Remittance Income and Social Resilience Among Migrant Households in Rural Bangladesh PDF

Remittance Income and Social Resilience Among Migrant Households in Rural Bangladesh Mohammad Jalal Uddin Sikder Vaughan Higgins Peter Harry Ballis Remittance Income and Social Resilience among Migrant Households in Rural Bangladesh  Mohammad Jalal Uddin Sikder Vaughan Higgins Peter Harry B...

Remittance Income and Social Resilience Among Migrant Households in Rural Bangladesh Mohammad Jalal Uddin Sikder Vaughan Higgins Peter Harry Ballis Remittance Income and Social Resilience among Migrant Households in Rural Bangladesh  Mohammad Jalal Uddin Sikder Vaughan Higgins Peter Harry Ballis Remittance Income and Social Resilience among Migrant Households in Rural Bangladesh Mohammad Jalal Uddin Sikder Vaughan Higgins General Education Department School of Humanities and Social Sciences University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga Dhaka, Bangladesh New South Wales, Australia Peter Harry Ballis Gipsland Campus Federation University Australia Churchill, Victoria, Australia ISBN 978-1-137-59241-5    ISBN 978-1-137-57771-9 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-57771-9 Library of Congress Control Number: 2017953375 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017 This work is subject to copyright. 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Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: © Pavel Gospodinov/gettyimages Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Nature America Inc. The registered company address is: 1 New York Plaza, New York, NY 10004, U.S.A.  Acknowledgments Praise be to God, the most merciful, the most gracious, for blessing me with the courage, opportunity, and intellect to undertake this book. In preparing this book, we have received encouragement, cooperation, and guidance from a range of persons from different backgrounds and diverse professions. They have helped in various ways to acquire information at both primary and secondary levels and contributed to our understanding of basic concepts regarding the research on migration and remittances. We thank Monash Research Graduate School for providing generous scholarships and the School of Applied Media and Social Sciences (SAMSS), Monash University in Gippsland, Australia, for providing an excellent competitive environment and resources necessary to undertake this research. We are profoundly indebted to Dr. Michelle Duffy of Federation University and Dr. Sandy Gifford of Swinburne University of Technology for their constant guidance, insightful advice, helpful criti- cisms, and valuable suggestions. Our thanks also go out to Professor Dr. C. R. Abrar, Professor Dr. Tasneem Siddiqui of the University of Dhaka, Professor Dr. Brian Shoesmith of the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB), Mr. Nurullah Azad of Media-Mix Limited, Bangladesh, Dr. Parimal Roy and Mrs. Roy, Monash University, Dr. Maruja Marala Asis, Director of Research and Publication, Scalabrini Migration Centre (SMC) in the Philippines and Dr. Keiko Osaki-Tomita, Social and Development v vi Acknowledgments Division, United Nations, New York, Dr. S Irudaya Rajan, Professor at the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India, Md. Mizanur Rahman, General Manager, Statistics Department, Bangladesh Central Bank, Dr. Nurul Islam, Director, Training Standard and Planning, Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), Government of Bangladesh, Dr. Sue Clarke and Dr. Carol Glover whose help in providing articles, data, and remarks has contributed significantly to the book. Our sincere gratitude goes to Sikder’s parents Mohammad Sayed Uddin Sikder and Mrs. Hasna Sikder, Sikder’s wife Dr. Sumaya Yakub, Ms. Linda Butler of Federation University, Md. Golam Mostofa Shikder, Dr. Moklesur Rahman of World Bank, Professor Yakub Ali Sarkar, Monowara Begum, Somirun Nesa, Abul Kalam Azad, Md. Mahabubul Alam Shikder, Md. Hanif Shikder, Nurul Fazal Bulbul, Md. Emran Hossain, Kamrul Ahsan Khan, Md. Abdul Jalil, Mr. Ariful Haque, Professor Dr. Rased uz Zaman, Dr. Syeda Rozana Rashid, Dr. A.S.M. Ali Ashraf, Professor Dr. Delwar Hossain, Md. Motasim Billah, Mashruka Khaled, Rigan Chakma, Nishat, and Jonny for their endless inspiration and support in our times of need. A special thanks to Sir Mohammed Anwar Pervez, OBE H Pk, Chairman Bestway Foundation, UK, for his kind support to Sikder’s higher education and research at the University of Leeds, UK. We would like to convey our heartiest thanks to each migrant, mem- ber of the migrant household, local guide, local villager, local government official, in the three villages of Bangladesh involved with the study, help- ing to create a “lighthouse” in an ocean. It would have been impossible to complete the book successfully without their warm reception and col- laboration at every stage of the primary data collection. Finally, we would like to convey our heartiest thanks to Palgrave Macmillan, New York, USA, for their endless support to publish our manuscript.  Contents 1 Introduction: Migration, Remittances, and the Pursuit of Livelihood 1 Introduction 1 Language of Remittances 4 Research Data 6 Selection of Villages 7 Methods of Data Collection 8 Structure of the Book 12 Bibliography 14 2 Remittances: From Development Impacts to Social Resilience 21 Introduction  21 Amount of Remittance Transfers   22 Development Impact of Remittances at a National Level 35 Impact of Remittances at the Community and Family Level 40 Alleviation of Poverty and Inequality 40 Changing Agrarian Patterns 44 Household Income, Consumption, and Investment 47 vii viii Contents Understanding Social Resilience 51 Remittances and Social Resilience 56 Conclusion 59 Bibliography 61 3 Migrant Households, Migration, and Remittances 81 Introduction 81 Characteristics of Migrant Households 82 Household Type, Size, and Age Composition 82 Income Earners, Household Income, and Sources of Income   86 Education Levels in Migrant Households 91 Land Ownership 94 Pattern of Migration Experiences 98 Number of Migrants 99 Years of Migration 99 Migration Networks 100 Deciding to Migrate 101 Place of Destination and Types of Work 103 Reasons Given for Migrating 104 Nature of Remittances and Patterns of Remitting 105 Frequency of Remittances 105 Amounts Remitted 109 Conclusion 113 Bibliography 115 4 Remittances and Livelihood Strategies: Improving Household Life Chances 119 Introduction 119 Consumption of Food, Clothing, and Goods 120 Ensuring Food Security 121 Clothing 128 Household Goods 131 Household Construction and Improvements 140 Education Opportunities 149 Conclusion 154 Bibliography 156  Contents    ix 5 Remittances and Livelihood Diversification: Building Resilient Household Economies 163 Introduction 163 Remittance Opportunities in Migrant Households 164 Agriculture-Based Livelihood 164 Purchasing and Rearing Cattle 176 Housing Land and Construction 179 Small-Business Opportunities 183 Conclusion 186 Bibliography 187 6 Uneven Geography of Remittances and Household Resilience 191 Introduction 191 The Remittance Cycle and Households 192 Case A: Ali Ullah Khandakar 193 Case B: Salma Khatun 194 Case C: Anowar Hossain 195 Case D: Md. Kalam Azad 197 Remittances and Inequality 198 Family Size and Household Expenses 199 Availability of Family Support 200 Under-Resourced Households 203 Family Illnesses 205 External Factors 206 Conclusion 211 Bibliography 212 7 Conclusion: Remittances and Household Social Resilience 217 Policy Implications 222 Bibliography 224 Glossary 227 Bibliography 231 Index 263  Abbreviations ADB Asian Development Bank AVG Average BB Bangladesh Bank BBA Bachelor of Business Administration BBS Bangladesh Bureau of Statistic BDT Bangladeshi Taka BGB Border Guard of Bangladesh BIDS Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies BMET Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training BRAC Bangladesh Rural Advanced Committee BTV Bangladesh Television CARAM Coordination of Action Research on AIDS and Mobility CBN Cost of Basic Needs CGAP Consultative Group to Assist the Poor CMA Center for Migrant Advocacy CNG Compressed Natural Gas CPD Centre for Policy