2023 Technical Meeting of Focal Points on International Labour Migration Statistics in ASEAN

Background and Rationale

The International Labour Migration Statistics (ILMS) Database in ASEAN has been published annually since December 2014 as a special collection on the ILO’s central database, ILOSTAT, as well as through the AP-Migration web-portal. In validating, annotating and gathering together the information from the relevant surveys and administrative records produced in ASEAN Member States, ILMS Database in ASEAN fills an important knowledge gap for national and regional policy-makers and for the broader research community. The 2022 round of data collection for the ILMS Database in ASEAN was successfully completed earlier this year, and data has been published on the ILOSTAT portal.

The ILMS database was initially created in 1998 by ILOSTAT, EUROSTAT, UNSD and UNECE, and regularly updated to include data from 94 countries until 2006. The ILO’s ASEAN TRIANGLE reinvigorated the ILMS database for ASEAN in 2012 and has since then continuously highlighted the strategic importance of labour migration statistics in the region and beyond. In July 2018, ILO Statistical Department’s (STATISTICS) decided to restart collection of ILMS at global level. Reinvigoration of the ILMS database at global level has been important both for SDG monitoring, national planning, and global evidence base on labour migration. The 2023 round of ILMS collection will be launched by ILOSTAT in September 2023. Statistics from official sources, including labour force surveys, censuses and administrative datasets, are collected on International Labour Migration Questionnaires (ILMQ) on the ILOSTAT STaRS platform.

Collection of International Labour Migration Statistics (ILMS) data in ASEAN is done annually together with a network of focal points in national institutions in ASEAN Member States. This network of focal points was established in 2013, and has since met nearly annually. The “2023 Technical Meeting of Focal Points on ILMS in ASEAN” will be the ninth such convening. The meeting will take place on 25 and 26 September 2023 as an online meeting, with Thailand-based participants joining in-person in Bangkok.

Objectives

The overall objectives of the Meeting are to:

• Share global and regional updates on collection of labour migration statistics,
• Introduce new methodologies for global estimates of international migrants,
• Review the current status of the ILMS database in ASEAN,
• Assess lessons learned from the 2022 round of ILM collection in ASEAN,
• Identify ways to further improve data collection, particularly of administrative data, and sharing among ASEAN Member States, particularly related to censuses and administrative data,
• Discuss next steps in improving quality and sex- and other disaggregation of data sources at country level, and
• Prepare ILMS focal points for the 2023 round of ILMS data collection, starting September 2023.

Participants

The Meeting will bring together representatives from national governments, the ASEAN Secretariat, ASEAN Statistics, and ILO. Member states’ participants will ideally be the original (or prospective future) focal points from each country, including the Ministry of Labour and other Ministries responsible for data collection (e.g. National Statistical Office, Office of Immigration, etc.).

The Meeting will thus bring together the following partners, participants and observers:

• Member States’ focal points
• ASEAN Statistics
• ASEAN Secretariat
• UN ESCAP
• IOM
• Un Women
• ILO STATISTICS/ROAP/DWT
• Government of Canada
• Government of Australia