Haitian Construction Workers in the Dominican Republic: An Exploratory Study on Indicators of Forced Labor

Construction work is the second most important labor sector for Haitian migrant men in the
Dominican Republic, following agriculture. Though it is relatively better paid than agricultural
work, and therefore a more desirable option for many young Haitian men, construction work is
also known for having dangerous and exploitative conditions, including pay far below minimum
wage, longer working hours, and no days off.
Based on exploratory qualitative data on the living and working conditions of Haitian
construction workers in the Dominican Republic, this study sought to determine whether
indicators of forced labor are present in the sector. The information presented herein is expected
to promote awareness about the issues Haitian workers face in the construction industry in the
Dominican Republic and to make information available to agencies working in this area.
The project was commissioned and funded by the Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor and
Human Trafficking (OCFT), part of the U.S. Department of Labor’s (USDOL’s) Bureau of
International Labor Affairs (ILAB). As such, it aims to inform current and future technical
assistance efforts of the USDOL/OCFT, while contributing to the international discourse on
forced labor.
The specific research objectives of the study are to:
1. Understand the pathways into construction work, including the details of recruitment
2. Discover the nature of construction work Haitians perform with a focus on the employeeemployer relationship
3. Capture information about the lives of workers outside of work, including their living
conditions, demographic characteristics, and debt situations
4. Understand how the 2010 earthquake in Haiti may have affected Haitian migration for
construction work in the Dominican Republic
Forced labor is defined as all work or service which is exacted from any person under the
menace of any penalty for its nonperformance and for which the worker does not offer himself or
herself voluntarily. This includes work provided or obtained by force, fraud, or coercion. To be
considered forced labor, the situation must include elements of both (1) threat of penalty and
(2) involuntariness. For this study, International Labor Organization (ILO) indicators of each
element were applied across three phases or “dimensions”: “unfree recruitment”, “work and life
under duress”, and “impossibility of leaving the employer”. An explanation of these forced labor
dimensions and a list of the specific indicators applied appear in Section 4.3.
The report begins by providing an overview of Haitian migration and participation in the
construction industry in the Dominican Republic. Existing studies on the working conditions of
Haitian construction workers are reviewed, and their mostly quantitative findings are cited
throughout the report as a basis for comparison for the findings in this study. The literature
review concludes by taking stock of some recent changes in Dominican migration and labor
policies that are likely to have repercussions on the construction sector in the near future.