About the Recruitment Cost Calculator
Providing transparency on the costs of recruitment
Verité’s Recruitment Cost Calculator (RCC) helps companies, suppliers, and labor agents accurately estimate recruitment fees and costs across industries and migration corridors. By mapping all legitimate recruitment costs and providing up-to-date, market-based data, the RCC enables users to plan and optimize labor sourcing strategies.
How to interpret your results
Simplifying complex recruitment pathways into clear cost estimates
Most-likely scenario
The RCC provides the most realistic and representative recruitment pathway including standard duration of travel, mandatory training requirements, and other factors.
Estimates per worker
Most estimates are provided on a per-worker basis. These individual costs are then added together to calculate the total cost of ethically recruiting a worker within a specific migration corridor and industry.
Fixed costs per petition or job order
A few cost items are presented per petition or job order, which means these are fixed payments regardless of the number of workers. You should add these costs to your grand total.
This tool will help your company:
- Factor the cost of legal and ethical recruitment into your business planning and budget.
- Support data-driven recruitment decisions, from agent screening and program pricing to corridor performance monitoring.
- Benchmark recruitment offers against a reliable set of data to see how a bid compares against actual best practice costs.
- Build mechanisms to incorporate a more accurate cost of recruiting workers into contracts with buyers, clients, suppliers, and labor providers.
- Strengthen recruitment cost tracking, risk identification and performance monitoring.
- Reduce operational, legal and reputational risks by increasing visibility into recruitment costs and practices.
Recruitment fees
This is the service fee charged by a third party to identify, vet, and recruit workers, secure required documents, and/or coordinate logistics.
Recruitment fees typically include operational costs of recruitment services and a profit margin
When the employer hires workers directly, the cost of recruitment services is reflected in internal and administrative and human resources costs
When paid to a third-party provider by the employer or a labor contractor, the cost is reflected as a service fee
It can be more expensive to reimburse workers than to cover the costs upfront because workers often face inflated fees from labor intermediaries
Related costs
These are all expenses associated with the recruitment process and that are required to hire workers.
Required documentation such as passports, visas, background checks, exit clearances, contributions to worker welfare funds, labor permits, and applications
Transportation and lodging costs that ensure workers get all required documentation and then travel from their hometowns to the job site, and back home after work is done
Medical examinations that are required by employers prior to departure, upon arrival at the destination, and/or throughout the duration of the work contract
Other costs like skills tests, trainings, and equipment, if required by employers or governments
Frequently asked questions
What if results show my company pays less than the Calculatorʼs estimated cost range?
If your company’s payments fall below the estimated cost range, this may indicate that not all recruitment-related costs are being covered by your company. In such cases, it is likely that workers are bearing some of these expenses themselves, which can expose them to risks such as debt bondage, and in turn create significant legal and reputational risks for your company.
What if my company pays more for labor procurement than the Calculator’s estimated cost range?
If your company’s payments are significantly higher than the estimated cost range, this may warrant further review to ensure you are paying reasonable market rates. It could suggest that you are being overcharged for certain services. Excessive costs can also be a sign of limited transparency within the labor supply chain.
Can I use the RCC to estimate reimbursement amounts for workers?
It is not recommended to use the RCC to calculate reimbursement amounts for workers. The RCC provides market-based estimates derived from verified service provider data to reflect fair recruitment costs, not the inflated amounts that workers are often charged in practice.
Because workers who pay recruitment fees are frequently overcharged or exploited, using RCC estimates for reimbursement may result in underpayment and fail to provide adequate remediation. This could also increase your company’s risk of debt bondage or non-compliance with ethical recruitment standards.
Reimbursement should be treated as a form of remediation, and specific guidance on reimbursement procedures should be followed.
Are these all legally required costs?
The cost items listed in our Calculator cover all expenses related to the recruitment process, including both legally required costs and best practice costs associated with responsible recruitment.
While legal requirements vary by country and may not include every cost involved in ethical recruitment, the Responsible Cost Calculator (RCC) goes beyond compliance. It provides guidance on best practice costs that should be covered by employers in line with the Employer Pays Principle.
Under this principle, companies commit to paying all recruitment fees and related expenses, from the worker’s point of origin to their place of employment, ensuring that workers are never charged any fees or costs for their own recruitment.
How often do you update your estimates?
We review and update RCC data on a regular basis to ensure accuracy and reflect current market conditions. Updates may occur quarterly or semi-annually, depending on the availability of new data, change in corridor dynamics, MOUs, worker programs or other observed cost changes.
Some costs, such as food, travel, and lodging are more sensitive to inflation and seasonal price fluctuations, while others, like visas, work permits, and security clearances, tend to remain stable since they are often set or published by governments.
Labor recruiter service fees represent market rates that may vary slightly over time but generally stay consistent. For this reason, the RCC presents these costs as ranges rather than fixed figures to better capture real-world variation.
Keep in mind we show cost ranges to reflect normal market differences like seasonal changes, transportation costs, or variations in fees charged by different service providers. Costs can also differ by factors such as wage levels or gender.
Also note that ethical recruiters and those providing due diligence and compliance services may charge a bit more, since these practices ensure fair, transparent, and responsible recruitment.
What are your data sources? Does the RCC include worker-reported data?
Verité develops the RCC estimates through extensive research and data collection across each migration corridor. We map the recruitment industry to identify all legitimate actors, the fees they charge, and typical market rates for each step of the labor procurement process.
Our data comes from multiple verified sources, including:
- Labor providers and recruiters: In-depth interviews with recruiters, contractors, and other service providers.
- Employers and suppliers: Recruitment cost questionnaires and verified employer payment data from Verité’s CUMULUS Forced Labor Screening platform.
- Workers: Interview and digital survey data capturing worker-reported recruitment fees and expenses.
- Government sources: Publicly available rates and fees for required documentation and permits.
By combining and cross-checking these sources, Verité ensures that RCC estimates reflect both verified market rates and real worker experiences, providing a reliable picture of recruitment costs in each corridor.
Book a free consultation for personalized ethical recruitment guidance for your company
Georgina Vázquez De Los Reyes
Lead, Stakeholder Engagement and Technical Assistance
Contact Georgina