Measuring Human Trafficking Prevalence in Construction: A Field Test of Multiple Estimation Methods
Creators: name: Pfeffer, Rebecca
name: Barrick, Kelle
Publisher: name: Open Science Framework
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Work, Economy and Organizations
subject: Criminology
subject: FOS: Law
subject: Social and Behavioral Sciences
subject: Sociology
subject: FOS: Sociology
subject: construction
subject: human trafficking
subject: labor exploitation
subject: labor trafficking

description: The purpose of this study is to advance knowledge of promising methods for estimating human trafficking prevalence. Human trafficking casts a wide net of harm, negatively affecting individuals, families, public safety, the healthcare system, and the criminal legal system. Relevant groups, including policymakers, service providers, health care providers, law enforcement officers, and courtroom actors, involved in anti-trafficking efforts need data to inform their responses to human trafficking within their communities. A critical first step towards mobilizing efforts that best serve trafficking victims involves a better understanding of the scope and nature of the problem. However, calculating an estimate of human trafficking victims has proven to be a difficult and monumental task. There is growing recognition that it is necessary to improve the methodologies used to generate such estimates, a task that was even called for in a January 2020 Executive Order Combating Human Trafficking and Online Child Exploitation in the United States (Executive Order 13903, 2020). The field test of multiple of human trafficking prevalence estimation methods is being conducted by RTI International through a contract from the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in collaboration with ACF’s Office on Trafficking in Persons (OTIP). This study is being conducted as part of the Human Trafficking Policy and Research Analyses project. OPRE’s webpage about the project is located here: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/project/human-trafficking-policy-and-research-analyses-project-2019-2024 RTI will be field testing two methods to estimate the prevalence of labor trafficking among construction workers in Houston. Specifically, the field test will: • Estimate the prevalence of labor trafficking among construction workers using two estimation strategies a probability sample (i.e., time location sample) and a network sample. • Describe the nature and type of exploitation experienced by construction workers; • Explore potential risk and protective factors associated with risk of trafficking victimization; and • Inform future prevalence estimation research as well as policy, programs, and practices intended to prevent, identify, and respond to labor trafficking in the construction industry. More specifically, the field test will address several research questions: 1. How do the number and characteristics of construction workers who self-reported exploitation and trafficking experiences compare by prevalence estimation strategy? 2. How many and what percentage of construction workers in the study site have experienced labor exploitation and trafficking? 3. What is the nature and type of exploitation experienced by construction workers? 4. What types of exploitation were experienced by construction workers during recruitment (e.g., coercion, deception, fees)? 5. What types of exploitative employment practices and penalties were experienced by construction workers (e.g., pay withheld, made to perform additional services or responsibilities, unpaid overtime)? 6. How do employers treat the personal life and property of construction workers (e.g., control over a meaningful part of someone’s life, confiscation of mobile phones)? 7. What types of degrading conditions were experienced by construction workers? 8. To what extent was the freedom of movement or communication of construction workers restricted (e.g., identification documents confiscated, surveillance and monitoring)? 9. What forms of debt or dependency were experienced by construction workers? 10. What forms of violence (or threats of violence) were experienced by construction workers? 11. What are the potential risk and protective factors associated with trafficking victimization? 12. What individual-level factors (e.g., gender, national origin, English proficiency) differentiate construction workers who report trafficking experiences from other workers? 13. What employment characteristics (e.g., construction work during natural disaster recovery, type of construction work, length of employment in construction, methods for finding work in construction) differentiate construction workers who report trafficking experiences from other workers? Primary data collection will include one-time survey with up to 4,200 adults who have worked in the construction industry in Houston, Texas in the 24 months prior to data collection. The survey will be offered to construction workers identified through two sampling strategies: (1) probability sample (i.e., time location sample) and (2) a network sample. The survey includes questions about the individuals’ experiences with labor exploitation and trafficking; employment histories, including work after a natural disaster; social networks, and demographic data. Analysis of the survey data has the potential to inform future prevalence estimation research as well as well as federal, state, and community policymakers, funders, and practitioners to make decisions about future efforts to respond to labor trafficking in the construction industry.