This report would not have been possible without the funding support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. The authors are especially grateful to the informal labourers in Ethiopia and all the other people willing to share their views on this contentious topic, as well as Tsion Abebayehu Endale for her logistical support and Yordanos Seifu for his generous insights. A special thanks goes to Fia van der Klugt and Quirine Timmerman (Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs), as well as to the Dutch Embassy in Ethiopia and Rosa van Wieringen (FNV) for their support. We would also like to thank the reviewers, among others Dr Dereje Feyissa (Life and Peace Institute), Yordanos Seifu (independent researcher), Mariska van Beijnum (Clingendael’s Conflict Research Unit) and Anette Hoffmann (associate fellow of Clingendael’s Conflict Research Unit), who have invested their time and efforts in providing comments and suggestions for this report. Additionally, we would like to thank Ayse Kocak and Julius Tschernig, whose support and diligent work was invaluable for this report.