Migrant Workers â an Overview
Migrant Workers – an Overview - Global workforce migration - Migrant workers in the USA AOHC Denver 2017
Norbert L. Wagner MD PhD FACOEM Associate Professor Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health National University of Singapore [email protected]
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Matthew Kiefer MD MPH Director, Employee Occupational Health VA Puget Sound. Professor Medicine and Public Health University of Washington [email protected]
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Some Clarifications … Immigrant
Migrant workers
“Unauthorized” workers
• Comes from another country • Plans to stay, live and work in the new country • Has legal status
• Come to the new country temporarily • often migrate with the seasons • go back to the original country after season is over • Can be legal or illegal
• Comes to the new country to work • Does not have a work visa • often • goes back to the original country after season is over
Foreign born workers (approx. 20 mill in US) Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Migrant Labor is a worldwide phenomenon
• 150.3 million migrant workers worldwide • Around 25% of all migrant workers globally work in the USA • Of these, 11.5 million are migrant domestic workers (7%)
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Migrant Workforce • 150.3 million migrant workers in the world. • Of these, 11.5 million are migrant domestic workers (7%) • Migrants form 3.9 per cent of the total global population (aged >15 years) • Out of 232 mill migrants worldwide, 10% are below 15 yrs of age • Out of all migrant workers worldwide, 45% are female
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Remittances from foreign workers incl. migrants are an important source of income for many countries • Nepal, remittances are nearly double the country’s revenues from exports of goods and services • Sri Lanka and the Philippines, they are over 50 per cent and 38 percent, respectively. • India, remittances during 2013 were $70 billion, more than the $65 billion earned from the country’s flagship software services exports. • Uganda, remittances are double the country’s income from its main export of coffee “There is no doubt that these flows act as an antidote to poverty and promote prosperity. Remittances and migration data are also barometers of global peace and turmoil” Kaushik Basu, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank
PRESS RELEASE World Bank. Remittances to developing countries to stay robust this year, despite increased deportations of migrant workers, says WB. April 11, 2014, at http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2014/04/11/remittances-developing-countries-deportations-migrantworkers-wb
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Remittances to Mexico and other Latin-American Countries Mexico Remittances Banco de Mexico
In Dec 2016, around $2.3 bill USD were sent back to Mexico (approx. 2% of GDP) with 95% coming from the USA.
The totals are approx.: • 18% for El Salvador, • 21% for Honduras, • 30% for Haiti
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/mexico/gdp
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Migrant Workers in the USA: Agriculture and Construction Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Unauthorized workers form a major part of the workforce but most are not migrant workers Most are in the country for many years and often decades
http://www.pewhispanic.org/2015/03/26/share-of-unauthorizedimmigrant-workers-in-production-construction-jobs-falls-since-2007/
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Social And Working Conditions in Agriculture Social Status • Illegal status: 53% had work authorization • Low wages: Incomes the previous year were in the range of $15,000 to $17, 500/year • Lack of health insurance coverage: Only 35% of farmworkers reported that they had health insurance • Poor living conditions Working Conditions: • Agriculture remains one of the most hazardous occupations in the US: • Fatality rate for agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting dropped to 23.2/100,000 (2013) compared to 3.3/100,000 in the overall industry • Other exposures: pesticides, UV radiation, heat, poor ergonomic conditions General Health • Poor health conditions: higher rates of TB, skin diseases, Diabetes, skin diseases, low vaccination rates Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) 2013-2014 - A Demographic and Employment Profile of United States Farmworkers, US Dept of Labor https://www.doleta.gov/agworker/pdf/N AWS_Research_Report_12_Final_508 _Compliant.pdf Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) - Current and Revised Data. Bureau of Labor Statistics; 2013. http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfoi1.htm.
