This report analyzes labor migration trends in Asia and puts them in the context of demographic and policy trends. It provides an overview of the population trends in different Asian countries and looks at policy settings in several sending and destination countries of labor migrants. It examines different approaches to effective labor migration management, including the imposition and regulation of fees and costs, and reviews the relevant policies in Asia and the Pacific. The report also looks forward to new approaches, examining the concept of skills mobility partnerships and how existing migration channels in Asia could be innovated using this concept.
The chapters reflect the discussions that took place at the “Ninth Roundtable on Labor Migration in Asia: Innovative Approaches for the Effective Management of Labor Migration in Asia,” held in Tokyo in February 2019. The event, co-organized by the Asian Development Bank Institute, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the International Labour Organization, brought together regional experts and policy makers.
The report provides the most up-to-date comparative statistics on labor migration flows in and from Asia. The introductory chapter reviews the recent regional trends and newly available data on the changes in the stock of Asian migrants, while two statistical annexes offer detailed country fact sheets and coverage of intra-Asia and cross-regional migration flows.