Dialogue DFID Department for International Development DMC Dhaka Medical College EPB Export Promotion Bureau F/H Female Headed FAO Food and Agriculture Organization xi xii Abbreviations FDI Foreign Direct Investment FEPD Foreign Exchange Policy Department FY Fiscal Year G2G Government to Government GB Grameen Bank GDP Gross Domestic Product GoB Government of Bangladesh HIES Household Income Expenditure Survey HSC Higher Secondary Certificate ICDDRB International Centre Diarrhoeal Diseases Research IFRC International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent IMF International Monetary Fund IOM International Organization for Migration KSA Kingdom of Saudi Arabia M/H Male Headed MAX Maximum MBA Master of Business Administration MEWoE Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment MIN Minimum MNA Middle East and North Africa NGO Non-government Organization RDRS Rangpur-Dinagpur Rural Society REB Rural Electrification Board RMG Ready-Made Garments RMMRU Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences SSC Secondary School Certificate UAE United Arab Emirates UK United Kingdom UN United Nations UNDP United Nation Development Programme UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNWFP United Nation World Food Program US United States  Abbreviations    xiii USD United States Dollar VGD Vulnerable Group Development VGF Vulnerable Group Feeding  List of Figures Fig. 1.1 Structure of local government bodies of Bangladesh 8 Fig. 6.1 Overseas employment destinations (monthly comparative statement) 208 Fig. 6.2 Overseas employment of major countries (comparative statement) 208 xv  List of Images Image 4.1 Internal migrant (Josna’s husband) assisting with his children’s education 127 Image 4.2 Migrant households with goods bought through remittances 132 Image 4.3 Roshna with rice husks after harvesting 138 Image 4.4 Erosion of village by the river 142 Image 4.5 Village housing beside the main road 142 Image 4.6 Villages in a congested living area 143 Image 4.7 People dumping earth to prevent flooding 143 Image 4.8 Lina Akhter constructing a new house 146 Image 5.1 Baynagar villagers put leaves and sticks of corn beside the roadside for selling 175 Image 5.2 Aziz Sardar’s daughter-in-law busy caring for their cow and calf 178 Image 5.3 Ali Akhand making a house from his son’s income 181 Image 5.4 Saberuddin sits in his own grocery shop 185 xvii  List of Maps Map 1.1 Location of the study sites in Bangladesh 9 xix  List of Tables Table 2.1 Wage earner’s remittance inflows (yearly) 22 Table 2.2 Labor outflows of Bangladeshi workers for overseas temporary-contract employment by country of destinations: 1976–2016 24 Table 2.3 Skill composition of labor outflows 1976–2016 27 Table 2.4 Number of female workers 2001–2016 29 Table 2.5 Number of Bangladeshi immigrants in industrialized countries 30 Table 2.6 Country-wise wage earners’ remittance inflow (US$ in millions) 31 Table 2.7 Percentage of households receiving remittances by division 33 Table 2.8 District-wise overseas employment (major districts) from 2005 to 2016 34 Table 2.9 Growth of remittances relative to private capital flows and ODA (US$ billions) 35 Table 2.10 Total private source of external financing in South Asia and relative share of remittances 37 Table 2.11 Significance of remittances in select South Asian countries 38 Table 2.12 Sector-wise foreign exchange earnings 39 Table 2.13 Remittances as a percentage of key macroeconomic variables 41 Table 3.1 Types of migrant households 82 Table 3.2 Size of migrant households 84 xxi xxii List of Tables Table 3.3 Average ages of members in migrant households and of migrants 85 Table 3.4 Total number of income-earning members in migrant households 87 Table 3.5 Total monthly income of migrant households (in Taka) 88 Table 3.6 Sources of income of migrant households 90 Table 3.7 Education profile of members of migrant households including migrants 92 Table 3.8 Education profile of migrants 93 Table 3.9 Number of migrants’ households of who owned land 95 Table 3.10 Land holding size of migrant households (in decimals) 97 Table 3.11 Total number of migrants per household 99 Table 3.12 Period of migration 100 Table 3.13 Duration of migration 100 Table 3.14 Total number of remittances received by internal migrant households in 2009 and 2010 106 Table 3.15 Total number of remittances received by international migrant households in 2009 and 2010 107 Table 3.16 Amount of remittances received (Bangladeshi Taka) 110 Table 3.17 Total amounts households received in remittances, 2009 and 2010 112 Table 4.1 Young people enrolled in education in participating households 150 Table 5.1 Bangladesh calendar 171 Table 6.1 Overseas employment (monthly comparative statement) 207  1 Introduction: Migration, Remittances, and the Pursuit of Livelihood Introduction Much has been written by social scientists, anthropologists, development experts, and scholars from other fields on the relationship between migra- tion and remittances and the impacts on sending and receiving communi- ties. Globalization and increasing interconnectedness in the international economy have altered the “global migration regime” and have played a significant role in the growth and development of many countries (Stalker 2000; Castles and Miller 2003; UNFPA 2006; Agarwal and Ray 2007; Aguayo-Tellez et al. 2010). Migration and migrants have become “key agents of globalization” according to Kennedy (2010:81). Most countries around the world are actively engaging in migration either by receiving, sending, or transiting labor. The United Nations (UN 2015) estimate that about 240 million people, or 3.2 percent of the world’s population, live and work outside the country of their birth. The internal migration within countries is difficult to measure; however, researchers agree that large numbers in developing countries are on the move and destined for China, Vietnam, Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asian countries (Deshingkar 2005; Mendola 2006; DFID 2007). Of the different types of migration, © The Author(s) 2017 1 M.J.U. Sikder et al., Remittance Income and Social Resilience among Migrant Households in Rural Bangladesh, DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-57771-9_1 2 1 Introduction: Migration, Remittances, and the Pursuit... the movement of workers is the most ­dominant. Increased movement of labor is indicative of increased employment opportunities in the global market and contributes to explosive growth of cities around the globe (UNFPA 2006; Siddiqui 2010). This book examines the impacts of remittances on migrant house- holds—those left behind in migrant households in the place of origin— so as to better understand their livelihood strategies and the impacts of remittances on their lives. Remittances have a profound impact on the living standards of people in the developing countries of Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. In 2015, an estimated US$432 bil- lion in international remittances flowed to developing countries. This amount is higher than the developing world’s total official aid, private debit, and net inflows of portfolio equity (World Bank 2016:4). Remittances are increasingly seen as a force that can contribute to devel- opment and are an integral aspect of the global development process (UNFPA 2006). While there is little accurate information available on internal flows of remittances, researchers believe that in combination, the total amounts being remitted are estimated to be anywhere between “18% of the total income for all households and 27% for migrant send- ing households” (Afsar 2005:52). Researchers continue to debate whether remittances strengthen households and communities, or undermine them, and they highlight a need for a more detailed understanding of their role in household economies including how remittances affect households, how this source of income is spent, and the extent to which remittances enable households to respond to environmental, economic, and social challenges (Black et al. 2005:5; de Haan and Yaqub 2008:8; Ellis 2003:4; Taylor 1999:66). This is a gap that this book aims to address through a specific