"Thoughts from Bangladesh and India: Corporate Practices Inflate Recruitment Fees for Low-Wage Migrant Workers," 22 Sept 2016

The Center for Business and Human Rights recently completed a research mission to Bangladesh and India focused on the recruitment of migrant construction workers bound for…the Arabian Gulf region…[T]wo…findings are particularly illustrative of larger issues at play and point to the need for companies operating in the Gulf to take a hard look at ways in which their own policies might contribute to cycles of debt entered into by many migrant workers:

1)    The high cost of migration…can be traced to dealings and agents in both source and destination countries…

2)    Corporate practices may be forcing unskilled migrant workers to effectively subsidize the migration of skilled workers…[C]ompanies…are more likely to pay fees to RAs for the recruitment of skilled workers than for unskilled workers…RAs are therefore often willing to take pay cuts…for the sake of securing business...In order to cover costs…RAs…turn a profit by charging fees to low-skilled migrants. These workers, who often cannot afford such fees without borrowing…are therefore effectively paying for their own recruitment...