Migrant workers
 |
International migration has contributed to growth and prosperity in both host and source countries. Migrants provide a valuable source of semi-skilled and unskilled labour to many industrialising countries and provide a source of highly skilled labour to advanced countries, thereby assisting the latter in maintaining economic competitiveness, according to the ILO . |
The rate of growth of the world's migrant population more than doubled between the 1960s and the 1990s, reaching 2.6 percent in 1985-1990, and it is forecast that this trend will most likely accelerate in the 21st Century.
The term “migrant workers” covers a wide range of people with different reasons for migration and varying skills levels. Not all such workers are "at risk" regarding their safety and health at work, but there are three occupational safety and health (OSH) issues relating to migrant workers that give concern. These are:
- The high employment rates of migrant workers in high risk sectors;
- Language and cultural barriers to communication and training in OSH; and
- Migrant workers often work a lot of overtime and/or are in poor health and thus are more prone to occupational injuries and diseases.
More research is needed on the occupational risks to migrant workers as while there is literature on migration, on health, and on working conditions, there is little that brings together all these issues. The topic is complicated by the varying definitions of “migrant”, the use of other terminology, an absence of robust statistics, and that a lot of material on the topic comes from the US and cannot necessarily be transposed into an EU context.
Equally, more good practice is required to ensure that employers, worker safety representatives and other stakeholders are able to find practical solutions to prevent harm to migrant workers.