focus on Bangladesh, now one of the main migrant-­ sending countries in the world. Huge numbers of people migrate every year from rural areas to cities, or overseas, to engage in long- or short-­ term employment in order to improve their livelihoods. Out of a popula- tion of some 142.3 million, last 16 years between 420,000 and 450,000 Bangladeshis leave the country each year to seek overseas employment opportunities (BMET 2017). The 1991 census notes that 6 percent of the households migrate each year within the country (Garrett and  Introduction 3 Chowdhury 2004:15). Migration has historically been an important live- lihood strategy for many of its people (Toufique and Turton 2002; Nargis and Hossain 2006; Siddiqui and Sikder 2009). Migration plays a critical role in the economy of Bangladesh not only by reducing unemployment but also by ensuring significant remittance inflow which is a much needed resource for poor migrant households. One of Bangladesh’s most consistent sources of foreign currency is international remittances. The top international remittance-receiving countries in 2014 were India, China, the Philippines, Mexico, Nigeria, and Egypt, but Bangladesh earned the eighth position among the top remittance-receiving countries as reported by Ratha et al. (2015:5). Siddiqui (2010:1) notes that while India is ranked as the largest receiver of remittances, relative to the total population, the per capita remittance received by Bangladesh is some 33 percent higher than what is received by India. In 2006, the World Bank (2006:xiii) recognized the significance of remittances in Bangladesh by noting that international remittances contributed to reduce poverty by 6 percent. However, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics’ (BBS) Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES)1 in 2010 reported that household income from gifts and remit- tances accounted for 10.6 percent nationally (17.28 percent in rural areas and 7.75 percent in urban areas) (BBS 2011a:32). This book provides an in-depth exploration of how migrant house- holds in Bangladesh use monetary remittances to enhance their ability to respond to challenges, build economic, social, human and cultural capi- tal, and make future plans. In doing so, we focus on three Bangladeshi villages particularly affected by migration: Hasail village of Tongibari upazila of Munshiganj district, Kisamatpur Sherpur village of Sadullapur upazila of Gaibandha district, and Baynagar village of Daudkandi upazila of Comilla district. Our focus is on understanding remittances at the level of migrant households, that is, on the lives of men and women in the village. It is important to note that no distinction is drawn between international and internal migration remittances, since the only real dif- ference lies in the degree of net income returned to households; apart from this, both forms of migration incur costs for households and follow a similar pattern. 4 1 Introduction: Migration, Remittances, and the Pursuit... Language of Remittances The Oxford Dictionary defines remittances as “money sent in payment or as a gift”. Researchers use the term remittances in a technical sense to refer to money and goods sent by migrants to their families back home (Deshingkar and Grimm 2005:41; Murphy 2006:5; Adams and Cuecuecha 2010a:2, 2010b:1626). The concept of remittances is gener- ally understood in a technical sense as the transfer of money from a migrant to his or her sending household, relatives, friends, or community (Cohen 2011; Maimbo and Ratha 2005). Murshid et al. (2002:1), de Bruyn and Kuddus (2005:7), Siddiqui (2009:18), and Mamun and Nath (2010:2) likewise equate remittances with inflow moneys from individu- als who had migrated to other countries. However, even in its technical usage, the term is problematic because it has become associated with only one type of income—monies received or sent internationally. It overlooks the resources generated through internal migration and the transfer of resources that accompany the movement of labor in-country. Therefore, remittances can be both financial and social flows, including technologi- cal transfers, sharing of knowledge, and social remittances such as skills, practices, identities, funds, and information about the markets (Sorensen 2004:11; Cohen 2005:91; Deshingkar and Grimm 2005:44; Hoermann and Kollmair 2009:5). The Department for International Development (DFID) (2007:18) explains that when migrants move to a new environ- ment or destination, they learn and experience new cultural attitudes, political ideas, and behaviors that are different from those of their home- lands. Migrants transmit the newly acquired knowledge and cultural practices and influence positive changes in their places of origin. Moreover, the term “remittance” is not known to villagers of migrants’ origin and remittance-receiving migrant household members, and some researchers have sought to embrace the colloquial expressions to describe income received from migration. Gardner (1993:2–5) and Gardner and Ahmed (2009:125), for example, use the term londoni bari when referring to “international remittance-receiving households” of landless peasants from the Northern Sylhet of Bangladesh who migrated to Britain in the 1950s. In this instance londoni bari refers to monies and goods sent to household members by individuals who migrated to Britain. Rahman (2000:112),  Language of Remittances 5 Afsar et al. (2002:1) and Siddiqui (2005:74) use the term “petro dollar” when referring to resources returned to Bangladesh by persons who sought employment in the Gulf States following the oil-price hike of the early 1970s. The term “petro dollar” is descriptive of funds generated by working in petrol-producing countries (Siddiqui and Abrar 2002:16–18). Villagers also use a number of related expressions, including bideshi poisa, literally translated as “foreign penny”, and bairer taka, literally “external money”. Both expressions, however, refer only to cash received from abroad (Siddiqui and Abrar 2003:26–32; Siddiqui et al. 2004:9–11). The growth of the newly industrialized economies in East and Southeast Asia and various countries in Europe, including Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Eastern Europe, since the 1990s has generated fresh demands for Bangladeshi labor, and the language of migrant households has been adapted to reflect the changing migration patterns and remittances. International remittances have the most visible impact on migrant households, which may explain why villagers associate the received monies with the place of migration. In the study of the migrant village of Sylhet in Bangladesh, Gardner (1993:3) differentiates between migrant londoni bari and non-migrant households by the displays of bideshi, that is foreign goods and housing styles, which clearly indicate the success of the migrant households. In other words, remittances are more than simply money from abroad; migrant households’ conspicuous consumption carries mes- sages or signs of status and prestige. In the same manner, villagers in Bangladesh relate to internal remittances in a number of different ways such as dhakar kamai—income from Dhaka city; kajat poisa—taka from work; labouri or labourgiri—payment for those who work as laborers; kamla—labor and kishan—peasant worker; sohorer kamai—town money. These local expressions all relate to work (Abrar and Azad 2004; Siddiqui and Sikder 2009, 2014). Villagers, therefore, use a number of expressions to refer to income and remittances from international and internal migra- tion. These expressions reflect the fact that they perceive international migrant households as having big pucca buildings, semi-pucca buildings, colorful wedding ceremonies, and large dowries, in contrast to local villag- ers who have less to boast about. Differences in expenditure patterns between internal and international migrant households may be one reason why international migration is well recognized in Bangladeshi villages. 