Woes of the migrant workers

One of the sectors hit hardest by the pandemic is the migrant workers' sector. Every country has been affected by the pandemic fallout, in greater or lesser degree. Since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020 a great majority of our expatriate workers had to return home. Unfortunately, many of them returned with very little cash in hand. As it is, the record shows that Bangladeshi workers invariably get the raw deal. Their pay remains in arrears in many cases, and since they had to return home in a hurry, they had no opportunity to claim their dues. Most of the returnees are from the Middle East.

It is not surprising that the expatriate workers would find themselves without employment at home too. The pandemic-compelled lockdown have caused job opportunities to shrink, adding to the number of unemployed and pushing more people below the poverty line. It is therefore not surprising that 47.23 percent of returnee migrants find themselves without any ostensible means of income now. This is according to a survey by Brac Migration Programme of 417 expatriate workers who returned home last year. The survey was conduced in March-April 2021 to assess their state a year after their return. Of these returnees only 35 percent have been able to set up small business. The others are doing odd jobs. A redeeming feature is that the situation now is somewhat better than last year when a similar survey by Brac found 87 percent of 558 returnee migrants did not have income opportunities.

Being without regular income and without guarantee of reemployment in their jobs abroad it is not surprising that they would be under tremendous mental duress. We believe that the administration, led by the ministry of expatriate welfare, should initiate a plan to provide support to the returnees. Loans on easy terms should be provided to them for the time being. Alongside this, the ministry should take up the matter with respective countries so that the expatriate workers could return to their jobs without going through fresh paper work once the situation improved. We should not forget that the 45-billion-dollar foreign exchange reserve we are boasting of today are due mostly to our expatriate workers and we have a moral obligation to take care of them during these hard times. Losing their jobs means losing our source of foreign exchange too.