing an International Labour Migration Statistics (ILMS) Database in ASEAN contributes to all three of these.

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ILMS Database in ASEANBroad consensus on the need for more and better data…

There is widespread recognition of the need for improved data collection on migration among the international community: “Member States should promote evidence-based policymaking and invest in data

collection, research and capacity development with respect to migration and its impacts on individuals, communities and societies. The international community should create a dedicated capacity-building initiative to assist countries in improving the collection and use of migration data.”

- Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary General, Making Migration Work: An eight point agenda

“[There is a] need for reliable statistical data on international migration, including when possible on the contributions of migrants to development in both origin and destination countries...”

- UN High-level Dialogue on International Migration and Development (2013)

“[The ICLS recognises] the need to promote the development of international standards, common methodologies and approaches on labour migration statistics...”

- 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (2013)

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ILMS Database in ASEANGenerating statistics for better migration policies in ASEAN…

To contribute to these goals – and in recognition of the overall lack of reliable or comparable data on the stocks and flows of migrants and especially migrant workers – the International Labour Migration Statistics (ILMS) Database was launched with a threefold objective:

1. To provide an openly-available, comprehensive and tractable information source to enable evidence-based policymaking on international labour migration in ASEAN.

2. To map the existing data sources countries collect, including their quality, scope, completeness, comparability and possible weaknesses to be strengthened through capacity building.

3. To define a set of tables of relevance on international labour migration as a standard reference-point for future data collection and reporting in ASEAN and beyond.

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ILMS Database in ASEANASEAN labour mobility is increasing…

ASEAN is developing fast and increasingly integrated. Intra-regional labour mobility is growing and will continue to grow – both in absolute and relative terms (see below) –and requires adequate policies, underpinned by clear evidence.

1990 2000 2010 2013-20,000

-17,500

-15,000

-12,500

-10,000

-7,500

-5,000

-2,500

0

2,500

5,000

7,500

10,000

3,191

5,265

8,6849,498

1,525

3,316

5,871 6,513

-7,532

-11,400

-17,557-18,836 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

34.6%

68.6%

Intra-ASEAN share of migrants (%)Intra-ASEAN share of nationals abroad (%)Source: UNDESA (2013) Trends in International Migrant Stock

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Ten countries Eight time-periods (2006-2013) and older data, where available Obtained exclusively from official Government sources:

Labour Force SurveysPopulation and Housing CensusesAdministrative records (e.g. Civil registers, records from Ministries, border agencies…)Other surveys (e.g. Economic Censuses, Socio-Economic Surveys, Migration Surveys…)+ Official estimates (where they exist…)

ILMS Database in ASEANCountry coverage and data sources sought…

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ILMS Database in ASEANScope of the data collection – the 17 tables sought…MODULE A: International Migrant Stock1. Resident population by sex, age and labour market status, total and migrants2. Working age population by sex and education, total and migrants3. Migrants by country of origin4. Employed migrants by country of origin5. Employed persons by economic activity, total and migrants6. Employed persons by occupation, total and migrants7. Employed persons by sex and status in employment, total and migrants8. Mean and median monthly employment-related income of employed persons by sex…

MODULE B: International Migrant Flow9. Inflows of working age migrants by sex and by country of origin10. Inflows of migrants by sex and education11. Inflows of employed migrants by economic activity12. Inflows of employed migrants by occupation

MODULE C: Nationals Abroad13. Stock of nationals abroad by sex and country of residence14. Outflows of nationals by sex and country of destination15. Outflows of nationals for employment by sex and country of destination16. Outflows of nationals for employment by economic activity17. Outflows of nationals for employment by occupation

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Data collection: Design and first round (2013)Consultative process and first round of data collection…

Consulted countries on their available sources through the ‘Labour Migration Statistics Information Survey’ (Mar 2013):

Found out the extent and sources of the available data Found out the indicators already being collected at country-level Found out the key users of the data and the present needs and priorities…

Produced a detailed ‘Review of Indicators’ (Jun 2013): Evaluated existing sources (MISA, LABORSTA, secondary sources…) Mapped potential indicators to be collected in an exhaustive ‘wish-list’ scenario Produced several options for what to collect under the ILMS Database…

Consulted on several drafts of the data collection pilot questionnaire, its core tables and definitions (Aug-Oct 2013).

