A constant struggle facing researchers and policymakers tackling migration issues is a lack of good data. The Center for Global Development recently released “Five Steps Toward Better Migration Data,” an excellent report on concrete steps governments and non-governmental organizations can take in the short run to fill this gap.
This report is particularly important in the context of a new round of census taking in 2010. The five recommendations are to:
- Ask basic census questions and make the data publicly available;
- Compile and release existing administrative data;
- Centralize labor force surveys;
- Provide access to microdata, not just tabulations; and
- Include migration modules on more existing household surveys.
Given the abundance of recommendations in the development industry, a laudable effort is the accompanying report card (PDF) which tracks countries’ progress with respect to the recommendations.
