Labor Migration

Bangladeshis are a vital workforce for this island destination in the Indian Ocean. But for many it’s far from paradise.

Welcome to Issue 1.2 of GovAsia. Published four times a year, GovAsia provides a platform for The Asia Foundation and its partners to examine the critical social, economic, and political problems facing citizens and governments across Asia, drawing on the Foundation’s daily engagement with politically rooted development challenges. GovAsia aims to… Read more

Like so many citizens in countries facing shrinking economic opportunities at home, many Nepalis have sought employment abroad, and international labor migration has become an accepted avenue for economic growth, both for the individual and for the nation. Nepal’s political and socioeconomic systems are in a period of transition, and the country is… Read more

For millions of Nepali workers who have gone overseas for work in recent years, smartphones have become a crucial tool for navigating the highly complex and risky process of international migration. Yet despite this widespread smartphone usage, there remain serious information gaps between those seeking to migrate and the providers of important ser… Read more

Launched by the Minister of Labour, Employment, and Social Security, Hon’ble Gokarna Bista, the third Labour Migration for Employment: A Status Report for Nepal report is part of continuous collaborative efforts between the Ministry and three development partners: The Asia Foundation, International Labor Organization, and International Organization… Read more

At Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan Airport, young men and women snake through the international terminal, waiting their turn to begin what could be the world’s longest commute to work. More than 1,500 people depart the country in this way every day, mostly bound for temporary jobs as construction workers, domestic servants, or low-skill laborers in the Gulf… Read more

The issue of human trafficking took center stage in the global development discourse with the release of the U.S. State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report on June 27, 2017. The report assesses the progress made by countries worldwide to combat human trafficking and grades them into three tier ratings. Nepal has once again been… Read more

Over the past decade, Nepal has seen a ten-fold increase in the number of migrant laborers leaving the country to work abroad, and the majority are youth. This phenomenon has led to the exodus of a significant proportion of the country’s working-age population, with the remittances that they send back home making up nearly a third of the country’s… Read more

Despite the continual rise in the number of people migrating for foreign employment and the growing body of research on Nepal’s remittance economy, there is a dearth of knowledge on the impact of foreign labour migration on the social and political dynamics at the local level. This study aims to fill that gap by seeking to understand the implicatio… Read more

On Monday, Cambodia celebrated a National Day Against Human Trafficking, drawing attention not only to the challenges the country faces, but also to the strides that it has made in combatting trafficking. Last year, Cambodia implemented the first national action plan against trafficking and in June, the U.S. State Department’s annual Trafficking in… Read more

Labor Migration for Employment A Status Report For Nepal: 2014/2015 is a publication by the Ministry of Labor and Employment of the Government of Nepal that was jointly supported by The Asia Foundation in Nepal’s USAID funded Combating Trafficking in Persons (CTIP) program, the International Migration Organization (IOM) and the International Labor… Read more

To help make the process of labor migration safer and more secure, Shuvayatra – a free mobile app – is placing the combined knowledge of experts, advocates, and the global Nepali diaspora in the hands of migrant workers.

Migrant workers from Myanmar fill a critical niche in Thailand’s multi-billion-dollar seafood industry. As Thais increasingly shy away from shrimp and seafood processing jobs that many consider “3D” work – dirty, dangerous, and difficult – migrants are stepping in to fill these positions.

To address child labor and labor conditions of migrant workers in Thailand’s shrimp and other seafood supply chains, the International Labour Organization and The Asia Foundation present the landmark study: Migrant and Child Labor in Thailand’s Shrimp and Other Seafood Supply Chains: Labor Conditions and the Decision to Study or Work. The study pro… Read more

As ASEAN countries have moved up the technology ladder and the demand for skills has grown, a labor gap has emerged that mirrors the gap between more- and less-developed nations. Higher-income countries such as Thailand, with falling birthrates and greying populations, are suffering from growing labor shortages in sectors such as healthcare and IT, while lower-income countries face burgeoning youth populations and high levels of graduate unemployment.

In 2013, the number of international migrants worldwide reached 232 million. Over the past decade, Nepal has experienced a surge in migration for foreign employment to destination countries. As more Nepali citizens aspire and depart for foreign jobs, regulators face new challenges in ensuring that the well-being and rights of migrant workers are sa… Read more

The U.S Government’s latest Trafficking In Persons (TIP) Report makes some critical observations in relation to how 187 countries are addressing human trafficking, and how this relates to the larger issues of labor migration and its manifestation into forced labor.