Fatal Injuries in the US 2015 Construction: highest number Agriculture: highest rate
https://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/cfc h0014.pdf
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Limited Access to Health Care: Farmworkers with Health Insurance in the US “Unauthorized” and migrant workers in agriculture are the most vulnerable group with the lowest access to health care in the US
National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) 2013-2014 - A Demographic and Employment Profile of United States Farmworkers, US Dept of Labor https://www.doleta.gov/agworker/pdf/NAWS_Research_Report _12_Final_508_Compliant.pdf
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Migrants contribute to national economies worldwide
Migration Policy Debates © OECD May 2014 http://www.oecd.org/migration/O ECD%20Migration%20Policy%2 0Debates%20Numero%202.pdf
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Example of a hidden workforce
Foreign Domestic Workers
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Foreign Domestic Workers in the US
• Constitute only 2% of all migrant workers in the USA • But, migrant (not necessarily illegal) domestic workers form 70% of all domestic workers in the US are
http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/--dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_436343.pdf
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Most migrant domestic workers are women • 67.1 million domestic workers in the world, of whom 11.5 million (17%) are international migrants • About 73.4 per cent (or around 8.5 million) of all migrant domestic workers are women. • South-Eastern Asia and the Pacific hosts the largest share, with 24.0 per cent of the world’s female migrant domestic workers, followed by Northern, Southern and Western Europe, with 22.1 per cent of the total, and the Arab States with 19.0%.
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Factors for Health at Work
What are major Health & Safety Issues of Foreign Domestic Workers? Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
ILO Campaign: “Towards decent work for domestic workers” – a global legal country survey Worldwide, women domestic workers … • In their majority do not enjoy the same protection commonly enjoyed by other wage workers • 42.5% are not entitled to a minimum wage • 56.6% have no statutory limitation of normal weekly work hours • 44.8% are not entitled to weekly rest • 35.9% have no entitlement to maternity leave • 39.6% are not entitled to maternity cash benefits
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Common Health & Safety Issues of Foreign Domestic Workers Social • Away from home, homesickness, social isolation • Sometimes illegal or informal employment • Intimate live-in situation, potential for abuse, violence • Discrimination on the basis of gender, race, class, caste as well as nationality Legal • Poor protection from law, sometimes abuse by law enforcement • Confiscation of passports and travel papers Working • Low wages, delay or no-payment of wages • Hard work, long work, often not enough rest • Extensive contact to cleaning chemicals with skin diseases and musculoskeletal disorders • Mental health problems, suicide Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD). The Right to Unite: A Handbook on Domestic Worker Rights across Asia. 2010 at http://apwld.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/The-Right-to-Unite1.pdf and International Labour Conference, 99th Session, 2010. Report IV(1). Decent work for domestic workers. Fourth item on the agenda. Geneva at http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@ed_norm/@relconf/documents/meetingdocument/wcms_104700.pdf Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Thank you!
Dr. WAGNER Norbert L. Associate Professor Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health National University of Singapore [email protected]
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Norbert L. Wagner MD PhD FACOEM Associate Professor Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health National University of Singapore [email protected]
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Matthew Kiefer MD MPH Director, Employee Occupational Health VA Puget Sound. Professor Medicine and Public Health University of Washington [email protected]
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Some Clarifications … Immigrant
Migrant workers
“Unauthorized” workers
• Comes from another country • Plans to stay, live and work in the new country • Has legal status
• Come to the new country temporarily • often migrate with the seasons • go back to the original country after season is over • Can be legal or illegal
• Comes to the new country to work • Does not have a work visa • often • goes back to the original country after season is over
Foreign born workers (approx. 20 mill in US) Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Migrant Labor is a worldwide phenomenon
• 150.3 million migrant workers worldwide • Around 25% of all migrant workers globally work in the USA • Of these, 11.5 million are migrant domestic workers (7%)
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Migrant Workforce • 150.3 million migrant workers in the world. • Of these, 11.5 million are migrant domestic workers (7%) • Migrants form 3.9 per cent of the total global population (aged >15 years) • Out of 232 mill migrants worldwide, 10% are below 15 yrs of age • Out of all migrant workers worldwide, 45% are female
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Remittances from foreign workers incl. migrants are an important source of income for many countries • Nepal, remittances are nearly double the country’s revenues from exports of goods and services • Sri Lanka and the Philippines, they are over 50 per cent and 38 percent, respectively. • India, remittances during 2013 were $70 billion, more than the $65 billion earned from the country’s flagship software services exports. • Uganda, remittances are double the country’s income from its main export of coffee “There is no doubt that these flows act as an antidote to poverty and promote prosperity. Remittances and migration data are also barometers of global peace and turmoil” Kaushik Basu, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank
PRESS RELEASE World Bank. Remittances to developing countries to stay robust this year, despite increased deportations of migrant workers, says WB. April 11, 2014, at http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2014/04/11/remittances-developing-countries-deportations-migrantworkers-wb
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Remittances to Mexico and other Latin-American Countries Mexico Remittances Banco de Mexico
In Dec 2016, around $2.3 bill USD were sent back to Mexico (approx. 2% of GDP) with 95% coming from the USA.
