Number of global migrant workers increased by 5 million from 2017-2019

High unemployment in developing countries pushes young workers abroad

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  Aid work is back to the emergency priority of keeping people fed. Care4Calais

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  A child migrant gets water at one of the camps of Calais and Dunkirk, northern France. Care4Calais

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  Social distancing is not always possible in the camps. Care4Calais

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  Care4Calais has fewer volunteers working. Care4Calais

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  There has been few government services during the French lockdown. Care4Calais

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  Forty percent of migrants at the sites have been there less than three months. Care4Calais

International migrant workers account for nearly five per cent of the labour force around the world, a UN agency has said.

Latest estimates from the International Labour Organisation show numbers rose from 164 million in 2017 to 169 million in 2019, comprising 99 million men and 70 million women.

The ILO found that while 86.5 per cent of migrant workers are “prime-age adults” aged 25 to 64, 10 per cent – or 16.8 million – were aged 15-24 in 2019, an increase of 1.7 per cent in the two-year period. Experts said this was because of a lack of job opportunities for 15-24 year olds in developing countries, as well as a rising world population.

“This trend is certainly related to the very high youth unemployment in many developing countries,” said Manuela Tomei, head of the ILO’s Conditions of Work and Equality Department.

“From the perspective of destination countries, the compositional shift towards younger workers is likely to be positive; increasing the likelihood of a higher participation rate and lower dependency ratio among migrant populations,” the report says.

“For origin countries, however, the effect would be reversed, and would be particularly challenging if youth workers move permanently to foreign countries, which could result in a shrinking labour force, brain drain and resulting impacts on economic growth and development prospective.”

Although the statistics relate to the pre-pandemic era, the ILO said the often precarious nature of migrants' employment meant they were likely to be hit harder by the economic effects of Covid-19.

Ms Tomei said early indications suggested there may have been a decline in the number of migrant workers. Some may have returned to their country of origin, she said.

“The pandemic has exposed the precariousness of their situation. Migrant workers are often first to be laid off, they experience difficulties in accessing treatment and they are often excluded from national Covid-19 policy responses,” Ms Tomei said.

More than two thirds of workers are in high-income countries, the ILO said.

The report gave warning that the effects "on women migrant workers appear to have intensified already existing vulnerabilities, as they are over-represented in low-paid and low-skilled jobs and have limited access to and fewer options for support services”.