International Migrants Day
High cost of migration and the woes of our workers
File photo of migrants gathering at the Biman Bangladesh Airlines office in Chattogram for return plane tickets to the Middle East, in August 2020. Photo: Rajib Raihan
The importance of international migration in Bangladesh can hardly be overemphasised. Bangladeshis constitute the fifth largest migrant community in the world. Migration has consistently remained a key source of foreign exchange (bringing in more than USD 18 billion in 2019) and job creation (employing more than 8 million or roughly 11 percent of the Bangladeshi workforce). It is certainly key to the steady economic growth of the country. Migration is also a viable option for many, especially the underprivileged youth, to change their life trajectory. On average, migrant households earn twice as much as the non-migrant households, a 2010 study by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) found.