47pc struggling to find jobs: IOM

About 47 percent of returnee expatriates in the country are facing difficulties in finding employment, 29 percent are facing financial problems and 21 percent are in debt.

A research report by International Organization for Migration (IOM), published yesterday, found the results.

The research, "Rapid Assessment Round 2: Needs and Vulnerabilities of Internal and International Return Migrants in Bangladesh" was conducted in August and September 2020 in high returnee-migrant districts in Bangladesh.

A total of 1,584 respondents took part, including 875 migrants who returned from abroad, and 709 internal returnee migrants, says a press release.

Among the respondents available for round two survey, the unemployment rate stood at 64 percent. Among the same respondents, unemployment rate was 74 percent in May to June 2020.

The decline in unemployment may be attributed, at least partially, to the easing of lockdown measures at the end of May and the lifting of general business curfews and other restrictions at the beginning of September. Nevertheless, unemployment among respondents remained high, the report says.

The findings also indicate that international returnees who were unable to secure jobs, were more likely to apply for government assistance (60 percent) than internal returnees (39 percent). Both internal and international migrants reported borrowing money, reducing expenditures, and depending on donations to cope with financial issues and to repay debt.

More than half of respondents who returned from abroad reported debts of over Tk 1 lakh, while 28 per cent reported debts of over Tk 2 lakh. A total of 58 per cent of international returnees and 53 per cent of internal returnees indicated that their debts had increased from June to September 2020.

Giorgi Gigauri, Chief of Mission of IOM in Bangladesh, said, "We are living through an unprecedented crisis and in order to recover better and faster, we need research to better understand how communities coped with unemployment and lockdowns and what their migration aspirations are. The findings of our study support global indications that the Covid-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted people on the move."