National Consultation: Building a Safe Employment Ecosystem for Migrant Workers

National Consultation: Building a Safe Employment Ecosystem for Migrant Workers

Context and rationale

Internal migration is central to India’s labour market. Migrant workers sustain construction, agriculture, manufacturing, transport, hospitality, domestic work and other essential services. Yet many workers migrate through informal recruitment systems without verified employer information, written employment terms, clarity on wages and deductions, adequate workplace protection or knowledge of grievance mechanisms. At destination, social-protection entitlements and support services often remain difficult to access.

These risks increase when workers cross state boundaries. Institutions responsible for labour regulation, registration, skills, social protection, health, policing and local governance often operate separately. Source area organisations may lose contact with workers, while destination organisations may lack access to their documents, families or home-state administrations.

Core proposition: The concern is not migration itself, but whether workers can migrate by choice, with reliable information, fair and documented employment, portable social protection and timely support when their rights are violated.

Purpose of the consultation

The consultation will move beyond documenting migrant workers’ vulnerabilities to examine how existing policies, institutions and resources can work together as a functional safe-employment ecosystem.

It will bring together government representatives; source- and destination-area civil-society organisations; worker collectives and trade unions; employers and contractors; training institutions; donors and development partners; legal and migration experts; Help Desk operators; community volunteers; and migrant workers.

The discussion will cover the key stages of safe employment, including pre-departure information, ethical recruitment, employer verification, registration, written employment terms, skill recognition, fair wages, workplace safety, portable social protection, destination support, grievance redressal and reintegration.

Evidence base

Project experience

The consultation is informed by the EU-supported project “Enhancing Civil Society Organisations’ Capacities in Response to the Socio-Economic Impact of COVID-19 in India”, implemented since 2022 by Ghoghardiha Prakhand Swarajya Vikas Sangh (GPSVS) in Bihar, Life Education and Development Support (LEADS) in Jharkhand and Prayog in Chhattisgarh.

The project has combined livelihood and skill development, employment and enterprise linkages, community Help Desks, social-protection access, village microplanning, safe-migration awareness, civil-society capacity development, policy research and government engagement. Its central learning is that livelihood support, worker protection and social security cannot be addressed separately. Workers require viable choices at source as well as effective protection and services when they migrate.

Three state policy analyses

Separate migrant-worker policy analyses have been completed and discussed through state-level workshops in Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. They will be presented as distinct evidence inputs, reflecting each state’s migration patterns, institutional arrangements and implementation challenges.

The consultation will consider state-specific recommendations, issues requiring source–destination coordination, and areas where national institutions, donors and civil-society networks can contribute.

Draft Safe Employment Guidebook

Reviewing and strengthening the draft Safe Employment Guidebook for Migrant Workers will be a central focus of the consultation and one of its most important, intended outcomes.

The Guidebook translates legal provisions, social-protection information and field experience into practical guidance for workers and their families. It covers job and employer verification, registration and documentation, employment terms, wages and deductions, workplace safety, social-security portability, emergency assistance, referrals and grievance redressal.

The Guidebook is not being presented as a final product. Migrant workers, government officials, legal experts, employers, trade unions, Help Desk operators and source- and destination-area organisations will be invited to assess its accuracy, accessibility and practical usefulness. Their feedback will inform its finalisation and adaptation into simpler community materials, including a Hindi comic-based version.

Expected outcomes

The consultation is expected to:

• Identify practical gaps in labour, social-protection and worker-support systems;

• Generate recommendations for stronger coordination between source and destination states;

• Identify workable models for worker information, Help Desks, referrals and grievance support;

• Obtain structured feedback on the three state policy analyses;

• Produce concrete recommendations for finalising and disseminating the Safe Employment Guidebook;

• Clarify the potential roles of government, employers, civil society, worker organisations and development partners; and

• Identify focused opportunities for follow-up and continued collaboration.