ASEAN Labour Migration Database Technical Meeting

The ILO ASEAN TRIANGLE Project is developing a Labour Migration Statistics Database that will include the ten member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in recognition of the importance of collecting, analysing and sharing labour migration data and in the absence of any existing database relevant to labour migration issues.

The ILO ASEAN TRIANGLE Project is developing a Labour Migration Statistics Database that will include the ten member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in recognition of the importance of collecting, analysing and sharing labour migration data and in the absence of any existing database relevant to labour migration issues. Effective data collection, analysis and sharing are paramount to developing and reviewing labour migration policies and enhancing their effectiveness and coherence. The ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint (2009) calls for data sharing on matters related to migrant workers in both sending and receiving states.

The ILO ASEAN TRIANGLE Project has reviewed the previous work of the ILO and other international organizations, and conducted a survey of the ten ASEAN members exploring the available data they have on labour migration and the scope for collecting it. As a result, the ILO has elaborated a proposal outlining a set of indicators and a concise plan for a pilot data collection phase.

The Technical Meeting outlined here will seek to ensure that the pilot is as robust and comprehensive as possible, and to confirm that it aligns with the overall needs and interests of the stakeholders who will ultimately be using the data. It fits into the context of the following steps to be taken:
  1. Finalisation of the data collection questionnaire after an internal consultation with ILO Headquarters
  2. Circulation of the data collection questionnaire template to the ASEAN Secretariat and Member States;
  3. Technical Meeting with the ASEAN Secretariat and members to introduce, discuss and verify the data collection procedure and approve the final set of indicators to be collected
  4. Launch of the questionnaire (one week after the Technical Meeting)
  5. Data collection , followed by a launch of the ASEAN Labour Migration Statistics Database
Step 3 of this work will constitute the one-day ASEAN Labour Migration Database Technical Meeting, hosted by the ASEAN TRIANGLE Project in Bangkok, Thailand, on Monday 4th November 2013.