The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that there are a total of 164 million migrant workers worldwide, a report released by the organisation said on Dec. 5.
According to ILO’s Global Estimates on International Migrant Workers report, which covers the period between 2013 and 2017, the majority of migrant workers – 96 million – are male, while 68 million are female. This represents an increase in the share of men among migrant workers, from 56 percent to 58, and a decrease of two points in women’s share, from 44 per cent to 42.
“While growing numbers of women have been migrating autonomously in search of employment in the past two decades, the discrimination they often face because of their gender and nationality reduces their employment opportunities in destination countries compared to their male peers,” said Manuela Tomei, Director of the ILO Conditions of Work and Equality Department.
The report provides a comprehensive picture of the subregions and income groups in which migrants are working.
Nearly 61 per cent of migrant workers are found in three subregions; 23 per cent in North America, 23.9 per cent in Northern, Southern and Western Europe and 13.9 per cent in the Arab countries.
Other regions that host large numbers of migrant workers – above 5 per cent – include Eastern Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, South-Eastern Asia and the Pacific, and Central and Western Asia. In contrast, Northern
Africa hosts less than 1 per cent of migrant workers.
With the increase in the number of migrant workers, the labour policies on migrant workers should be regulated as a priority, the ILO said.
“International labour migration is a rising policy priority and there is a need to respond equitably to the interests of countries of origin and countries of destination, as well as to the interests of migrant workers,” said Rafael Diez de Medina, Chief Statistician and Director of the ILO Department of Statistics.
Turkey takes place in the report in the "lower-middle-income" group as a country hosting approximately 4.3 million migrants, according to the data given by the government.
Last year, Turkey granted over 87,000 work permits to migrants and foreign nationals, according to data from the country’s Labor and Social Security Ministry compiled by state-run Anadolu Agency. But, there are thousands of illegal migrant workers in the country, working with low-wages and poor working conditions. A significant number of those migrant workers are children. 29 migrant children lost their lives during work in the first five months of 2018, according to Health and Safety Labour Watch Turkey (ISIG).
There are about one million illegal Syrian labourers in Turkey, and 20 percent of them are children, according to a report released by the main opposition Republican People's Party in November.
SOURCE: Ahval
