The International Labour Office estimated in 2017 that there were 164m migrant workers worldwide, which accounted for 70 per cent of all migrants of working age. The centrality of work to migration flows, particularly in the context of the Asia-Pacific, is clear. Prior to the covid-19 pandemic, there were 10m international migrants in ASEAN countries, almost half of whom were women. Arab states feature the highest proportion of migrant workers to all workers (40.8 per cent), and host 13.9 per cent of all migrant workers worldwide, most of them hailing from south-east and south Asia. There are other key migration corridors in the Asia-Pacific region, including to South Korea and Japan. Migrant workers from Pacific island countries find jobs in seasonal worker programmes in Australia and New Zealand.
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