DHAKA, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- Approximately 70 percent of surveyed migrants who returned from abroad between February and June 2020 are unemployed, according to a latest study by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
The study findings are presented Wednesday in a report titled, "Rapid Assessment of Needs and Vulnerabilities of Internal and International Return Migrants in Bangladesh".
Returnees experienced reintegration challenges which included difficulties in securing employment, financial problems (lack of income and accumulating debt), and health-related issues, data compiled by the U.N.'s migration agency shows.
According to the IoM, migrant workers are particularly vulnerable to the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, and since March 2020, hundreds of thousands of international migrant workers were compelled to return to their home districts in Bangladesh due to limited access to income-generating activities, social services, healthcare systems and social support networks in the countries and regions in which they were working prior to the outbreak of COVID-19.
It says that unplanned, large-scale returns of unemployed migrant workers affect remittance-dependent communities across the country where each migrant worker supports three members of his/her household on average.
The report, released in coordination with the government of Bangladesh, listed findings from interviews with a total of 2,765 return migrants, including 1,486 international return migrants and 1,279 internal return migrants.
The survey was conducted in May and July 2020 in 12 high migration-prone districts, seven of which share a border with India. Enditem
