Integrating Migrant Workers in Labour Market Participation Analysis
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Date
2023-07-11
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Abstract
This study was conducted with two main objectives: a) to identify the gaps in migration related information to integrate migrant workers into standard labour market analysis; 2) to estimate how including migrant workers in the analysis will affect the estimates of labour force participation of females. The study finds that while worker migration contributes in many ways to the Sri Lankan economy, at present the country does not collect all information needed to integrate migrant workers into labour market analysis. The study also shows that at present surveys do not collect important information on migrant workers such as remittance information, skill levels of migrant workers, and information on returnee migrants. Such information is vital to design policies to obtain maximum benefits from migration and to reintegrate returnee workers to the
country. This study reviews survey instruments of three other high‐migration countries ‐‐ Macedonia, Moldova, and the Philippines – to identify best practices in collecting migration related data. The study provides recommendations to strengthen data gaps on migrant workers using both the review of data sources within Sri Lanka and the experience of earlier mentioned three countries.
Re‐estimating labour market indicators integrating migrant workers, with proxy estimates for missing data, shows that labour force participation rates of the population only marginally change when migrant workers are included.
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Migrant workers; Female labour force participation; Sri Lanka