17 o o On average, 414 workers per group experienced wage theft. Each worker lost USD 9,277 worth of wages. India’s large average could be explained by the large number of group cases involving long-term wage theft patterns. For the workers not included within these numbers, although their cases were with proof, the actual wages lost was not clear as they were not paid according to their contract or the victims themselves were unaware what their actual wages were supposed to be. From the cases submitted by MFA partners (not on the JWT platform), the wages lost by 1,034 workers was estimated to be between USD 3.2 million to USD 6.0 million 17. However, it is to be noted that these figures are extremely conservative estimates since they are only for wages lost (based upon a range of minimum wage standards between $500-1000) and do not account for air ticket/repatriation costs, amounts stolen as part of insurance, notice pay, end-of-service benefits, visa non-renewal fines, etc. which these workers had to pay separately from their own pocket. On the whole, we see that through the platform and submissions to MFA, 3,106 workers from 5 origin countries have been deprived of wages roughly estimated to be at least USD 25.2 million in wages alone. This means that one worker would have lost wages at a minimum average of $7,217 for a period of 14 months. The above data becomes even more significant when we consider that yearly remittances to countries of origin considered within this report per migrant average to roughly USD 4.5 billion. Although this would include both high-skilled and ‘low-skilled’ or low paid migrant workers from these countries, the impact upon the latter category of workers is far deeper. As per the ILO study “The Migrant Pay Gap: Understanding Wage Differences Between Migrants and Nationals” (2020), migrant workers in high-income countries earn about 12.6 per cent less than nationals, on average, with low-skilled workers in particular earning 71 per cent less than nationals. Hence, one can only assume the impact that wage theft and its forms inflict upon lowskilled migrant workers, who already earn low wages (around $400-600 per month as per cases on JWT platform) and have to contend with high costs of living that average out to roughly $500 (See Appendix for more). 17 Note: For cases submitted by partners where the amount or time period is unavailable, it was estimated by setting the average salary of low-skilled workers as $500 and calculating for an average period of 6 months, unless specified otherwise. Disclaimer: The figures, statistics within the report are based upon the limited documentation of cases submitted to the JFWT platform or separately to MFA. It does not intend to implicate any country, government, industry, employer, etc.