What We Know: Regulating the Recruitment of Migrant Workers What We Know About Regulating the Recruitment of Migrant Workers Dovelyn Rannveig Agunias 2013 • communications@migrationpolicy.org The recruitment marketplace does not exist in a vacuum Key concepts immigrants • recruitment marketplace • private recruitment • migrants • regulations • Bangladeshi takas • employers • recruitment • exploitation • small- and medium-sized business • international migration • migrant workers • employees • Memorandum of Understanding • recruitment irregularities • predeparture • core set • migration policy institute Abstract • Private recruitment agencies orchestrate much of the migration process, from predeparture to return. They provide information, assistance, and even financial support (if migrants need help with up-front costs for documentation or smuggling); facilitate transit to and from the destination; and in some cases employ migrants directly. Agencies have also been known to advocate for migrant workers, by removing them from abusive workplaces or even organizing repatriation. But migrants’ Scholarcy highlights • Introduction vulnerable to abuse and exploitation Governments no longer face the question Even with the advance of globalization, of whether they should intervene in significant barriers to mobility remain. the private recruitment marketplace, Businesses are searching for more but instead must determine how they flexible and mobile staff, while workers can do so most effectively • The recruitment marketplace does not exist in a vacuum • Policymakers in the Philippines fear that in that directly control recruitment practices, an overcrowded market, some recruitment governments at both origin and destination agencies will not make enough profits and, should introduce parallel measures instead of closing shop, will recoup their that contribute to a beneficial recruitment losses by cutting corners and breaking the environment • Indirect polices aimed at rules (i.e., charging exorbitant recruitment granting a core set of rights to migrant workers; forging meaningful cooperation between origin and destination countries; and enlarging the role for employers, civil society, and migrants themselves in policymaking and implementation will have direct, positive and lasting impact on recruiters’ operations • Recruiters play an important, positive role that rests on their ability to provide migrants with a wider range of choices than they can access without assistance • In this exchange, migrants’ bargaining position is low, which often leads to fraud and abuse Scholarcy summary • Introduction vulnerable to abuse and exploitation Governments no longer face the question Even with the advance of globalization, of whether they should intervene in significant barriers to mobility remain. the private recruitment marketplace, Businesses are searching for more but instead must determine how they flexible and mobile staff, while workers can do so most effectively. • These regulations often frame migrants’ relationships with recruiters and employers, but the relations among agencies, especially between agents at the origin and destination, shape migrants’ experiences. • Though many origin countries have set limits on how much recruitment agencies can charge migrant workers, field studies suggest • Field where recruiters not studies show that low-skilled migrants, only compete against each other but with in general, pay more in placement fees recruiters in countries without regulation relative to their prospective income. • The appropriate fees agencies recognizes the main source or recruitment can legitimately charge migrants remain a irregularities in the migrant labor market is contentious issue. • The recruitment agent is acting as the for international moves, migrants will gatekeeper and is capable of using this pay high fees not because recruiters have market power, but because of job rationing by the countries of destination. • The Philippine in the migrant labor market regulatory system was created primarily has important policy implications, to deter what Filipino policymakers especially in countries with parallel, dual characterized as cut-throat competition labor markets — one for native workers among recruitment agencies. • Information campaigns alone a few, and can afford to lower will rarely solve the problem of recruitment their placement fees because their fixed abuse in highly competitive labor markets. • Indirect polices aimed at rules (i.e., charging exorbitant recruitment granting a core set of rights to migrant workers; forging meaningful cooperation between origin and destination countries; and enlarging the role for employers, civil society, and migrants themselves in policymaking and implementation will have direct, positive and lasting impact on recruiters’ operations. • Some of the good practices identified in recent years, such as the recruitment of seasonal agricultural workers from Pacific Island countries to New Zealand, and the deployment of factory workers to South Korea from elsewhere in Asia, include innovations that simplify the rules at origin and destination and address inconsistencies in critical areas such as allowable fees, standard employment contracts, minimum wages, and level of recruitment-agency liability for workers. • The types of fees that can with the government government efforts be legitimately charged regulator enhances the to control recruiters from employers and institution’s credibility will not alone workers alike, both before and lends legitimacy to eliminate the abuse departure and once the its rulings. • A less-direct, yet crucial component in controlling the recruitment process is granting migrants equal treatment and the same basic rights as native workers Main text Introduction • Introduction vulnerable to abuse and exploitation Governments no longer face the question Even with the advance of globalization, of whether they should intervene in significant barriers to mobility remain. the private recruitment marketplace, Businesses are now searching for more but instead must determine how they flexible and mobile staff, while workers can do so most effectively. What is the are eager to move across national borders. most effective vehicle for government Within this global labor market, private intervention on recruiters’ operations? recruitment agencies fulfill an important Is there a tradeoff between the level of role — bridging the gap between regulation of private recruiters and their employers or sponsors and prospective efficiency in “clearing” labor markets? migrants. Agencies guide What is the nature Agencies guide migrants through the of the relationship migrants through the shoals of immigration among recruiters at shoals of immigration policies, match them with origin, transit, and policies, match them employers, and provide destination; and how with employers, and information about living can governments provide information and working conditions regulate entities over about living and in distant locations. While which they have no working conditions. many of these services sovereign authority? Conclusion • Private recruitment agencies orchestrate much of the migration process, from predeparture to return. They provide information, assistance, and even financial support (if migrants need help with up-front costs for documentation or smuggling); facilitate transit to and from the destination; and in some cases employ migrants directly. Agencies have also been known to advocate for migrant workers, by removing them from abusive workplaces or even organizing repatriation. But migrants’ dependence on private agencies for so many services — in a cut-throat market that crosses multiple jurisdictions — also creates many opportunities for exploitation and abuse. Fees, and the debts they produce, are at the heart of many of these irregularities. Some migrants are overcharged at the point of service; others are encouraged to take out loans that later escalate. Debts can tie workers to exploitative employers if returning home would incur a “deployment cost” that they can ill afford. • Beyond — an important consideration for many developing-country governments whose Recruitment Policies institutional capacity may be severely constrained. The recruitment marketplace does not exist in a vacuum. Beyond instituting policies Policymakers in the Philippines fear that in that directly control recruitment practices, an overcrowded market, some recruitment governments at both origin and destination agencies will not make enough profits and, should also introduce parallel measures instead of closing shop, will recoup their that contribute to a beneficial recruitment losses by cutting corners and breaking the environment. Indirect polices aimed at rules (i.e., charging exorbitant recruitment granting a core set of rights to migrant workers; forging meaningful cooperation between origin and destination countries; and enlarging the role for employers, civil society, and migrants themselves in policymaking and implementation will have direct, positive and lasting impact on recruiters’ operations. Granting a Core Set of Rights to Migrant Workers It is important to empower labor migrants and give them the needed negotiating leverage in an otherwise unequal employment relationship. As already noted, recruiters play an important, positive role that rests on their ability to provide migrants with a wider range of choices than they can access without assistance. Typically, in this exchange, migrants’ bargaining position is low, which often leads to fraud and abuse. Indeed, a less-direct, yet crucial component in controlling the recruitment process is granting migrants equal treatment and the same basic rights as native workers. Funding • This policy brief series is supported by the Government of Sweden, Chair-in-Office of the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) Data and code • Information for reproducing excerpts from this report can be found at www.migrationpolicy.org/about/copy.php