6 1 Introduction: Migration, Remittances, and the Pursuit... Research Data It is not uncommon for social researchers to acknowledge that their per- sonal biographies have played a role in the construction of their research. As Atkinson and Shakespeare (1993:8) state, “Personal histories are ­germane to the conduct of research and construction of knowledge.” In some instances, the researcher’s biography shapes the whole research enterprise, from choice and area of study, the experience of fieldwork, analysis, and writing (Okely 1992:1). The present book similarly embod- ies a personal history. For the first-named author, Sikder, who conducted the empirical research for this book, interest in migration and remittances first took hold while working as research assistant at the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU), a research center affili- ated with University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Mohammad Jalal Uddin Sikder: My Personal Interest in Migration and Remittances In my role as research assistant at RMMRU, I assisted with undertaking research on training and advocacy on migration and remittances and was involved in a number of field-based research projects on migration and remittances in Bangladesh and overseas. This early research activity alerted me to the importance of migration for Bangladesh, and the practice of remittances at both sending and receiving ends. It became immediately evi- dent during these projects that natural disasters (flood, riverbank erosion, and cyclones) were key factors affecting the livelihood of villagers and com- pelling many of them to seek migration. These experiences instilled in me a desire to know more about how potential migrants made decisions to migrate, how households managed migration costs and the risks that migration to cities and abroad entailed. This early fieldwork experiences also alerted me to the challenges of being a migrant worker, the fact that most worked day and night for relatively small wages, some were cheated by employers or middlemen who did not pay regular wages or overtime, and the challenges of making savings to remit to their families back home. This knowledge had put the idea in my mind to conduct my own research one day on migrant households so as to understand the importance of remittances for them.  Research Data 7 The broader research underpinning this book is informed by a mixed-­ methods research approach aimed at providing a richer, more detailed account of how remittances translate into household expenditure and investment in migrant households (Hammersley 1992:8; Maton 1993:748; Atkinson and Hammersley 1994:257). In total, 36 Bangladeshi migrant households were selected for the study from the three villages: Kisamatpur Sherpur village of Sadullapur upazila of Gaibandha district, the Hasail village of Tongibari upazila of Munshiganj district and Baynagar village of Daudkandi upazila of Comilla district. Selection of Villages Bangladesh is divided into eight divisions—Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Sylhet, Barisal, Khulna, Rangpur, and Mymensing2—each subdivided into 64 districts or zila. These districts are further subdivided into 493 sub-districts or upazila, each with its own police station (except for those in metropolitan areas), and some are further divided into several unions made up of multiple villages or Gramgulu (Fig. 1.1). There are some 68,000 or more villages across Bangladesh,3 and to a degree every village has had some level of migration. The villages selected for the present study are the ones that either are associated with greater levels of migra- tion or are more vulnerable to natural disasters and whose location and geographic circumstances compel their citizens to consider migration as means of recovery. The villages are located in three different regions of Bangladesh: Gaibandha, in the northwest region of Bangladesh; Munshiganj, located in the central region of Bangladesh; and Comilla district in the eastern region of Bangladesh (Map 1.1). The Millennium Development Goal: Bangladesh Progress Report 2008 notes that the northwest region of Bangladesh has high rates of annual migration because the area carries a higher burden of poverty due to natural disasters (especially riverbank erosion and flooding) and is subject to a local phenomenon called Monga, an interplay of lack of jobs and food entitlement, two key factors that generate migration (GoB 2009a). The district of Munshiganj is one of the largest producers of rice and potatoes in Bangladesh. The southern 8 1 Introduction: Migration, Remittances, and the Pursuit... Local Government Division Rural Urban Zila Parishad (64) –jurisdiction a district (except city corporation City Corporation (10) and municipality areas)-previously named as District council, -Metropolitan city District board or Zila board, average area 2,250 sq km, average population-1.9 million Pourashava (309) Upazila Parishad (493) – jurisdiction a sub-district(except -Municipality municipal area) - previously named as Thana council or Thana Parishad, average area-300 sq km, average population-250,000 Union Parishad (4498) –jurisdiction cluster of villages- previously named as Union council or Union board, average area- 30 sq. km, average population-27,000 Gram Parishad (87316) –recently abolished-jurisdiction a village- previously named as Village Panchayet, GramSarkeror Village council, average area-2sq km, average population-1750 Fig. 1.1 Structure of local government bodies of Bangladesh Source: BBS (2011b) Statistical Pocket Book—2010. Dhaka: Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), Government of Bangladesh and eastern parts of this district often fall victim to erosion caused by the mighty Padma and the Meghna rivers.4 This district also has high levels of internal and international migration. The Comilla district is located southeast of Dhaka. Migration research in Bangladesh notes that this region is associated with large numbers of both internal and international migration (Siddiqui and Abrar 2002, 2003; Siddiqui and Sikder 2009). Better roads, communication, easier access to transport, and strong social networking help people to access information about jobs in Bangladesh and abroad and therefore assisted the mobility for migration. Ultimately the villages were selected on the basis of available secondary and primary information regarding the three regions of Bangladesh. Methods of Data Collection The book draws on three types of information generated from the field- work. First, rapport was built through informal discussions with villagers, which was the crucial starting point for understanding the respective  Research Data 9 Map 1.1 Location of the study sites in Bangladesh v­illages’ household conditions, migration, and remittance patterns. Second, a short questionnaire was administered in person to the heads of 480 migrant households in the selected villages. The questionnaire asked questions about household type, number of members, number of income earners, income sources, pattern of household land holding, number of migrants, migrants’ family position, the nature of the migration, and place of destination and of receiving remittances. SPSS software was used to analyze the demographic data. The data generated from the survey was also used to assist in identifying migrant households for the third phase of data collection, semi-structured interviews. 