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PROFILE OF THE INTERVIEWEES
Of 1160 workers were interviewed, males constituted 85.3% while females constituted 14.7%. Saudi
Arabia was the largest destination country for workers. It constituted 45.3 percent of total number of
interviewees. This was followed by UAE (15.4 percent), Oman (14.6 percent), Kuwait (11.1 percent),
Qatar (10.1 percent) and Bahrain (3.5 percent). 77.2 percent of the women migrants served in one
destination country, Saudi Arabia. Almost half of the workers (47.5 percent) belonged to the age
group between 20 to 39 years and thirty percent to the age group between 40 and 49 years.
The returnee migrants have been living in the destination countries for various lengths of period. 33
percent were living in their respective countries of destination for more than five years, and 40
percent between two to five years. 19.4 percent stated that they have been living in their respective
countries from 1 year to 2 years. A further 7.4 percent migrants reported that they had arrived in the
countries of destination within the 12 months prior to their repatriation/deportation. In other words,
all belonging to the last group did not have the opportunity to complete the first cycle of their
contract and had to return home within a very short time after their arrival in the countries of
destination.
Accounting for 19.7% of the total, construction constituted the largest single sector in which these
migrants were engaged. Most of those working as diploma engineers, foremen, plumbers and
carpenters were also involved in the construction sector. They constituted 18.4% of the total.
Therefore, taken together these two groups constituted 38.1%. The domestic workers at 15.1% was
the second largest group. They were followed by unskilled workers engaged in avenues other than
construction such as gardeners and cleaners (20.8 percent). Of the rest 7.1% worked in hotels,
restaurants and tourism and 11.8% were in driving and sales services. A small segment of workers was
involved in business (3.9%) and another group either held managerial positions (2.8%) or worked as
nurses and paramedics (0.4 %). 90.5 percent of female workers worked in domestic sector. Remaining
9.5 percent worked in other professions including nursing and cleaning.
41.5 percent of the respondents stayed in homes. This figure includes those served as live-in domestic
workers. 29.8 percent of respondents lived in camps located close to their workplaces and as many as
18.3 percent lived in their work places, such as hotels, restaurants and hospitals. Almost 9 percent
lived in dormitories provided by their employers.
The respondents were asked about their employment status before the outbreak of COVID 19. 72
percent stated that they were employed full time with valid contracts while another 6.7 percent
stated that despite having valid contracts their engagement was part-time. 5.2 percent stated that
their employers could not provide them with any work and they had to fend for themselves even
though they had valid contracts. 11 percent of respondents noted that they worked without any valid
contracts (6.1 percent full time and 4.9 percent part-time). Only 2.5 percent stated that they did not
have any contracts, nor any work.
The average monthly income of all respondents during pre-COVID 19 period was about US$3292
(Tk.27,970). Gender segregated data showed that the average income of a male worker was U$345
(Tk. 29,339) while that of a female worker was US$252 (Tk.20,181).
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Conversion rate US41 = Tk.84.95 (February, 2020, Bangladesh Bank rate)