Majority of cases registered on behalf of female migrant workers were in domestic work (113 out of 201
total female cases and 115 total domestic worker cases). Other sectors of work included manufacturing
(73), sanitation (6), hospitality, office administration, and retail.
The sector categorised as “other” (10 cases) involved workers in the gig economy (such as food delivery),
beauty workers (hairdressers and salon workers), salespersons in small-scale grocery stores as well as
unskilled labourers who were contractually employed, etc.
For the period of January-May 2021, a total of 38 cases were filed under the fishing sector, which was a
major improvement of data collection from 2020, which had 20 cases. All cases were from Indonesia
and destination countries were primarily China (accounting for more than 50% of cases), Taiwan, Sri
Lanka, South Korea, and Singapore.
Countries of Origin
India
Indonesia
Philippines
Bangladesh
Nepal
Construction
595
7
1
24
29
Manufacturing
3
133
-
4
5
Domestic
2
14
47
50
2
Retail
1
-
3
5
36
When we correlate the sectors with the largest number of cases with the cases registered in each COO,
we found that data collection and registration of cases have been focused upon certain sectors – this
was due to the presence of group cases (such as all cases under fishing sector from Indonesia).
For the period of January-May 2021, Indian migrant workers account for the highest number of cases
within the construction sector (595 out of 657). Moreover, out of 620 total cases registered by Indian
workers, maximum cases were reported from the construction sector (595).
For Indonesian migrant workers, the major sectors where wage theft was prevalent included
manufacturing (133 out of 200), and fishing (38) – they also composed the majority of cases under
these sectors as well. 14 cases were registered under domestic work, 7 cases under construction, 5
cases under mining and 3 under hospitality. Cases under mining were understood as offshore mining
which menat a majority of wage theft cases have been reported within sea-based work, a prominent
feature seen among Indonesian migrant workers.
Cases reported under domestic work were primarily from the Philippines and Bangladesh. 47 out of 115
domestic workers were from the Philippines and 50 out of 115 were from Bangladesh. Domestic
workers also constituted the majority cases (47 out of 62) for Filipino migrant workers (OFWs) that have
reported wage theft.
For the Philippines, apart from domestic work, 5 cases have been reported by sanitation workers (all
female), 4 cases by office staff, 3 cases by retail workers, and 1 each in construction and hospitality.
Bangladesh (115 cases in total) showed variation proportionally among sectors with 24 cases reported
16