Labor Migration in Asia: Impacts of the COVID-19 Crisis and the Post-Pandemic Future

This report by the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the International Labour Organization (ILO) analyzes labor migration trends in Asia and puts them in the context of economic and policy developments and the changes wrought by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. It examines the policy settings in the major origin and destination countries of labor migrants and the medium- and long-term factors that will shape the future of labor migration in Asia. It further provides recommendations for building back better in a post-pandemic world.

The report offers up-to-date comparative statistics on labor migration, including evidence of the impacts of COVID-19 on labor migration flows and remittances. Two statistical annexes offer detailed country fact sheets and coverage of intra-Asia and cross-regional migration flows. The report also includes discussions on the future of labor migration in the aftermath of the pandemic and the role of technology and digitalization on labor mobility and its management.

This analysis partly draws on discussions that took place at the 10th ADBI-OECD-ILO Roundtable on Labor Migration: Future of Labor Migration in Asia: Challenges and Opportunities in the Next Decade, held in Bangkok, Thailand in February 2020, an annual event co-organized by ADBI, the OECD, and the ILO that brings together regional experts and policy makers. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the publication focuses on the pandemic's impacts on labor mobility.