Profits and Poverty: The Economics of Forced Labor--International Labor Organization, 2014
|
According to the ILO’s research focused on several countries in different regions, various factors contribute to individuals being vulnerable to forced labor including:
|
The latest report from the International Labor Organization (ILO) was released in May 2014, Profits and Poverty: The Economics of Forced Labor, and estimates the illegal profits made from the use of forced labor in the private economy worldwide amount to $150.2 billion per year.
According to the ILO, two thirds of the profits, amounting to an estimated $99 billion per year, are generated by commercial sexual exploitation exacted by fraud or force. More than one third of the profits – $51.2 billion – are made from forced labor exploitation, including:
- Nearly $8 billion generated in domestic work;
- $9 billion generated in agriculture, forestry, and fishing; and
- $34 billion generated in other industries such as construction, manufacturing, mining, and utilities.
Perpetrators make roughly $21,800 per year per victim of commercial sexual exploitation exacted by fraud or force, and an average of $4,000 per victim of forced labor exploitation outside of domestic work.
Overall, the profits are estimated to be highest in Asia ($51.8 billion), due mainly to the high number of victims in that region, and in developed economies and the European Union ($46.9 billion), owing to the high profit generated per victim in developed economies.
|
“Put into perspective, the 21 million victims in forced labor and the more than US$150 billion in illegal profits generated by their work exceeds the population and GDP of many countries or territories around the world.” International Labor Organization, Profits and Poverty: The Economics of Forced Labor (2014), p. 54. |
Source: International Labor Organization, Profits and Poverty: The Economics of Forced Labor (2014), p. 14.
