Demand for skilled workers is growing around the world, while at the same time millions of workers migrate in search of work. Well-designed and -managed labor mobility programs can help meet both needs, ensuring that migrants have the skills they need to find jobs in labor markets that urgently need workers. The World Bank is working together with governments to analyze and design programs to support workers, and systems to help them succeed, in both origin and destination countries.
The World Bank, through the Skills and Employment for Tongans (SET) Project, has assisted tremendously on the Tonga Labour Mobility processes particularly in the preparedness of the Work-Ready Pool and Pre-Departure Briefing processes. Acknowledging the unwavering support to enhance the recruitment of female workers. We are very fortunate to receive such support to contribute to the achievement of our Organizational Outcome of ‘Better access to economic opportunities overseas including employment to expand income earnings opportunities for all’ and also to improve our efficiency in our Recruitment & Mobilization processes.
International labor mobility is an important mechanism for addressing divergent global demographic trends. On one hand, low- and middle-income countries are undergoing a profound demographic shift: over the next decade 1.2 billion youth in the Global South will enter the labor force, yet only 420 million jobs are expected to be available. On the other hand, high-Income countries—and some upper-middle-income countries—are facing unprecedented population aging and, in many cases, a shrinking workforce. The World Bank Group supports international efforts to ensure that migration is safe, orderly, and regular, helping to address demographic challenges, labor deficits, and skill gaps.
Because good jobs are slow to reach poor people, poor people often move to find productive employment somewhere else. Proactive policy interventions, such as those in the projects shared here, can ease the pain and share the gains from increased labor mobility. Skills training has shown particularly well-documented, concrete, and relevant results, quickly enabling migrants to support themselves and their families back home. In some countries, the World Bank is complementing targeted skills development with support for matching those skills with demand in destination countries. This approach often also supports those who choose to remain in origin countries through spill-over capacity building there, as not all people who receive training will ultimately migrate.
As the World Bank Group works to enhance job opportunities, capacity building through skills development for migrants has delivered notable results. Governments, in both origin and destination countries, are scaling up support in the skills arena to ensure a match between migrants’ skills and attributes and needs or gaps in receiving countries. Skills development for migrants not only aims to build capacity for people who move, but also for people who remain in, or return to, their communities. The recently published World Bank report, ”Global Skill Partnerships for Migration: Preparing Tomorrow’s Workers for Home and Abroad” highlights the various challenges and opportunities linked to migration. The report aims to foster a more customized and evidence-based discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of cross-border movements.
Three recent projects demonstrate the breadth of the World Bank’s involvement in skills development.
In Tonga, the Skills and Employment for Tongans Project ($20.9 million), approved in 2018, brings together conditional cash transfers to promote high school attendance and completion, technical and vocation education and training to support skills development, and a labor mobility component to facilitate overseas employment for low- and semi-skilled workers. At completion of the project in 2024, close to 13,000 beneficiaries, of which 3,608 were female, received predeparture training, equipping them with in-demand skills for potential success at their final destination.
In Türkiye, the Support for Transition to Labor Market Project ($78.8 million) focuses on improving the employability of Syrian refugees and Turkish citizens, facilitating their access to labor markets. The project was launched in 2022, and as of September 2024, more than 23,000 beneficiaries (over 10,000 of whom are female), have received counseling or livelihood advisory services.
In Bangladesh, the Recovery and Advancement of Informal Sector Employment Project ($300.3 million) has helped 181,000 return migrants, of whom 60,395 are female, reintegrate through 31 “welfare centers.” These centers offer a variety of services, including counseling for reintegration, informal referrals or linkages to appropriate services, support for recognition of prior learning, and small cash incentives to promote service utilization. Services such as these help returning migrants acclimatize and find income sources far faster than those without access to these resources. The project also supports the upgrade and integration of systems to improve social protection service delivery, such as information services prior to making a decision about migration, financial management, language and skills training, for aspiring migrants
The World Bank publishes data and rigorous policy reports on migration for three purposes: to inform policy making, to maximize the benefits of migration and manage its risks, and to support the migration-related SDGs. The World Bank compiles data on worldwide remittance flows, bilateral migration, and highly skilled migration. It has undertaken rigorous analysis of global gains from migration and conducted pioneering household surveys involving migrants in several African countries. The World Development Report 2023: Migrants, Refugees and Societies focuses on migration and forced displacement.
The World Bank frequently partners with governments to help them formulate a national policy on migration. Additionally, the World Bank uses its knowledge to help national and local governments develop their own programs to help integrate migrants. The World Bank also maintains partnerships on migration and remittances with United Nations (UN) agencies, the European Union, other multilateral development banks, and the G7 and G20, with the World Bank in these instances offering significant contributions in both analysis on migration and remittance patterns and practical guidance and support for implementation.
The World Bank will continue to provide data, analytical evidence, and program evaluations, allowing countries to develop comprehensive plans to address both emigration and immigration. Through the Joint Data Center for Forced Displacement, the World Bank contributes data and analytics for policy formulation for refugee integration. Evolving drivers of migration will continue to increase the need for this work. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector-focused arm of the World Bank Group, is engaged in partnering with employers to help find jobs and housing opportunities for migrants.
