2019 Recruitment Costs Pilot Survey Report-Ghana, Measuring SDG Indicator (10.7.1)

This report presents the survey results and examines the recruitment costs, monthly earnings, and Recruitment Cost Indicator (RCI) of migrant workers taking into account their socio-demographic characteristics such as age, occupation, the industry of work, educational attainment, skills, and gender.

In 2019, the Ghana Statistical Service conducted the Recruitment Cost Pilot Survey (RCPS) in four administrative districts, namely, Mampong Municipal, Asante Akim North in the Ashanti Region, and Berekum and Techiman in the Bono and Bono East regions, respectively. The study was mainly designed to pilot an ILO recommended survey methodology to collect data on recruitment costs and monthly earnings of migrant workers from purposely selected districts, in a bid to calculate the SDG indicator 10.7.1 (Recruitment Cost Indicator). This report, therefore, presents the survey results, as it examines the recruitment costs, monthly earnings, and Recruitment Cost Indicator (RCI) of migrant workers taking into account their socio-demographic characteristics such as age, occupation, the industry of work, educational attainment, skills, and sex.

The results of this pilot study show that the survey methodology adopted for this study is suitable for estimating the RCI as required for measuring the SDG indicator 10.7.1. The study shows that the RCI levels, derived from average recruitment costs and monthly earnings for migrant workers, could plausibly be a function of skill level, country of destination, or educational level of the migrant worker. This is because lower levels of RCI could be associated with highly-skilled workers, highly educated migrant workers, and developed countries due largely to commensurate high monthly earnings, a result that resonates with our a-priori expectation.

The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) implemented the study in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO) with funding from the European Union.