64th ISI World Statistics Congress - Ottawa, Canada

64th ISI World Statistics Congress - Ottawa, Canada

- Harnessing the population census to assess the economic contributions of migrant workers living in group quarters

Abstract

Seychelles conducted the Population and Housing Census (PHC) in 2022. The results of the Census indicate that the population has reached 100,000. Tourism is the main pillar of the economy. Given the small population, the labour force (population employed and unemployed) is relatively small. The country relies on migrant workers to meet the fast pace of developments, as the unemployment rate is almost always below 5%. Given the specificity of the country, illegal migration is almost non-existent. The country is considered as an archipelago consisting 115 islands. The economic activities take place on the 3 main islands. The borders are heavily patrolled and given the distance to mainland Africa, illegal migration via the sea is non-existent. Migrants enter the country on permits (GOP) and work mostly in the construction and tourism industry, although they are now expanding into other fields. Information on migrants were captured in the 2022 PHC, using the standard set in the 2018 Guidelines on statistics of international labour migration by the International Conference of Labour Statisticians. Migrants tend to live in group quarters and the PHC questionnaire was thus administered in group quarters, whereby information was collected from the migrants. A PHC questionnaire was also sent to smaller groups living outside quarters, but living together in groups of 10 or more people. Information collected from migrants provides information on the economic contribution of migrants to this fast developing population.