10 1 Introduction: Migration, Remittances, and the Pursuit... In total, semi-structured interviews were conducted in 36 households. The households were appropriate in terms of their socio-economic back- ground, were well informed about migration, and understood their liveli- hood strategies and uses of remittances. A key selection principle was that households had family members who had migrated for at least two years, during which time the household had received remittances. A minimum of two years of migration experience was chosen because the migration research on Bangladesh suggests that most international migrants have short-term contracts (2–3 years) and internal migrants are also temporary and circular. The 36 households included an equal number of male and female heads, which helped to highlight any similarities and differences between men’s and women’s livelihood strategies and remittance income management. Fieldwork was undertaken in 2010 over a nine-month period. The selected households were interviewed six times, respectively, in order to obtain a detailed understanding of the life and activities of migrant households and village people in different seasons including summer, monsoon, winter, and crop seasons. The initial interview provided spe- cific information on remittance usage. Each later interview gave the householders an opportunity to reflect on their use of remittance funds. They also allowed a more detailed understanding of remittances to be developed in light of the migrant households’ circumstances and needs, including social, economic, political, and environmental factors. In com- bination, the interviews detailed the socio-economic profile of the house- holds (type of family, description of members of household, sources of income and income earner, and pattern of land holding), their migration history (the migration of family member, years of migration, information on migration opportunity, decision for migration, and nature of migra- tion journey), and use of remittances (remittance patterns of the last and current year, transferal methods, use of remittances of the family in dif- ferent types, and remittances in kind). Information regarding migration and remittances in relation to each of the villages was also compiled from various secondary sources in Bangladesh. Secondary materials included books, research papers, and articles. Relevant statistical data were collected from various government bodies, such as local government upazilas and union parishad offices of  Research Data 11 the field sites, the Bangladesh Central Bank, the BBS, and the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS). Additional information was obtained from relevant research organizations, including the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), and the Centre for Urban Studies and RMMRU, and from international agencies such as The World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), CARE Bangladesh, Action Aid, and the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research (ICDDRB). Additional insights regarding migration and remittances were obtained from the Grameen Bank,5 a micro-finance institute, and different national NGOs such as the Bangladesh Rural Advanced Committee (BRAC), the Rangpur-Dinagpur Rural Society (RDRS), ASA (Hope), and UDDIPON (Inspiring). Critical for the field research was the challenge of transcribing and translating the interviews, identifying common themes, and developing profiles of individual households. The fieldwork relied on transcriptions from audio-recorded accounts given by villagers and migrant households. Since the interviews took place in the first author’s native language, it was less a challenge to transcribe the recorded interviews. Even so, the chal- lenge of turning the talk of villagers into script raised the additional prob- lem of communicating the implicit meaning communicated in Bangla and translating it into English. The decision was taken to translate for meaning rather than a literal word-for-word translation. However, on a number of occasions when the meaning got lost in the translation, it was necessary to return to the audio recording and make a word-for-word translation to achieve a more nuanced record of the meanings being conveyed. Crucial to developing a detailed understanding of the impact of remit- tances on migrant households is locating participants’ front of stage by showcasing and communicating their stories (LeCompte and Schensul 1999:2). In the book, we do this by providing household case profiles constructed from the interview data with household members and other sources, including observation and insights gained from the discussions with key informants and other villagers. Bryman (1988:91–92) explains that “theoretical reasoning” is the crux of the use of case studies and becomes “important data when the researcher seeks to integrate them with 12 1 Introduction: Migration, Remittances, and the Pursuit... a theoretical context”. In these case profiles, a deliberate attempt was made to use the definitions and meanings household heads themselves associate with remittances. Names and key identifying information of all house- holders have been changed to maintain the anonymity of participants. The multi-method approach adopted for the research reported in this book proved useful both as a strategy for analyzing household processes and challenges, drawing attention to the links between households and their village communities, and highlighting a range of micro-social pro- cess to do with the use of remittances. The methodology confirms that remittances are a complex phenomenon that cannot be considered in isolation from, among other things, the size of the household, age of fam- ily members, whether it has a male or female head of household, the resources on which it has to draw on, whether it has land and the useful- ness of that land for cultivation and income, and the geographic location of the household in relation to flood affected areas and proximity to eco- nomic activities. Structure of the Book The book is divided into seven chapters. Chapter 2 presents a review of relevant research literature so as to draw attention to gaps in the existing academic discourse regarding the role played by remittances in support- ing the development efforts of households in the migrants’ areas of ori- gin. This chapter also introduces the notion of social resilience as the analytical framework for this book. Chapters 3, 4, 5, and 6 focus specifi- cally on the field findings. Chapter 3 introduces the key actors in the study, the research participants and their households. The discussion ­provides insights into the phenomenon of remittances by examining the village context and the reciprocal relationship between migrant remit- tances and the village itself. Chapter 4 explores the social and economic realities of the households. The focus is on the specific ways in which remittances shape the life chances of the participants, including the household consumption of food and consumer goods, clothing, house construction and improvements, and investment in education. The goal of this chapter is to outline how remittances support household c­ onsumption  Notes 13 and in doing so enhance the social resilience of migrant households. Chapter 5 addresses the complex circumstances of how migrant remit- tances contribute to the households’ economies to finance agricultural and non-­agricultural production, investment risk, and assets accumula- tion. It explores specific remittance expenditure on households’ invest- ments in an agriculture-based livelihood, housing land and construction, cattle and poultry assets accumulation, and income-generating opportu- nities such as establishing a small business. Chapter 6 explores the varie- gated landscape of migrant remittances by endeavoring to understand why some individuals and households fare better than others, and the implications of this uneven geography of remittances for household resil- ience. Chapter 7 draws together the arguments raised in the previous chapters and discusses the implications of “resilience thinking” for under- standing the impact of remittances on household livelihoods. Notes 1. The HIES is the major source of socio-economic information at the household level in Bangladesh. It provides data on household expendi- ture, income, consumption, savings, housing conditions, education, employment, health, sanitation, water supply, electricity usage, and so on. Since the pre-independence period (1973–1974), the HIES has been con- ducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) of the Government of Bangladesh, and the Cost of Basic Needs (CBN) method was used. Since then, including the latest survey in 2010, the BBS has successfully completed 15 rounds of HIES to date. 2. Dhaka is the capital city of Bangladesh. The Government of Bangladesh (GoB) announced the northeastern Mymensing region as eight adminis- trative divisional headquarters consist of six districts of the Mymensing region, on 12 January 2015. 