BANGLADESH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND STRATEGIC STUDIES

INSURING AGAINST RISKS IN LABOUR MIGRATION: EXPERIENCES OF BANGLADESHIS AND POLICY IMPERATIVES

Author: Syeda Rozana Rashid

DOI Link: https://www.doi.org/10.56888/BIISSj2012v33n4a2

ABSTRACT

Theorists who consider labour migration as a risk-sharing strategy often overlook the fact that migration may generate newer forms of risks of losing livelihood, land and capital. Unlike most wealthy countries, where risks to household income are minimised through credit markets or governmental programmes, in poor countries like Bangladesh, these institutional mechanisms for managing risks are imperfect, absent, or inaccessible to poor families. Private insurance policies are often beyond the means of most migrant households. Consequently, migrants rely heavily on the support of their extended family, friends and society when incur losses in migration. Nonetheless, these informal mechanisms of managing risk are neither guaranteed nor cost-free and they often require investment of remittances in economically unproductive cycles. It is within this context that the article investigates the nexus between migration-risk-insurance beyond its familiar analysis by New Economics of Labour Migration. It argues whether labour migration can serve as a risk-sharing strategy depending on designing and implementing a comprehensive insurance policy for the migrants to avoid anticipated risks. To this end, the article suggests forming a public-private-partnership, in which private sector will cover migrants with affordable insurance packages and the state will assume a greater facilitating, monitoring and coordinating role.