“Profits and poverty: The economics of forced labour” is published by the International Labour Organization (ILO). It provides insights into the economic aspects of forced labour and aims to understand the profits generated from this exploitative practice.
An estimated 20.9 million people are in situations of forced labour worldwide as of 2020. This includes 16 million victims in private sector work like domestic work, construction, manufacturing and agriculture.
The report details the methodology used to estimate illegal profits from forced labour in different sectors like domestic work, agriculture, industry, and commercial sexual exploitation. It uses country-level data on wages, hours worked and worker demographics. The global illegal profits generated from forced labour exploitation are estimated to be $150 billion per year. Private sector commercial sexual exploitation accounts for $99 billion, while forced labour in other sectors accounts for $51 billion.
International migrant workers in forced labour situations are estimated to generate $49.5 billion in illegal profits each year for their exploiters. Domestic work is the largest source, followed by construction and manufacturing.
