More than $44 billion of global profits are made by private enterprises and agents because of forced labour engaging 10 million people worldwide.
This, according to a working paper of the International Labour Organisation, implies each "forced labourer" is generating annual profits of about $4500.
Of the $ 44.3 billion, as much as $31.6 billion come by way of engaging 2.5 million "trafficked" victims.
People trafficked and forced to work in industrialised countries account for the largest profits at $15 billion annually.
The paper admits that there is a high degree of uncertainty about the real extent of forced labour in South Asia, especially in India. The figures in the working paper are part of the ILO Director-General's 2005 Global Report on forced labour.
The paper draws on two categories based on which profits are ascertained -- "commercial sexual" exploitation and economic exploitation.
More than a million people exploited commercially and sexually worldwide yield $33.9 billion, half of which is realised by enterprises in developed countries.
Such companies subject nearly 8 million to economic exploitation in agriculture, industry and services to generate a whopping $10.4 billion.
Profits are broadly calculated as the difference between the total economic value addition, expenditures on wage and intermediate consumption.
ILO traditionally defines forced labour as "all work or service, which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily".
The paper spells out that it is the type of "engagement" that links a person to an employer, which determines forced labour, not the "activity" of a worker.
The sample size chosen includes the total number of victims reported during 1995-2004 by international organisations, governments, tribunals and other sources.
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