MIGRANT WORKER

A person who has migrated, generally from an underdeveloped area, and who is to be engaged, is engaged or has been engaged in a remunerated activity in a region or country of which he or she is not a national.

"The increased migration of workers from countries with labour surplus economies to countries with labour shortages has led to various forms of exploitation of migrant workers. In labour-receiving countries, it is often the case that recruitment and employment practices used to attract and maintain foreign workers effectively amount to situations of forced labour. For example, migrant workers are often recruited through brokers or agents, who require excessive recruitment fees from workers who must then work to pay off the debt. In extreme cases, the employer retains workers' passports and personal documents in order to prevent migrant workers from leaving."
(Fair Labor, 2002, visited 2006-08-13)

Worker migration is not a new phenomenon: women and men have been leaving their homelands in search of work elsewhere ever since payment in return for labour was introduced. Today, there are far more migrant workers than in any other period of human history. Millions of people now earning their living - or looking for paid employment - came as strangers to the countries where they now reside. There is no continent, or region of the world, which does not have its share of migrant workers.

A migrant worker is a worker who leaves his or her country of origin to seek employment in a different country, as opposed to a migratory worker, who does not leave his or her country of origin but moves within its borders.

Many factors push workers to migrate. Poverty and the inability to earn or produce enough to support a family are major reasons behind worker migration, but they are not the only reasons. War, civil strife, insecurity or persecution arising from discrimination on the grounds of race, ethnic origin, colour, religion, language or political opinion all contribute to the flow of migrant workers. It is important to note that these reasons do not apply solely to migration from poor to rich countries; they also fuel movements between developing countries.

Categories of Migrant Workers

The 1990 UN International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families broke new ground concerning migrant work. It identified the following categories of migrant workers:

1. Frontier workers: migrant workers who reside in a neighbouring country to which they return daily or at least once a week.
2. Seasonal workers: migrant workers whose work is dependent on seasonal conditions and is performed during part of the year only.
3. Seafarers: migrant workers employed on vessels registered in a country other than their own, including fishermen.
4. Offshore workers: migrant workers on offshore installations which are under the jurisdiction of a country other than their own.
5. Itinerant workers: migrant workers who, having their habitual residence in one country, have to travel to another country or countries for short periods, owing to the nature of their occupation.
6. Migrants employed for a specific project: migrant workers admitted to the country of employment for a defined period to work solely on a specific project being carried out in that country by their employer.
7. Specified-employment workers: migrant workers who have been sent by their employer for a restricted and defined period of time to the country of employment to undertake a specific assignment or duty; or who engage for a restricted and defined period of time in work that requires professional, commercial, technical or other highly specialized skills; or who, upon the request of their employer in the country of employment, engage for a restricted and defined period of time in work whose nature is transitory or brief; and who are required to depart from the country of employment either at the expiration of their authorized period of stay, or earlier if they no longer undertake that specific assignment or duty or engage in that work.
8. Self-employed workers: migrant workers who are engaged in a remunerated activity other than under a contract of employment and who earn their living through this activity, normally working alone or together with members of their family, and any other migrant worker recognized as self-employed by applicable legislation in the country of employment or in bilateral or multilateral agreements.

(adapted from the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, visited 2011-05-13)

All these sub-categories of migrant workers can then be separated into three main categories:

1. Resident migrants: legal immigrants, admitted for permanent settlement under statutory quotas and preferences.
2. Temporary migrants: qualified persons admitted for specific periods such as doctors and scientists.
3. Illegal migrants: immigrants who enter the country of adoption illegally.

(adapted from R., Harold S., Roberts' Dictionary of Industrial Relations, Washington, D.C.: Bureau of National Affairs, 1994)

"The profile of migrant workers recruited under temporary migration systems has changed. While in the past, most temporary migration flows consisted of semi-skilled workers, current immigration policies tend to focus on highly skilled migrants. However, seasonal workers, primarily recruited for agricultural work, continue to constitute an exception to this rule. Another aspect which should be taken into consideration is the flexibility that characterizes today's labour market and that affects all workers, including migrant workers. Temporary migrant workers who, by definition, occupy precarious positions, frequently change from one job to another and from one category to another, such as self-employment, contract work and salaried work."
(Vittin-Balima, C., Migrant Workers: The ILO Standards, International Labour Organization (ILO), visited 2011-05-12)

Number of Migrant Workers

"According to the ILO, there are approximately 60 to 65 million migrant workers engaged in a remunerated activity outside their country of origin. […] Migration [has] reached new proportions and now represents an estimated 3 per cent of the world population. Nearly all countries [are] concerned with international migration, whether as a country of origin, transit or destination, or as a combination of those."
(United Nations (UN), States Parties to Convention Protecting Migrant Workers, Press Release, 2003, visited 2011-05-12)