ILO: Migrant workers earn nearly 13% on average less than native

GBNEWS24 DESK//

The gap between wages paid to migrant and national workers is big and growing, and may widen further because of the pandemic, said thereport

The report published on Monday , “The migrant pay gap: Understanding wage differences between migrants and nationals”, examined 49 countries that host half the world’s migrant workers and found that migrants were earning nearly 13 per cent less on average.

“What our report shows is that even before COVID-19migrant workers suffered significant inequality and treatment in terms of wages. And we know that the wage gap not only has widened in the past few years, but migrants continue to be the subject of discrimination during this pandemic”, said Michelle Leighton, chief ofILO’s Labour Migration Branch.

In some countries such as Cyprus, Italy and Austria the pay gap in hourly wages is higher, at 42 per cent, 30 per cent and 25 per cent respectively. In Finland it is lower than the average, at 11 per cent and in the European Union as a whole it is almost 9 per cent.

Women suffer double discrimination

In some cases the gap could be explained by objective factors such as education, skills and experience, but otherwise discrimination was the main reason why migrants earned less, she said at a press conference held to present the findings of the report.

“Therefore tackling discrimination and prejudices that are deeply entrenched in the workplace and our society is more important than ever. And addressing the migrant pay gap is not only a matter of social justice, but it’s also important to reduce inequalities between women and men to reduce income inequalities between households”, Ms. Leighton said.

Women migrants often worked in domestic or care jobs, facing a double dose of wage discrimination, as they earned less than nationals and less than male migrants on average.