99pc to stay in Bangladesh if better job opportunities given

Bangladesh Desk: Ninety-nine per cent potential migrants would stay in Bangladesh if they had better job opportunities in the country, according to a survey report released on Wednesday.

The International Organisation for Migration in coordination with the government conducted the survey, ‘Bangladesh: Survey on Drivers of Migration and Migrants’ Profile,’ between November and December 2019 in 64 districts among a total of 11,415 potential migrants, who intended to migrate by June 2020, said a press release of IOM.

Almost half of the respondents indicated that they would remain in the country if they had been supported to further their studies, according to the report released in a webinar.

Thirty-eight per cent respondents would stay if there had been improvements to the rule of law while 36 per cent wanted a better security situation and 29 per cent more accessible health services, said the release.

The top drivers of migration from Bangladesh are an 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 survey found.

The report presents pre-COVID-19 dynamics but the comprehensive analysis of drivers of migration and profiles of potential migrants will provide a baseline, which can be used to understand migration in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic as well, IOM said.

Eighty-nine per cent respondents were male while the average age of the respondents was 27. Half of the potential migrants were married, said the report.

Poor quality employment remains a challenge in Bangladesh and 40 per cent of potential migrants were unemployed before deciding to migrate, and 90 per cent reported no personal income or insufficient income, according to the report.

Only 1.4 per cent of the respondents expressed interest in migrating to Europe and the Americas.

Most respondents reported that they would travel to the Middle East where Saudi Arabia was the most popular country of destination.

The report showed that 85 per cent of potential migrants paid different amounts, Tk 2.4 lakh to Tk 16 lakh, to migration facilitators for supporting their relocation.

Bangladesh is the sixth largest origin country for international migrants in the world, with 78 lakh Bangladeshi migrants living abroad as of 2019.

In Bangladesh, over 22 lakh young adults join the labour force every year, but the domestic labour market is unable to absorb all these job seekers, said the report.

Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment secretary Ahmed Munirus Saleheen said that labour migration was immensely important for the economic and social development of Bangladesh.

IOM Bangladesh mission chief Giorgi Gigauri said that for the first time the organisation had completed a nationwide survey on potential migrants.

‘We anticipate that the findings from the report will initiate discussions on how to address the socioeconomic drivers of migration from Bangladesh,’ he said adding that the study also would support high-level dialogue on the importance of investing in education and skills.

Officials from the government, UN agencies, NGOs and academic organisations from Bangladesh and from the region joined the webinar, said the press release.