The views expressed in this presentation are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the

views or policies of the Asian

Development Bank Institute (ADBI), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), its Board of Directors, or the governments they represent. ADBI does
not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this paper and accepts no responsibility for any consequences of their use. Terminology used
may not necessarily be consistent with ADB official terms.

LABOUR MIGRATION IN MONGOLIA

by
Tsogzolmaa Ulziinyam
Specialist, Ministry of Labour and
Social Protection, Mongolia

7th ADB-ADBI-OECD-ILO Roundtable

On Labour Migration in Asia,
18-19 February 2017, Manila, Philippines
 CONTENT
Labour migration in an economic context
Legislation and institutional arrangements
Labour migration policies
Channels of remittances and its use
Country challenges on labour migration
Measures to improve labour migration
LABOUR MIGRATION IN AN ECONOMIC CONTEXT

Countrys economy is dependent on the mining sector and

global demand for minerals
The countrys average annual growth rate in 2004-2012 was 23 %,
the mining sector contributed 27 % of Mongolias GDP in 2011, but
countrys GDP declined gradually from 12.3 % in 2012 to 2.3 % in
2015
Global demand slowed down and countrys economic growth rate also
declined dramatically
Skill shortages
Due to economys rapid growth demand for skilled labour increased
Long term skill shortages- a quotabased system
Bilateral labour agreements on sending migrant workers to learn new
technology and skills
Labour shortages
Short term or time limited needs for temporary and lower skilled
foreign workers
 LABOUR DEMAND PROJECTION

Unemployment rate (%)

Number of people (000)
1,400 9

1,200 7.3
89 93 97 Unemployment
82 86
77 78 rate
7.0
85 82 6.9
1,000 87 6.8 Unemployed
6.5 6.4 6.6
6.2 6 Employed
6.0
800 5.6

600
1,215 1,230 1,246 1,263
1,157 1,184 1,199 3
1,081 1,106 1,131
400

200

0 0

2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

GDP
forecast 11.7 9.6 7.0 5.2 8.5 6.0 4.8 4.8 4.8 4.8
(%)

Source: Employment forecasts as based on Labor Market Projection System for the Mongolian Labor Market. GDP forecasts from the IMF
 LEGISLATION AND INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS

Legislation
The Law on sending labourforce abroad and receiving labourforce and
specialists from abroad, 2001
Government Resolution No. 41, Procedure for workplace fees payment
and exemption of fees , 2015
The joint procedure of the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of
Finance, A/108/149, Procedure on employment permit service for
foreign nationals and approval of service fee, 2015

Institutional arrangements
Ministry of Labour and Social Protection
Central Office of Employment and Social Welfare
Private recruiting agencies

5
 LABOUR MIGRATION POLICIES

Foreign workers regulated by a quota-based system

Bilateral agreements on labour migration abroadJapan,

Korea, the DPRK and Russia, one under consideration with
China
Japan and Korea are destination countries
the DPPK and China are mainly source countries

Managing labour migration

Public employment services
Private employment agencies
 THE NUMBERS OF FOREIGN WORKERS IN
MONGOLIA
35000

30566
30000
27133 27195
26104
25000
26345

23099 22804 22802

20000 18522
16644

15000 15541
14559
10567
10000

5974
5000

0
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Numbers of foreign workers in Mongolia Workers of China's Republic

* Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, 2016

THE NUMBERS OF TRAINEES SENT TO JAPAN, 2011-2016:

The numbers of technical intern trainees remained stable even though the
numbers of sending organizations increasing

Title
Measure

* Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, 2016

 THE NUMBERS OF DISPATCHED WORKERS
TO KOREA

* Central Office of Employment and Social Welfare , 2016

 REMITTANCES INFLOW AND OUTFLOW

Remittances inflow /million.usd/

Year 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Total 247.9 249.3 286.2 209.9 201 211.5
Korea 57 54.7 43.4 50.1 51.8 60.9
Japan 10 7.5 12.3 7.7 22.8 6.6
Remittances outflow /million.usd/
Year 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Total 118.5 190.8 245.4 187.9 171 131.5
China 42.7 58.7 68.2 27.7 49.7 26.4

* Central Bank of Mongolia, 2016

 CHANNELS OF REMITTANCES INFLOW BY
NATIONS

7 10
6
24 Other sources

25
Exchange

15
In person

67
Money transfer
44

Banks

0 2
Japan Korea

* Instutute of Research on Labour and Social Protection, Survey, 2016

 THE USE OF REMITTANCES

100% = xxxx

Clearance
of debt

Investments
12%
Household
4% consumption Household consumption
Purchase of land and house
42% Education
14%
Savings in Social activities
Banks Savings in banks
Business investments
Social8% Clearance of debt
activities
7%
Education 13%
Purchase of
land/house

* Instutute of Research on Labour and Social Protection, Survey, 2016

 COUNTRY CHALLENGES ON LABOUR MIGRATION

An issue of legislation
The most recent Law on labour migration regulation
approved in 2001
Implementation issue
Fragmented labour migration practice
Cross border recruitment of incoming foreign workers
No direct connection with the overseas employers in
recruitment process outgoing migrant workers
Quota-based system limitation for higher skills

Need to fix a fragmented process

 MEASURES TO IMPROVE LABOUR MIGRATION

Improve legislation on labour migration

A new law on labour migration is being drafted
A revised law be discussed and approved by the Government

Government Action Plan 2016-2020

Update and amend the functions of the organization responsible for sending
migrant workers in accordance with bilateral agreements and MOUs of foreign
countries
Organize activities on increasing the numbers of migrant workers during
economic difficulties

A softer regulation and different approaches for labour

migration needs to be introduced such as the point-
based system and employer demand-based system
 THANK YOU
for your attention