About 47.23 per cent of the returnee migrants don't have any income source at present, for which they have to manage their daily lives depending on family earnings, loans, and support of relatives, said a Brac study.
It also found that 52.77 per cent of the respondents have somehow managed jobs, especially in agriculture and small businesses, and as day labourers.
In the last year's survey, 87 per cent of the respondents mentioned didn't have any earning sources, while this year it has been found 47 per cent.
BRAC Migration Programme has designed this survey to interview returnee migrants to know their socio-economic condition due to the impact of Covid-19.
Shariful Hasan, head of Brac Migration Programme, presented the findings of the survey online on Friday.
He said they had earlier released a survey on returnee migrant workers in May last year.
The present survey is the follow up of the previous one where they want to understand the changes of returnee workers' lives, he said.
A total of 417 returnees who took part in the study are from the 30 districts under 7 divisions out of 8 divisions of Bangladesh.
The majority of the respondents came from the Middle Eastern countries Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, and others from mostly Italy, the UK, and Malaysia.
Around 19 per cent of the respondents said that they had returned to Bangladesh because of losing jobs, whereas 16 per cent were forced to return, 16 per cent returned for fear of Covid-19, 12 per cent returned permanently, 2 per cent returned due to illness, and 35 per cent returned on leave.
Also, 28 per cent of the respondents said that they had loans at present and the remaining 72 per cent said they didn't have any current loan.
Of the respondents who have loans, 61.95 per cent received loans after returning to Bangladesh, while 25.05 per cent already had their previous loans.
