Workshop for Central America and the Caribbean on the Measurement of Migrant Labor Statistics in Destination Countries

The workshop took place from September 22 to 24, 2025, at the CEMLA facilities in Mexico City. The program covered the conceptual framework of migrant labor statistics in the United States, based on the Current Population Survey (CPS). This survey is collected monthly from households by the United States Census Bureau and is the official source of labor statistics such as the participation rate and the unemployment rate, distinguishing by gender, age groups, immigration status, and so on.

The main goal of the workshop is to provide participants with the necessary training to extract data from the CPS database to monitor the economic situation of immigrant workers in the United States, primarily from Central America and the Caribbean. The economic variables monitored for the different Latin American migrant groups include the civilian noninstitutional population, the labor force population, the employed and unemployed populations, and the not in labor force population, as well as the participation rate and unemployment rate of migrant groups in the United States, distinguishing by gender, type of occupation, and immigration status in that country. Likewise, for the employed population, the following variables were identified: full-time or part-time employment, the economic sector in which they work, their average labor wages, and total labor wages received.

The main aspects related to migrants mentioned on the International Transactions in Remittances were also discussed. Additionally, as part of the workshop, a presentation was given on how to access data from the American Community Survey of the United States. The workshop concluded with participants' estimates of the efforts made by immigrants in the United States to send remittances to their countries of origin.

The course was attended by 19 participants from 8 countries, in addition to CEMLA speakers.