Labor Migration in Asia: Increasing the Development Impact of Migration through Finance and Technology

This report documents the increase in labor migration in Asia and looks at how finance and technology can aid its positive impact on home countries. As diasporas increase, governments have reached out to citizens abroad to provide them with financial instruments. Remittance channels have long been consolidated, but financial technology is changing the ways in which migrants remit—reducing fees and opening opportunities for new actors. One occupation driving labor migration, and incurring its own challenges, is work in information technology (IT). This report examines some of the latest developments in financial products and technology aimed at labor migrants from and in Asia, and discerns the factors determining the success of mobile IT workers from India. The four chapters in this report draw on issues raised and discussed during the Seventh Roundtable on Labor Migration in Asia: Finance and Technology to Increase the Positive Impact of Migration on Home Countries, held in Manila on 18–19 January 2017. The event brought together regional experts and policy makers and was co-organized by the Asian Development Bank Institute, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the International Labour Organization, and the Asian Development Bank. The report’s introductory chapter reviews recent regional migration trends. Two statistical annexes provide an overview of migration flows within Asia and between Asia and other regions.