Held Technical Meeting with national constituents from ASEAN to validate and finalise the tables used… (Nov 2013).

Data collection then took place during November 2013 – February 2014.

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Hosted a follow-up Meeting of Focal Specialists (26 June 2014): Discussion of sources that are still missing… Identification of best practices and capacity building needs… Validation of changes to the data collection questionnaire… Launch of the next round of data collection…

Second round of data collection then took place during July-September 2014. Data collection has now been formally closed and the data have been shared with

the ILO Statistics Division (in Geneva) for publication: Validation and processing are in progress… Data will then be formally uploaded onto ILOSTAT and AP Migration…

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Ongoing work Production of an analytical publication (March 2015)…

Third round of data collection (July 2015)… Data sharing and mainstreaming into countries’ reporting…

Capacity building activities in Cambodia, Lao PDR and Myanmar… Expansion of the pilot to other regions (Middle East, South Asia, and others)…

Data collection: Second round and publication (2014)Second round of data collection and ongoing work in 2015…

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Data collection: OverviewSummary of the data available and those collected…

MODULE A

International migrant stockMODULE B

International migrant flow

MODULE CNationals abroad

1a 1b 1c 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Brunei Cambodia Indonesia Lao PDR Malaysia Myanmar Philippines Singapore Thailand Viet Nam

NOTES: indicates data were collected during Round I;indicates data were collected during Round II;indicates data exist but could not be collected;indicates the Table cannot be filled based on the known sources.

Table 1 is divided into three here to reflect the data collected on: ‘1a’ the migrant population; ‘1b’ the migrant labour force; and ‘1c’ employed migrants.

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Data collection and sharing can help both sending and receiving countries formulate better policies to deal with the ongoing challenges of international labour migration and make the most of its opportunities.Our work has identified a range of considerations for improving existing sources and statistical institutions in this area:

a) Countries should ensure they regularly publish the data already collected – including online as well as in their statistical yearbooks – including details of the definitions used, the methods of data collection, and possible sampling or double-counting issues.

b) Countries should make efforts to expand the collection of administrative records on migrants, employed migrants and the nationals abroad based on their sex, age, country of origin/destination, educational attainment, economic activity, occupation, status in employment, and other variables relevant for labour market analysis.

c) Administrative records data should strive to avoid double-counting.d) Wherever possible, receiving countries should ensure their survey questionnaires contain a

relevant question for identifying migrants and migrant workers.e) Where feasible, countries should also develop clear strategies to document irregular

migrants and collect information on irregular migrant workers.

Towards more effective data collection and sharingSome recommendations for ASEAN based on the work carried out…

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Realising the post-2015 aspirations for migrants and migrant workers will depend to a large extent on the information and data we are able to produce.The international community can help countries develop ways to profile the migrant workforce and monitor emerging trends in order to improve policy responses to the challenges and opportunities of international labour migration.The international community can also help countries to harmonise their efforts at data collection to make them more comparable in 2015 and beyond.

* The ASEAN TRIANGLE Project is currently developing a Guide on International Labour

Migration Statistics tailored towards the ASEAN region in order to help countries improve their current statistical processes and institutions in this area...

ILO is ready to work with partners on sharing existing data, technical experience, recommendations and best practices in this area...

The 20th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (in 2018) will also deal with international labour migration in a concerted way to help develop global guidelines and set definitions to be used in this area…

Realising the post-2015 development aspirationsClear monitoring and better statistics will be the key for positive change…

Thank you and stay in touch!

For more information, please contact: Manuel ImsonSenior Programme Officer/ Project CoordinatorASEAN TRIANGLE Project ILO Regional Office for Asia and the PacificBangkok, Thailand

imson@ilo.org

www.ilo.org/asia

manuel.imson

www.facebook.com/aseantriangle