Background

The International Labour Migration Statistics (ILMS) Database in ASEAN has been published annually since December 2014 as a special collection on the ILO’s central database, ILOSTAT, as well as through the AP-Migration web-portal. In validating, annotating and gathering together the information from the relevant surveys and administrative records produced in ASEAN Member States, the ILMS Database in ASEAN
fills an important knowledge gap for national and regional policy-makers and for the broader research community.

The ILMS database was initially created in 1998 by ILOSTAT, EUROSTAT, UNSD and UNECE, and regularly updated to include data from 94 countries until 2006. The ILO’s ASEAN TRIANGLE programme reinvigorated the ILMS database for ASEAN in 2012 and has since then continuously highlighted the strategic importance of labour migration statistics in the region and beyond. In July 2018, the ILO Statistical Department’s (STATISTICS) decided to restart collection of ILMS at global level. Reinvigoration of the ILMS database at global level has been important both for SDG monitoring, national planning, and global evidence base on labour migration.

Latest available data and upcoming data collection

The 9th round of data collection for the ILMS Database in ASEAN was successfully completed in 2021, and the data has been shared on the TRIANGLE in ASEAN web site. It was also published on the ILOSTAT portal and on APmigration.

The 2022 round of ILMS collection, which is the 10th round of collection in the ASEAN region, was launched by ILOSTAT in September 2022. Statistics from official sources, including labour force surveys, censuses and administrative datasets, are collected on International Labour Migration Questionnaires (ILMQ) on the ILOSTAT STaRS platform.

Collection of ILMS data in ASEAN is done annually with the help of a network of ILMS focal points in national institutions in all ten ASEAN Member States. This network of focal points was established in 2013, and has since met nearly annually. The Eighth Technical Meeting of Focal Points on ILMS in ASEAN will be convened on 29 and 30 September 2022 as a hybrid meeting.

Objectives of the meeting

The overall objectives of the Meeting are to:

• Share global and regional updates on collection of labour migration statistics, including Labour Migration Observatories,
• Review the current status of the ILMS database in ASEAN,
• Assess lessons learned from the 9th round of ILM collection in ASEAN (in 2021),
• Identify ways to further improve data collection and sharing among ASEAN Member States, particularly related to censuses and administrative data,
• Discuss next steps in improving quality and gender disaggregation of data sources at country level, and
• Prepare ILMS focal points for the 10th round of ILMS data collection, starting September 2022.