3. A village in Bangladesh consists of several mahalla or wards. 4. Bangladesh is a riverine country, and it has about 700 rivers including tributaries. With a total area of 147,570 square kilometers in Bangladesh, the total length of all rivers is 24,140 kilometers. From 1986 to 2007, total 232 million, on an average 10 million people are affected by flood/erosion (GoB 2009b). 14 1 Introduction: Migration, Remittances, and the Pursuit... 5. Grameen Bank (GB) is a micro-finance organization and community development bank, providing credit to the very poorest of rural Bangladesh, without any guarantee. The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2006 jointly to Muhammad Yunus and the GB for their efforts in fostering economic and social development. Bibliography Abrar, C.R., and S.N. Azad. 2004. Coping with Displacement: Riverbank Erosion in North-West Bangladesh. Dhaka: Ranjpur-Dinajpur Rural Society (RDRS) and Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU). Adams, R.H., and A. Cuecuecha. 2010a. The Economic Impact of International Remittances on Poverty and Household Consumption and Investment in Indonesia. 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Accessed 7 December 2016.  2 Remittances: From Development Impacts to Social Resilience Introduction In order to understand the impact of remittances on those left behind in the migrants’ households of origin, it is first important to investigate the relationship between remittance income and development. While the available research sheds light on the remittance–development nexus at a national level, it nevertheless leaves many important questions unan- swered, particularly at the micro-social or community and family level. For example, we still know little about how migrant households use remit- tances in practice, how this source of income directly or indirectly benefits households, and, significantly, the ways in which remittances contribute to the migrant households’ social resilience: their capacity to protect against and adjust to unanticipated shocks and challenges. This chapter outlines what is already known about how remittances contribute to development, first, at a national level, and secondly, in migrant-­sending areas. Discussion of these issues provides a way of positioning social resilience as our contri- bution to these debates—a concept that we discuss in the latter part of this chapter. Prior to examining the relationship between remittances and development, we first outline the nature of remittance flows in Bangladesh. © The Author(s) 2017 21 M.J.U. Sikder et al., Remittance Income and Social Resilience among Migrant Households in Rural Bangladesh, DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-57771-9_2 22 2 Remittances: From Development Impacts to Social Resilience Amount of Remittance Transfers The Bangladesh Central Bank (Bangladesh Bank) documents only inter- national remittance flows into Bangladesh. It has a separate department for regulating and monitoring remittances entitled the Foreign Exchange Policy Department (FEPD). It generates, analyzes, interprets, and dis- tributes the data on the inflow of international remittances. However, this department does not maintain any records about internal remit- tance flows. Another information gap exists in so far as neither the Bangladesh Central Bank nor any other banks and agencies in Bangladesh maintain any information about the socio-economic conditions of the remittance receivers. In 1991, Bangladesh received US$7.6 million in international remittances. By 2001, this amount had increased to US$2 billion, rising to US$11 billion in 2010, US$12 billion in 2011, US$14 billion in 2012, US$13 billion in 2013, US$14 billion in 2014, US$15 billion in 2015, and US$13.6 billion in 2016. Remittances received in Bangladesh increased on average by 13 percent annually over the period 2010–2015. However, in 2016 remittances decreased by 0.11 percent from 2015 (Table 2.1). It should be mentioned that unrecorded flows Table 2.1 Wage earner’s remittance inflows (yearly) Remittances Remittances Year in million US dollar Year in million US dollar 1991 769.30 2004 3565.31 1992 901.97 2005 4249.87 1993 1009.09 2006 5484.08 1994 1153.54 2007 6568.03 1995 1201.52 2008 8979.00 1996 1355.34 2009 10,720.00 1997 1525.03 2010 11,000.00 1998 1599.24 2011 12,168.09 1999 1806.63 2012 14,163.99 2000 1954.95 2013 13,832.13 2001 2071.03 2014 14,942.57 2002 2847.79 2015 15,270.99 2003 3177.63 2016 13,609.77 Source: Bangladesh Bank (2017a) “Yearly data of Wage Earner’s Remittance”. In. Foreign Exchange Policy Department, Bangladesh Central Bank. Dhaka. Available at: https://www.bb.org.bd/econdata/wageremitance.php#  Amount of Remittance Transfers 23 and transfers in kind could more than double this order of magnitude, but these and their effect on the migrant-sending areas are difficult to estimate (Siddiqui 2009:18). These increasing remittance flows are associated with increasing migrant flows. It is hard to estimate the total number of internal and international migrants, because it includes both regular and irregular migrants. However, according to data from the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET), the executing agency of the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment (MEWoE), (GoB), from 1976 to 2016, more than 10 million Bangladeshis had gone abroad as short-term labor migrants (see Table 2.2). Almost 80 percent of the total workers who migrated from Bangladesh went to the Gulf and other Arab countries. The remaining 20 percent went mostly to different South East Asian and other countries. The highest number of migration to the Gulf and other Arab countries took place in 1991 with 97.30 percent and lowest in 2007 with 58.10 percent of the overseas migrant of that year. In 2016, a total of 757,731 workers have migrated overseas from Bangladesh. In 2016, migration flow increased 36.31 percent from 2015. Different international as well as policy and action gaps of the government of Bangladesh have been identified as reasons for previous years’ downward trends of migration growth rate. The global financial crisis, and policy shifts at the Bangladeshi end as well as in the labor-­receiving countries are identified as important among them. Persuasion of government-to- government (G2G) recruitment procedure by the Bangladesh govern- ment, replacing the private recruiting agencies in the case of Malaysia, restriction on recruitment of Bangladeshi workers in different Gulf coun- tries including Saudi Arabia, and political turmoil in Libya are some of them. In 2016, Oman received the highest number of Bangladeshi workers. A total of 188,247 workers migrated to Oman. This is 24.84 percent of the total flow from Bangladesh. A substantial increase of migration to Saudi Arabia was observed in 2016. Saudi Arabia accounts for 19 percent of the total migrants. This is the highest migration flow to Saudi Arabia since 2007. With no major change compared to the previous year, Qatar received the third highest number of migrants from Bangladesh. A total of 120,382 workers migrated to Qatar (15.9 percent). By receiving 72,167 workers, Bahrain positions as the fourth largest migrant-receiving country. In 2016,  24 2 Remittances: From Development Impacts to Social Resilience Table 2.2 Labor outflows of Bangladeshi workers for overseas temporary- contract employment by country of destinations: 1976–2016 Name of the country Year KSA UAE Kuwait Oman Qatar Bahrain Lebanon Jordan Libya Sudan 1976 217 1989 643 113 1221 335 – – 173 – 1977 1379 5819 1315 1492 2262 870 – – 718 – 1978 3212 7512 2243 2877 1303 762 – – 2394 – 1979 6476 5069 2298 3777 1383 827 – – 1969 – 1980 8695 4847 3687 4745 1455 1351 – – 2976 – 1981 13,384 6418 5464 7352 2268 1392 – – 4162 – 1982 16,294 6863 7244 8248 6252 2037 – – 2071 – 1983 12,928 6615 10,283 11,110 7556 2473 – – 2209 – 1984 20,399 5185 5627 10,448 2726 2300 – – 3386 – 1985 37,133 8336 7384 9218 4751 2965 – – 1514 – 1986 27,235 8790 10,286 6255 4847 2597 – – 3111 – 1987 39,292 9953 9559 440 5889 2055 – – 2271 – 1988 27,622 13,437 6524 2219 7390 3268 – – 2759 – 1989 39,949 15,184 12,404 15,429 8462 4830 – – 1609 – 1990 57,486 