Hard to see, harder to count: Handbook on forced labour surveys

This revised version of the "Hard to see, harder to count" handbook provides an updated set of tools for the design, implementation and analysis of quantitative surveys on the forced labour of adults.

Data collection and analysis lie at the heart of sustainable action to combat forced labour. Reliable statistics are essential to understand the nature and extent of the problem, its causes and consequences, and to inform the efforts of policy-makers and other stakeholders against forced labour. Regular data collection also enables the assessment of progress and impact of policy  implementation, action plans and specific programmes and projects to eradicate forced labour.

The 20th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) in 2018 endorsed, for the first time, Guidelines Concerning the Measurement of Forced Labour. In 2022, the ILO, Walk Free and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) published “Global Estimates of Modern Slavery: Forced Labour and Forced Marriage”. This was the fourth effort by the ILO to produce global regional estimates of forced labour (2005, 2012, and 2017) and the first global estimates published after the adoption of the ICLS Guidelines. In addition, a total of 17 national and sectoral forced labour prevalence surveys have been undertaken with ILO support since 2018.

In 2012, the ILO published the handbook Harder to See, Harder to Count, the first practical guidance on forced labour prevalence surveys. Based on new ICLS guidelines, and drawing on the lessons learnt from the subsequent global estimates exercise and forced labour prevalence surveys, this version 2.0 of the Hard to See, Harder to Count handbook presents an updated measurement framework and set of tools for the design, implementation and analysis of surveys of forced labour. The revised handbook presents a new unified set of core indicators of involuntary work and coercion and contains two new dedicated chapters, one on research ethics and the other on state-imposed forced labour.

Starting with an introductory discussion of legal and conceptual frameworks (Chapter 1), the handbook takes a researcher sequentially through all the key stages of a forced labour survey, from initial stakeholder consultations, the conduct of a preliminary scoping study, and the identification of the survey scope and research questions (Chapter 2), to the selection of the survey type and modality (Chapter 3), sample design (Chapter 4), questionnaire design (Chapter 5), fieldwork (Chapter 6) and finally to data analysis (Chapter 7). It also covers key ethical considerations across all these survey stages (Chapter 8). Chapter 9 offers specific guidance to researchers for the measurement of state-imposed forced labour.