International labour migration and decent work

Labour migration has significantly expanded as demand has grown in the Global North and South since the 1980s. Transnational labour mobility poses a significant challenge to temporary migrant workers as laws and regulations are flouted in destinations. In the absence of state enforcement of decent work migrant workers must depend on trade unions to set fair wages and regulate conditions. The absence of enforcement allows employers to wantonly violate ILO Conventions over wages, rights, and conditions. In the Global North, labour laws have been promulgated to improve migrant labour conditions, but in the Global South, unions lack the will or capacity to enforce labour regulations. In response, international organizations have prodded national unions to improve migrant labour conditions. In the Global South, precarious and informal labour has dominated national economies. Consequently, abuses of migrant labour have become endemic, chiefly among unskilled workers, who compose 75% of international migrant labourers.