Prepared by IOM's Global Migration Data Analysis Centre, these Guidelines are intended for a range of different users of migration data, such as migration researchers, policymakers, as well as national and regional experts working on migration-related mandates.

The world is becoming more interconnected, with an acceleration in the movement of information, capital, goods, services and people across international borders. As it becomes easier to travel and work in other countries – especially in common market areas such as the European Union – the expansion of international labour mobility has become a topic of growing policy importance.

A database on how national

Policymakers, researchers and other stakeholders need data on migrants – how many there are, their rates of entry and exit, their characteristics, and their integration into societies. These data need be comprehensive, accurate and frequently updated. There is no single source that can provide such data, but by combining several sources together it might be possible to produce the information that users need.

Launched by IOM’s Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC), the GCM Data Bulletins aim to summarize in an accurate and accessible fashion the existing evidence on migration to support the discussions and any follow-up activities of a Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.

These guidelines aim to support countries to facilitate data collection activities on international labour migration and to encourage them to test the conceptual framework suggested in the guidelines.

Goal 10.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) calls for facilitating orderly, safe, and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through implementation of planned and well- managed migration policies. The objective of this document is to provide guidelines that may assist those aiming to produce the statistics needed to calculate SDG indicator 10.7.1, “Recruitment cost borne by employee as a proportion of monthly income earned in country of destination.”