Around 17.28 per cent Bangladeshi expatriates returned home voluntarily after quitting their jobs overseas during the past five years.
The voluntary return has been identified as the top among 15 reasons reported by returnee migrants in the past five years in the 鈥楽ocio-economic and demographic survey 2023 report鈥� published by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.
Released on July 15, the report also said that the second highest 12.80 per cent Bangladeshi expatriates were forced to return because of visa expiration.
Besides, some 11.6 per cent cited medical reasons, and 9.24 per cent Covid-19 pandemic for return.
Overseas jobs are a major option for employment for many youths in the country.
Over 30 lakh youths enter the job market annually, but only one-third of them are absorbed by the country鈥檚 public and private sector jobs, according to the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training.
The rest of the entrants sought employment abroad or engaged in informal businesses with 10 lakh people on average annually seeking overseas jobs, mostly in the oil-rich Arab countries and Malaysia over the past three years, according to the manpower bureau.
The statistical bureau survey report said that around 9.21 per cent expatriates returned home to live with family, and 7.96 per cent due to losing jobs.
Around 4.3 per cent reported low salary for their return, while other reasons that accounted for the return of 4.5 per cent migrants were lack of jobs in the sector concerned, torture, war, completion of study and transfer.
The survey gave special focus on the expatriates as the remittance they sent home accounted for the country鈥檚 second biggest source of foreign currencies, playing a crucial role for the national economy.
The average inflow of remittance hit over $22 billion yearly during the past three years.
The remittance inflow, however, dropped drastically in the current month as many expatriates could not send money due to the internet blackout triggered by the student-led demonstration causing the death of at least 213 people between July 16 and July 28.
The daily average remittance inflow, which was about $79 million in the first 18 days of July, plummeted to $18 million in July 21鈥�28, according to Bangladesh Bank,
On Tuesday, the central bank asked the banks to buy one dollar at Tk 119.40 to lure more remittance through the legal channel.
The survey report further said that most people sought overseas jobs through brokers and private agencies amid the low presence of government agencies in the business.
Most overseas jobseekers relied on borrowing to make up the cost of overseas jobs they sought with around 58.24 per cent of the total migrants having paid their migration costs by borrowing,
The highest 52.03 per cent of international migrants paid their migration costs to brokers known as migration facilitators. Of them, 53.10 per cent were from the rural areas and 48.25 per cent from the urban areas.
Besides, 42.09 per cent of the total migrants paid their costs to private companies and agencies whereas only 3.09 per cent sought overseas jobs through the government entities.
