Indicator 10.7.1 Recruitment cost borne by employee as a proportion of monthly income earned in country of destination

Indicator 10.7.1: Recruitment cost borne by employee as a proportion of monthly income earned in country of destination

Target 10.7: Facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies

International Labour Organization (ILO) and World Bank (WB)

Definitions:

SDG indicator 10.7.1 is defined as: “Recruitment cost borne by employee [migrants] as a proportion of monthly income earned in country of destination”, i.e. a ratio between a cost measure and an income measure. The statistics used for the numerators and denominators for indicator 10.7.1 should be based on costs and earnings observed for the same individual international migrant worker.

Concepts:

Target population: International migrant workers who, in a recent past period, changed their country of usual residence in order to work as wage or salary earners in another country, whether they were engaged through formal or through ‘informal’ recruitment processes. From a country of destination perspective, the target population are immigrant workers, whereas from a country of origin perspective, the target population may refer to emigrant workers and/or to returned international migrant workers.

. Excluded are migrant workers who moved to a foreign country for self-employment purposes, short-term migrant workers who (are/were) employed in a foreign country for such short-periods that they (do/did) not change their usual residence (often taken as residence in a country for at least 12 months). Also excluded are persons who migrated to a destination country with intentions other than employment such as for leisure, tourism, family union, education and the like, even if they end up working in the foreign country at a later date, as they are not likely to incur recruitment costs since their primary motive for the move was not work related. However, employed persons who moved to a destination country with employment intentions but without work visas are covered.

Reference period: the statistics/estimates on costs and earnings used to calculate 10.7.1 should refer to the first job obtained in the last country of destination, within a recent past period (e.g. 3 years prior to the date of measurement).

Costs: Recruitment costs refer to any fees or costs incurred in the recruitment process in order for workers to secure employment or placement, regardless of the manner, timing or location of their imposition or collection. These are equal to the total amount that migrant workers and/or their families paid to find, qualify for, and secure a concrete job offer from a foreign employer and to reach the place of employment for the first job abroad. Recommended costs items are indicated in Paragraphs 22 to 24 of the draft Guidelines on statistics for SDG indicator 10.7.1.

Earnings: The measure of earnings for the calculation of recruitment costs should be the monthly earnings in the first job held in the last destination country within the established recent past period. Monthly earnings should cover the gross income received or accrued for the first full month of employment within the reference period, including bonuses and other earnings (e.g. for over-time work). Adjustments should be made for any deductions for destination country taxes and social security contributions, as well as for any deductions in wages made to recover any recruitment costs initially paid by the employer.

Number of months of earnings

The recruitment cost indicator is a ratio between a cost measure and an income measure. It may be viewed as a duration expressed in number of months of earnings; i.e. the duration in terms of months of earnings that it takes for an international migrant employee to recover the cost of his or her recruitment.

Statistics on SDG indicator 10.7.1 should be collected primarily by using existing data collection systems, particularly household-based surveys. This will ensure coherence with existing national sources, methodologies and sampling frames, including types of interviews, field organization, etc. It will also contribute to the long-term sustainability of data collection on this topic.

A large-scale national household survey strategy has two advantages: a) a survey of this type may already have been well established in the country of origin as well as in host countries; and b) this type of survey may already collect some of the relevant information from the members of the household (even from absent members in the country of origin).

The most appropriate surveys to include measurement of SDG 10.7.1 include household-based surveys designed to capture the target population, such as a dedicated migration survey, if these exist in the country, as well as national large-scale household surveys covering closely related topics, particularly employment and/or earnings (such as a labour force survey, household income and expenditure survey, or multi-purpose surveys that include questions on employment and migration). Data collected through household surveys could be complemented with establishment surveys for destination countries, and administrative records. In cases where such data are not available, as a last recourse, shorter traveller surveys of migrant workers at ports of departure/entry may be considered.

The statistics collected for this indicator should be recognized at the national level as official statistics by the proper authorities in the country producing them, e.g. the National Statistical Office (NSO), the Ministry of Labour (MoL), or other official agency within the system for national official statistics. The NSO, MoL or other official agency should be the counterpart for the collection of statistics on SDG 10.7.1.

The proposed Guidelines have recommended using one month of earnings as the denominator, and to express the indicator as the proportion of monthly earnings paid by the migrant worker to obtain the job abroad. The Guidelines recognize as most relevant for calculation of recruitment costs the earnings of the first job held in the last or most recent country of destination. However monthly earnings of migrant workers may vary considerably for each month worked, particularly if migrant workers often change their job during their first 12 months abroad. Accordingly, the Guidelines recommend using the actual income received for the first month of employment, including bonuses and other earnings (e.g. for over-time work).

Recall may be an issue if the first job abroad was undertaken many years ago. The Guidelines suggests that when developing the data collection system, the focus should be on international migrant workers or international return migrant workers who started their first job in their last or most recent country of destination within a recent past period (e.g. in the last 3 years prior to the date of measurement).

RCI = Proportion of recruitment costs in the monthly employment earnings, is a ratio

Calculation:

$RCI=f(Ck/Ek)$

Where

f may take on various functions’ forms, such as: mean, median and 4th quintile

C_k = is the recruitment costs paid by individual migrant worker k;

E_k = is the monthly earnings of the same migrant worker k.

2024-08-02

International Labour Organization (ILO) and World Bank (WB)

Applies to all series

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