ILO, OECD launch report on immigrants’ contribution to developing countries

Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and productivity and Guy Ryder, Director-General, International Labour Oganisation (ILO)

The Development Centre of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) will hold a joint conference and launch a new report on immigrants’ contribution to developing countries’ economies.

The report is a result of their four-year (2014-2018) joint project on Assessing the Economic Contribution of Labour Migration in Developing Countries as Countries of Destination conducted with financial support from the European Union.

The project and the report cover ten partner countries: Argentina, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, the Dominican Republic, Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Rwanda, South Africa and Thailand.

Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, the report examines empirically how immigrants affect key dimensions of the countries’ economies including: the labour market in terms of labour force and human capital, economic growth and public finance.

It provides analysis on the political and historical context of immigration in the ten counties and delivers recommendations on ways to enhance the contribution of immigration in different contexts through appropriate policy responses.

The event will provide participants with the opportunity to discuss the main findings and policy recommendations of the project.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, acknowledges the positive contribution that migrants make to inclusive growth and sustainable development, and the international community currently discusses a global compact on safe, orderly and regular migration.

In this context, the launch event will also serve as a platform to share knowledge and insights on relevant policies and practices to enhance the contribution of labour migration to host countries’ development.

The conference, on the other hand, will convene high-level policy makers from the ten project partner countries as well as representatives from other countries, migration and development experts including academia, civil society and international organisations.