8307 5957 13,980 7672 4563 – – 471 – 1991 75,656 8583 28,574 23,087 3772 3480 – – 1124 – 1992 93,132 12,975 34,377 25,825 3251 5804 37 – 1617 – 1993 106,387 15,810 26,407 15,866 2441 5396 37 – 1800 – 1994 91,385 15,051 14,912 6470 624 4233 382 – 1864 – 1995 84,009 14,686 17,492 20,949 71 3004 406 – 1106 – 1996 72,734 23,812 21,042 8691 112 3759 490 – 1966 – 1997 106,534 54,719 21,126 5985 1873 5010 907 – 1934 – 1998 158,715 38,796 25,444 4779 6806 7014 1389 – 1254 8 1999 185,739 32,344 22,400 4045 5611 4639 219 – 1744 16 2000 144,618 34,034 594 5258 1433 4637 – – 1010 54 2001 137,248 16,252 5341 4561 223 4371 – – 450 153 2002 163,269 25,462 15,769 3854 552 5421 2 1829 1574 136 2003 162,131 37,346 26,722 4029 94 7482 3 2128 2855 784 2004 139,031 47,012 41,108 4435 1268 9194 – 6022 606 923 2005 80,425 61,978 47,029 4827 2114 10,716 14 9101 972 885 2006 109,513 130,204 35,775 8082 7691 16,355 821 2822 104 2380 2007 204,112 226,392 4212 17,478 15,130 16,433 3541 494 1480 1726 2008 132,124 419,355 319 52,896 25,548 13,182 8444 682 5067 170 2009 14,666 258,348 10 41,704 11,672 28,426 13,941 1691 22,742 514 2010 7069 203,308 48 42,641 12,085 21,824 17,268 2235 12,132 14 2011 15,039 282,739 29 135,256 13,111 19,996 19,169 4387 89 79 2012 21,232 215,452 2 170,325 28,801 21,777 14,864 11,726 14,975 23 2013 12,654 14,241 6 134,028 57,584 25,155 15,098 21,383 7175 211 2014 10,657 24,232 3094 105,748 87,575 23,378 16,640 20,338 4461 86 2015 58,270 24,232 17,472 129,859 123,965 20,720 19,119 22,093 231 350 2016 143,913 8131 39,188 188,247 120,382 72,167 15,095 23,017 – 739 Total 2,841,963 2,360,857 539,410 1,266,638 599,26 390,198 147,905 130,043 122,125 9251 % 27.18 22.58 5.16 12.11 5.73 3.73 1.41 1.24 1.18 0.09 Source: BMET (2017a) ‘Country Wise Overseas Employment Workers 1976–2016’. Available at: http://www.bmet. gov.bd/BMET/viewStatReport.action?reportnumber=20  Amount of Remittance Transfers 25 Name of the country Malaysia Singapore S. Korea UK Italy Japan Egypt Brunei Mauritius Iraq Others Misc. Total – – – – – – – – – – 1396 – 6087 – – – – – – – – – – 1870 – 15,725 23 – – – – – – – – – 2483 – 22,809 – 110 – – – – – – – – 2586 – 24,495 3 385 – – – – – – – – 1929 – 30,073 – 1083 – – – – – – – – 14,264 – 55,787 – 331 – – – – – – – – 13,422 – 62,762 23 178 – – – – – – – – 5845 – 59,220 – 718 – – – – – – – – 5925 – 56,714 – 792 – – – – – – – – 5601 – 77,694 530 25 – – – – – – – – 4982 – 68,658 – – – – – – – – – – 4558 – 74,017 2 – – – – – – – – – 4900 – 68,121 401 229 – – – – – – – – 3227 – 101,724 1385 776 – – – – – – – – 3217 – 103,814 1628 642 – – – – – – – – 585 – 147,131 10,537 313 – – – – – 228 12 – 16 – 188,124 67,938 1739 – – – – – 328 12 – 347 – 244,508 47,826 391 1558 – – – – 1335 26 – 269 – 186,326 35,174 3762 3315 – – – – 2659 229 – 681 – 187,543 66,631 5304 2759 – – – – 3062 196 – 1156 – 211,714 2844 27,401 889 – – – – 303 238 – 1314 – 231,077 551 21,728 578 – – – – 169 16 – 420 – 267,667 – 9596 1501 – – 7 – 1 139 – 181 – 268,182 17,237 11,095 990 – – 22 9 1420 271 – 4 – 222,686 4921 9615 1561 – – 19 3 2958 272 – 1017 – 188,965 85 6856 28 – 19 37 17 154 59 – 133 – 225,256 28 5304 3771 166 28 12 26 980 – – 301 – 254,190 224 6948 215 2055 550 47 33 1802 44 – 2859 8582 272,958 2911 9651 223 2793 950 79 207 191 1381 – 4015 12,240 252,702 20,469 20,139 992 1625 1428 174 639 496 2090 – 8995 10,722 381,516 273,201 38,324 39 972 10,950 164 1068 1186 3658 – 1827 10,222 832,609 131,762 56,581 1521 952 6928 133 1891 1054 3071 – 2461 10,914 875,055 12,402 39,581 1474 1153 5339 39 3018 2699 1826 412 5036 8485 475,278 919 39,053 2699 173 6726 17 2730 2191 3705 2288 4017 7560 3,90,702 742 48,667 2021 30 7624 20 3312 5150 5353 234 3566 7440 568,062 804 58,657 1447 17 9280 420 7478 5038 5421 359 10,190 9509 607,798 3853 60,057 2121 14 4792 41 949 5971 5961 7456 21,279 9224 407,253 5134 54,750 1748 16 856 55 266 6633 5938 13,627 28,762 11,690 425,684 30,483 55,523 2259 4 44 99 601 6354 4753 13,982 19,638 4697 555,881 40,126 54,730 1689 11 3 165 758 5836 4679 4738 23,527 10,590 757,731 780,797 651,034 35,498 10,081 55,517 1550 23,005 58,198 49,350 43,096 218,801 121,875 10,456,418 7.47 6.23 0.34 0.10 0.53 0.01 0.22 0.56 0.47 0.41 2.09 1.17 26 2 Remittances: From Development Impacts to Social Resilience around 7.22 percent of the total migrant workers went to Singapore. However, this is 1.42 percent less than what it received in 2015. A significant rise was observed in migration flow to Malaysia in 2016. This can be seen as one of the most important recent developments in migration flows. In 2016, a total of 40,126 workers went to Malaysia which is the highest flow to this country since 2008. The UAE government’s ban on migration of male work- ers still remains. In 2016, only 8131 workers migrated to UAE, and 63.35 percent of them were female workers. The semi-skilled and unskilled workers still constitute the largest ­proportion of migrants (423,652 in 2016) compared to professional and skilled workers (323,489 in 2016), although the professional and semi- skilled workers had higher average wages and could send more remittances (Table 2.3). In the case of male migration, Bangladesh is still dependent on the less-­skilled labor. However, despite the fact that the unskilled workers are vulnerable to certain abuse in recruitment processes and are not paid fair wages, high remittances are now received from low-skilled and unskilled migrant labor force (Siddiqui 2009:19). In a number of Gulf countries, a requirement for skilled workers is increasing. For example, Qatar is recruit- ing more technical workers targeting the 2022 Football World Cup. The increased migrant flows have also resulted in the feminization of the labor force in most sectors. Prior to 2003, there were restrictions and bans on the migration of unskilled and semi-skilled women from Bangladesh. As a consequence, unskilled and semi-skilled women workers mainly migrated through unofficial channels and, thus, did not feature in official data. Between 2001 and 2016, 574,075 female workers migrated formally overseas. With the removal of restrictions on female labor migra- tion, the share of women migrants increased less than 1 percent of all migrants in 1990 to 13.85 percent in 2016 (Table 2.4). The Gulf and other Arab countries are also the major labor market for Bangladeshi female migrant workers. Like the previous year, by receiving 57.83 percent of the total female migrant workers, Saudi Arabia is the single most impor- tant destination for the Bangladeshi female migrant workers in 2016. Jordan (19.21 percent) is the second largest female migrant-receiving country followed by Oman (11 percent), Qatar (4.56 percent), UAE (4.36 percent), Lebanon (2.07 percent), and Hong Kong (0.14 percent). In response to the new agreement between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia, Table 2.3 Skill composition of labor outflows 1976–2016 Worker’s category Recruiting media Recruiting Year Professional Skilled Semi-­skilled Less-skilled Others Total BMET BOESL agent Individual 1976 568 1775 543 3201 6087 5279 – 284 524 1977 1766 6447 490 7022 15,725 5729 – 1171 8825 1978 3455 8190 1050 10,114 22,809 6160 – 1994 14,655 1979 3494 7005 1685 12,311 24,495 6957 – 2966 14,572 1980 1983 12,209 2343 13,538 30,073 5715 – 7773 16,585 1981 3892 22,432 2449 27,014 55,787 6074 – 22,218 27,495 1982 3898 20,611 3272 34,981 62,762 4483 – 24,939 33,340 1983 1822 18,939 5098 33,361 59,220 730 – 26,320 32,170 1984 2642 17,183 5484 31,405 56,714 – 157 32,460 24,097 1985 2568 28,225 7823 39,078 77,694 – 1221 39,397 37,076 1986 2210 26,294 9265 30,889 68,658 – 1895 27,859 38,904 1987 2223 23,839 9619 38,336 74,017 – 340 33,818 39,859 1988 2670 25,286 10,809 29,356 68,121 – 476 34,117 33,528 1989 5325 38,820 17,659 39,920 101,724 – 707 36,508 64,509 1990 6004 35,613 20,792 41,405 103,814 – 435 40,258 63,121 1991 9024 46,887 32,605 58,615 147,131 – 140 64,889 82,102 1992 11,375 50,689 30,977 95,083 188,124 47 541 59,746 127,790 1993 11,112 71,662 66,168 95,566 244,508 503 559 129,479 113,967 1994 8390 61,040 46,519 70,377 186,326 236 178 95,361 90,551 1995 6352 59,907 32,055 89,229 187,543 73 627 74,921 111,922 1996 3188 64,301 34,689 109,536 211,714 – 398 118,670 92,646 Amount of Remittance Transfers 1997 3797 65,211 43,558 118,511 231,077 15 335 85,793 144,934 1998 9574 74,718 51,590 131,785 267,667 – 419 85,300 181,948 1999 8045 98,449 44,947 116,741 268,182 – 309 110,669 157,204 (continued) 27 Table 2.3 (continued) 28 Worker’s category Recruiting media Recruiting 2 Year Professional Skilled Semi-­skilled Less-skilled Others Total BMET BOESL agent Individual 2000 10,669 99,606 26,461 85,950 222,686 1 524 91,475 130,686 2001 5940 42,742 30,702 109,581 188,965 149 76,669 112,147 2002 14,450 56,265 36,025 118,516 225,256 – 226 84,401 140,629 2003 15,862 74,530 29,236 134,562 254,190 – 456 82,507 171,227 2004 12,202 110,177 28,327 113,670 85,852 272,958 – 306 85,458 187,194 2005 1945 113,655 24,546 100,316 12,240 252,702 645 81,608 173,187 2006 925 115,468 33,965 220,436 10,722 381,516 977 104,949 275,590 2007 676 165,338 183,673 472,700 10,222 832,609 – 619 362,531 469,459 2008 1864 292,364 132,825 437,088 10,914 875,055 773 2172 207,018 665,092 2009 1426 134,265 84,517 246,585 8485 475,278 – – – – 2010 387 90,621 20,016 272,118 7560 390,702 – – – – 2011 1192 229,149 28,729 301,552 7440 568,062 – – – – 2012 36,084 173,331 104,721 284,153 9509 607,798 2013 689 133,754 62,528 203,058 9224 409,253 2014 1730 148,766 70,095 193,403 11,690 425,684 2015 1828 214,328 91,099 243,929 4697 555,881 2016 4638 318,851 119,946 303,706 10,590 757,731 Total 227,884 3,399,062 1,588,900 5,118,697 121,875 10,456,418 42,775 14,811 2,333,526 384,797 % 2.18 32.51 15.20 48.95 1.17 100.00 Source: BMET (2017b) ‘Category-wise Overseas Employment from 1976 to 2015’. In. Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET), Government of Bangladesh. Dhaka. Available at: http://bmet.org.bd/BMET/viewStatReport. action?reportnumber=9 Remittances: From Development Impacts to Social Resilience  Amount of Remittance Transfers 29 Table 2.4 Number of female workers 2001–2016 Year Number Yearly increased (%) 2001 659 45.15 2002 1217 84.52 2003 2353 93.50 2004 11,259 378.50 2005 13,570 20.53 2006 18,045 32.98 2007 19,094 5.81 2008 20,842 9.15 2009 22,224 6.63 2010 27,706 24.67 2011 30,579 10.37 2012 37,304 21.99 2013 56,400 51.19 2014 76,007 34.76 2015 103,718 36.46 2016 118,088 13.85 Total 574,075 Source: BMET (2017c) ‘Overseas Employment of Female Workers from 2001 to 2015’. In. Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET), Government of Bangladesh. Dhaka. http://www.bmet. gov.bd/BMET/viewStatReport.action?reportnumber=39 female migrant workers increased more than 200 percent in 2016. Despite a major concentration of Syrian women migrants in the Lebanese market due to the war in Syria, Lebanon is still a stable market for female workers from Bangladesh. Migration to the industrialized countries, especially to the West, began in the 1950s with the UK. Today Bangladeshis continue to migrate to the West through various routes: work vouchers; as students, including later acquisi- tions of work visas; and others through family reunification. Among the developed economies, the UK and USA are the two major destinations. Unfortunately, information on permanent migrants is limited as the govern- ment does not maintain systematic records on their movement. However, migration experts estimate that almost 1.2 million Bangladeshis live in industrialized countries as permanent settlers, i­ncluding both documented and undocumented migrants (Siddiqui 2004:13) (see also Table 2.5). 30 2 Remittances: From Development Impacts to Social Resilience Table 2.5 Number of Bangladeshi immigrants in industrialized countries Number of Bangladeshi Country immigrants UK 500,000 USA 500,000 Italy 70,000 Canada 35,000 Japan 22,000 Australia 15,000 Greece 11,000 Spain 7000 Germany 5000 South Africa 4000 France 3500 Netherlands 2500 Belgium 2000 Switzerland 1400 Total 1,178,400 Source: Siddiqui (2004:13) Institutionalising Diaspora Linkage the Emigrant Bangladeshis in the UK and USA Note: Based on the “educated guess” made by Bangladeshi government officials who have firsthand experience with the immigrant community With regard to internal migration, the 1991 Census1 states that 6 per- cent of households move each year, the majority (85 percent) of whom move from rural to urban areas.2 Seven percent move within urban areas, 6 percent within rural areas, and 2 percent move from urban to rural areas. The latter may largely be rural residents returning home, most of whom maintain ties with their home village and send remittances (Garrett and Chowdhury 2004:15). In the fiscal year (FY) 2014–2015,3 Bangladesh received US$15.30 billion as remittances. This is 7.65 percent higher than the previous year (Table 2.6). In 2013–2014, the remittance figure was US$14.22 billion. Saudi Arabia is the largest source of international remittances to Bangladesh in 2014–2015. It is followed by UAE (16.6 percent) and the USA (14.8 percent). Although to date the highest amounts of remit- tances are sent from Saudi Arabia, its total share is falling each year. In earlier years, 50 percent of the total remittance received was from Saudi Arabia, whereas it now stands at 19.5 percent. Bangladesh experienced a substantial increase of remittance flows from Malaysia in 2015 compared Table 2.6 Country-wise wage earners’ remittance inflow (US$ in millions) 2000– 2001– 2002– 2003– 2004– 2005– 2006– 2007– 2008– 2009– 2010– 2011– 2012– 2013– 2014– 2015– Country 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Bahrain 44.05 54.12 63.72 61.11 67.2 67.3 80.0 138.2 157.4 170.1 185.9 298.46 361.70 459.39 554.34 489.99 Kuwait 247.39 285.75 338.59 361.24 406.8 494.4 680.7 863.7 970.8 1019.2 1075.8 1190.14 11.86 1106.88 1077.78 1039.95 Oman 83.66 103.27 114.06 118.53 131.3 165.3 196.5 220.6 290.1 349.1 334.3 400.93 610.11 701.08 915.26 909.65 Qatar 63.44 90.60 113.55 113.64 136.4 175.6 233.2 289.8 343.4 360.9 319.4 335.26 286.89 275.53 310.15 435.61 KSA 919.61 1147.95 1254.31 1386.03 1510.5 1697.0 1735.0 2324.23 2859.1 3427.1 3290.0 3684.36 3829.4 3118.88 3345.23 2955.55 UAE 144.28 233.49 327.40 373.46 442.2 561.4 804.8 1135.1 1754.9 1890.3 2002.6 24.4.78 2892.4 2684.86 2823.77 2711.74 Libya 0.10 0.00 0.16 0.13 0.27 0.16 2.61 0.36 1.25 1.46 5.74 12.91 57.65 71.96 45.72 12.34 Iran 0.00 0.00 0.22 0.38 0.52 1.68 2.36 3.24 3.28 4.49 2.32 1.16 2.59 0.40 0.14 0.17 Sub total 1502.53 1915.18 2212.01 2414.52 2695.19 3162.84 3735.17 4975.23 6380.23 7222.65 7215.53 8328.00 9164.7 8400.98 9072.39 8555.00 Australia 0.00 2.28 3.38 4.79 7.15 8.89 11.34 13.11 6.78 8.45 13.00 53.27 60.91 54.38 61.84 69.15 Hong Kong 3.96 3.99 4.77 5.92 5.63 5.37 6.15 8.10 9.09 8.32 11.12 22.64 19.54 17.70 19.68 25.65 Italy 0.41 0.35 19.32 27.16 41.4 83.0 149.6 214.5 186.9 182.2 215.6 244.75 233.33 269.59 260.16 351.31 Malaysia 30.60 46.85 41.40 37.06 25.5 20.8 11.8 92.4 282.2 587.1 703.7 847.49 997.43 1064.68 1381.53 1337.14 Singapore 7.84 14.26 31.06 32.37 47.7 64.8 80.2 130.1 165.1 193.5 202.3 311.46 498.79 429.11 443.44 387.24 UK 55.70 103.31 220.22 297.54 375.8 555.7 886.9 896.1 789.7 827.5 889.6 987.46 991.59 901.23 812.34 863.28 USA 225.62 356.24 458.05 467.81 557.3 760.7 930.3 1380.1 1575.2 1451.9 1848.5 1498.46 1859.7 2323.32 2380.19 2424.32 Germany 3.84 6.11 9.57 12.12 10.1 11.9 14.9 26.9 19.3 16.5 25.6 34.99 25.81 26.94 21.16 25.89 Japan 10.74 14.14 18.24 18.73 16.0 9.4 10.2 16.3 14.1 14.7 15.2 22.16 21.18 17.06 16.30 22.09 S. Korea 0.33 0.79 3.93 5.19 18.41 16.40 17.08 19.69 18.33 20.77 23.95 30.05 61.77 58.58 60.38 64.78 Others 40.53 37.63 40.02 48.76 48.15 92.56 125.05 142.17 242.36 453.86 486.13 462.71 526.40 664.75 787,349 805.31 Sub total 379.57 585.95 849.96 957.45 1153.09 1520.44 2243.66 2939.45 3309.06 3764.8. 4434.69 4515.44 5296.4 5827.34 6244.51 6376.16 Total 1882.1 2501.13 3061.97 3371.97 3848.29 4801.9 5978.47 7914.78 9689.29 10,987.45 11,650.3 12,843.44 14,461 14,228.3 15,316.90 14,931.16 Source: Bangladesh Bank (2017b) ‘Country Wise Wage Earners’ Remittance Inflow’. In. Foreign Exchange Policy Department, Bangladesh Central Bank. Dhaka. Available at: http://www.bangladesh-bank.org/econdata/wagermidtl.php 32 2 Remittances: From Development Impacts to Social Resilience to the previous year. In 2015, it received 8.4 percent from