A powerful exploration of how recruitment fees and exploitative systems entrap migrant workers across Asia—and how businesses can take action to stop it.
This paper exposes the hidden costs migrant workers pay to secure employment in Southeast Asia—often thousands of dollars that leave them indebted and vulnerable to abuse. Drawing on field research across manufacturing, construction, agriculture, and fishing, it reveals how recruitment agents, brokers, and employers profit by shifting job costs to workers, trapping many in forced labor. Through case studies and data, it shows how debt, deception, and passport confiscation combine into systemic exploitation—and outlines concrete steps companies can take to remove recruitment fees, strengthen oversight, and ensure ethical supply chains.
Migrant workers, Construction
