Concept Note
‘Recruitment costs’ are a common feature of international labour migration. It is the practice of charging and collection of fees from migrant workers by recruitment agencies. The World Bank’s 2017 Atlas of Sustainable Development Goals has divided recruitment costs into three main types i.e. the costs to comply with laws and regulations of origin and destination countries; the fees paid to recruitment agents; and internal and international transportation costs (IOM 2018) . Most foreign workers who fill low-skilled jobs abroad, pay some fees to get contracts and complete formalities. Although charging recruitment costs is ostensibly a well-established business practice, it is plagued by excessive fees charges, precariousness of hidden costs, and the consequent debt collection.
The high fees charged to migrant workers (which are often hidden and are an addition over and above approved rate) are mainly due to the lack of adherence to the officially sanctioned amount and recruitment agencies having to comply with sub-agents. This is due to recruitment agencies often being based in the main cities, increasing its reliance on the services of sub-agents and individual touts for reaching out to migrants in the remote areas (Rajan et. al 2010). Therefore, an important reason for the high costs incurred in labour migration is due to the presence of multiple actors in the recruitment process that increase the vulnerability of migrant workers.
The recruitment fee structures vary not only depending on the migration corridors but also on the type of employment or skill level they hold. In India, it can be traced back to the Emigration Act 1983 that laid out the recruitment fees according to the skill level of the migrant. However, the Government of India in recent years has capped the recruitment costs with maximum fees not permitted to cross Rs.20000/- or 45 days of foreign wages, whichever is lesser (MEA) making labour migration increasingly accessible across all skill capacities.
In an effort to regulate and monitor the practices in the recruitment process the Government of India has instituted the eMigrate platform whereby all the stakeholders in the recruitment process are associated and overseen by the Ministry of External Affairs. However, concerns like hidden costs that make recruitment costs even higher, often exist outside the eMigrate system and hence require comprehensive examination. Concerned stakeholders are also striving to reduce recruitment costs by educating migrants about their rights and increasing cooperation between origin and destination countries (Ratha 2014).
With the onset of Covid 19 posing unique challenges to international migration, it becomes pertinent to conceive necessary approaches to holistically regulate the recruitment process and institute good practices across the cycle of international migration and recruitment. Recognising the important role of the registered recruiting agencies, the Government of India has provided a number of COVID-19 specific relaxations, including 50 percent reduction in bank guarantees, free extension of licenses till March 31, 2021 and relaxation on office space norms (Source: eMigrate) . These respites therefore should also be able to benefit the migrants and trickle down from RAs to migrants.
Another important aspect of recruitment costs is the collection of data. Although, data on recruitment costs have been collected in recent years, it is an area that has potential to increase transparency and provide the required ‘checks and balances’ on recruitment costs.
In light of the issues highlighted in the foregoing paragraphs, the India Centre for Migration (ICM) is organizing a virtual panel discussion on the ‘Recruitment Costs and International Migration in the Context of COVID-19’ on 24 September 2020 from 3 to 4:30 pm. The discussion aims to deliberate (but will not be limited to) the following issues-