Help stranded migrant workers to re-migrate

A report published by Brac Migration Programme last April shows that among 417 migrant workers who had returned home amid the coronavirus epidemic, 72 percent want to re-migrate. Among them, 89 percent are from rural areas, 84 percent are young people in their 20s and 47 percent have no income source right now. According to the head of Brac Migration Programme, most of the respondents in the survey without an income source put re-migration as their "first choice". Also, many who came home on vacation and were subsequently stuck here amid the pandemic or came home after losing their jobs, were contacted by their previous employers. So, they want to re-migrate now. As we have reiterated many times before, the government must help these migrant workers go back overseas in a legal way so that they do not fall victim to unscrupulous agents.

International Organization for Migration (IOM) provided some reasons why people migrate in its report published in August, 2020. They include absence of job opportunities, particularly in the formal sector; insufficient income, financial problems, and a lack of social services and limited social protection systems. The report found if there were better job opportunities in Bangladesh, 99 percent of potential migrants would choose to stay in the country. Bangladesh is the sixth largest origin country for international migrants in the world, with 7.8 million Bangladeshi migrants living abroad as of 2019. Over 2.2 million young adults join the labour force every year, but the domestic labour market is unable to absorb all these job seekers. As per Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (Bmet) data, 1.95 lakh Bangladeshis took up new overseas employment this year.

Remittances from migrant workers are one of the two biggest drivers of economic development, and hence the government must make the process of migration legal, easy and quick. The government has to make getting passports, visas, air tickets etc. easier for migrant workers who are stuck here due to Covid-19. Vaccinating them before anyone else must be the top priority of the government. The Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment must take effective steps to make sure that those migrant workers who have been left stranded because of the pandemic are able to go back as quickly as possible. The reality of thousands of young people who can neither go back to their overseas jobs nor get any employment at home will ultimately take an economic and social toll on the country.