Labour migration structures and financing in Asia

This report was prepared by the V.V. Giri National Labour Institute, India, and researchers in the Philippines and Sri Lanka, in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO), and completed in 2015. The study benefited from stakeholder inputs at the Technical Meeting on Labour Migration Structures and Financing in Asia, held on January 31, 2014 in New Delhi, India.

With labour flows showing increasing heterogeneity the world over, there is a renewed interest in managing labour mobility so as to enhance the developmental potential of migration. In this context, this research study attempts to enhance the knowledge base pertaining to three core issues: (i) organizational structures to manage labour migration; (ii) various migrant services being extended by the state; and (iii) financing of protection of migrant workers. The study adopts a comparative perspective and provides a detailed analysis of the core issues in relation to India, the Philippines and Sri Lanka, three major labour-sending counties. The conceptual framework of the study presumes that migration management in countries of origin consists of three domains: regulation and (in certain countries) promotion of labour migration and support services; administrative structures; and financing.