The totals are approx.: • 18% for El Salvador, • 21% for Honduras, • 30% for Haiti
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/mexico/gdp
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Migrant Workers in the USA: Agriculture and Construction Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Unauthorized workers form a major part of the workforce but most are not migrant workers Most are in the country for many years and often decades
http://www.pewhispanic.org/2015/03/26/share-of-unauthorizedimmigrant-workers-in-production-construction-jobs-falls-since-2007/
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Social And Working Conditions in Agriculture Social Status • Illegal status: 53% had work authorization • Low wages: Incomes the previous year were in the range of $15,000 to $17, 500/year • Lack of health insurance coverage: Only 35% of farmworkers reported that they had health insurance • Poor living conditions Working Conditions: • Agriculture remains one of the most hazardous occupations in the US: • Fatality rate for agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting dropped to 23.2/100,000 (2013) compared to 3.3/100,000 in the overall industry • Other exposures: pesticides, UV radiation, heat, poor ergonomic conditions General Health • Poor health conditions: higher rates of TB, skin diseases, Diabetes, skin diseases, low vaccination rates Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) 2013-2014 - A Demographic and Employment Profile of United States Farmworkers, US Dept of Labor https://www.doleta.gov/agworker/pdf/N AWS_Research_Report_12_Final_508 _Compliant.pdf Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) - Current and Revised Data. Bureau of Labor Statistics; 2013. http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfoi1.htm.
Fatal Injuries in the US 2015 Construction: highest number Agriculture: highest rate
https://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/cfc h0014.pdf
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Limited Access to Health Care: Farmworkers with Health Insurance in the US “Unauthorized” and migrant workers in agriculture are the most vulnerable group with the lowest access to health care in the US
National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) 2013-2014 - A Demographic and Employment Profile of United States Farmworkers, US Dept of Labor https://www.doleta.gov/agworker/pdf/NAWS_Research_Report _12_Final_508_Compliant.pdf
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Migrants contribute to national economies worldwide
Migration Policy Debates © OECD May 2014 http://www.oecd.org/migration/O ECD%20Migration%20Policy%2 0Debates%20Numero%202.pdf
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Example of a hidden workforce
Foreign Domestic Workers
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Foreign Domestic Workers in the US
• Constitute only 2% of all migrant workers in the USA • But, migrant (not necessarily illegal) domestic workers form 70% of all domestic workers in the US are
http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/--dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_436343.pdf
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Most migrant domestic workers are women • 67.1 million domestic workers in the world, of whom 11.5 million (17%) are international migrants • About 73.4 per cent (or around 8.5 million) of all migrant domestic workers are women. • South-Eastern Asia and the Pacific hosts the largest share, with 24.0 per cent of the world’s female migrant domestic workers, followed by Northern, Southern and Western Europe, with 22.1 per cent of the total, and the Arab States with 19.0%.
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Factors for Health at Work
What are major Health & Safety Issues of Foreign Domestic Workers? Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
ILO Campaign: “Towards decent work for domestic workers” – a global legal country survey Worldwide, women domestic workers … • In their majority do not enjoy the same protection commonly enjoyed by other wage workers • 42.5% are not entitled to a minimum wage • 56.6% have no statutory limitation of normal weekly work hours • 44.8% are not entitled to weekly rest • 35.9% have no entitlement to maternity leave • 39.6% are not entitled to maternity cash benefits
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Common Health & Safety Issues of Foreign Domestic Workers Social • Away from home, homesickness, social isolation • Sometimes illegal or informal employment • Intimate live-in situation, potential for abuse, violence • Discrimination on the basis of gender, race, class, caste as well as nationality Legal • Poor protection from law, sometimes abuse by law enforcement • Confiscation of passports and travel papers Working • Low wages, delay or no-payment of wages • Hard work, long work, often not enough rest • Extensive contact to cleaning chemicals with skin diseases and musculoskeletal disorders • Mental health problems, suicide Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD). The Right to Unite: A Handbook on Domestic Worker Rights across Asia. 2010 at http://apwld.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/The-Right-to-Unite1.pdf and International Labour Conference, 99th Session, 2010. Report IV(1). Decent work for domestic workers. Fourth item on the agenda. Geneva at http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@ed_norm/@relconf/documents/meetingdocument/wcms_104700.pdf Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
Thank you!
Dr. WAGNER Norbert L. Associate Professor Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health National University of Singapore [email protected]
Turning Discovery into Healthier Communities
