South Asia is known for an astonishingly high impact of remittances on national economies. Many South Asian migrant workers reside in the Gulf countries and the money they send back home contributes to the GDPs of their countries of origin to a large degree. Due to Covid-19, many migrant workers were left jobless abroad or had to return to their countries of origin without many prospects for reintegration into the labor market. This placed many of them in a difficult position and in dire need of new job opportunities and made them vulnerable to human trafficking.
This study explores the examples of Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh through the lens of migration experts and provides important insights for future policies as it shows the importance of looking at migration developments from an all-encompassing perspective.
