Centering the Margins: The Precarity of Bangladeshi Low-Income Migrant Workers During the Time of COVID-19

Abstract

A global outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) has profoundly escalated social, political, economic, and cultural disparities, particularly among the marginalized migrants of the global South, who historically remained key sufferers from such disparities. Approximately 8 million, such workers from Bangladesh, migrated from their homelands to work in neighboring countries, specifically in Southeast Asia and in the Middle East, and also contribute significantly to their country’s economy. As many of the migrant workers work on temporary visas, scholars have expressed concerns about their physical and psychological health such as joblessness, mortality, abuses, daunting stress, and inhabitable living environment. Embracing the theoretical frameworks of critical–cultural communication, this article explores two research questions: (1) What are the emerging narratives of experiencing realities and disparities among the Bangladeshi migrants at the margins? (2) How the migrants negotiated and worked on overcoming the adversities? In doing so, we have closely examined 85 Facebook Pages (number of subscribers: 10,000-1 million), dedicated to issues of Bangladeshi migrant workers to qualitatively analyze emerging mediated discourses (textual, visual, and audiovisual). Our analysis reveals several aspects, including, (1) impact of job insecurities on migrants and their families, (2) living conditions of and abuses on migrants works, (3) negotiations of mental stress by the marginalized migrants, and (4) how community support helps the migrants to survive during the pandemic.

Prevalence of common mental health issues among migrant workers: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…The job insecurity issue is likely to amplify during COVID-19 as the whole world is currently struggling economically. This is consistent with a qualitative study conducted among migrant workers from Bangladesh working in Southeast Asia and the Middle East regions [ 97 ]. The fear of losing jobs and worry about not getting a salary had taken a toll on their mental health, in which in several extreme cases, some of the migrant workers committed suicide.…”

Health of International Migrant Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review

“…Of the 26 included studies ( 24 – 49 ) almost half (12 of 26) were conducted in Asia ( 24 , 26 , 30 , 32 – 35 , 37 , 41 , 44 , 47 , 49 ) and 8 in Europe. Fourteen papers used a quantitative design ( 24 , 27 , 28 , 30 , 32 , 33 , 35 , 36 , 40 , 42 – 44 , 46 , 48 ), 5 applied mixed methods ( 29 , 31 , 34 , 38 , 45 ) and 23 used primary data sources ( 24 – 29 , 31 , 32 , 34 , 36 – 49 ) ( Table 2 ).…”

“…Most immigrant populations represented in the studies originated from countries in Asia (16 of 26 studies) ( 24 , 26 , 27 , 31 – 34 , 37 , 38 , 41 – 44 , 47 – 49 ) and Latin America (8 of 26) ( 25 , 28 , 29 , 38 , 39 , 42 , 44 , 46 ). Other characteristics of the studied populations were often not described in the methodology of the papers: only 9 studies clearly described migrants' length of stay in the host country ( 24 , 27 , 31 , 32 , 37 , 39 , 41 , 43 , 48 ), most of which were long stays (five or more years) and migrants' legal status was not specified in 20 studies ( 26 – 30 , 32 – 34 , 36 , 37 , 39 , 40 , 42 – 49 ). Seven studies had a comparison group ( 29 , 30 , 33 , 35 , 36 , 40 , 45 ), most frequently the majority population (6 of 7 studies) ( 30 , 33 , 35 , 36 , 40 , 45 ).…”

“…Fourteen studies described the impact of COVID-19 on migrants' physical health ( 25 , 27 , 28 , 33 , 35 , 36 , 39 – 42 , 44 – 46 , 49 ), 10 studies described COVID-19 outbreaks ( 25 , 27 , 28 , 33 , 35 , 36 , 40 , 42 , 45 , 46 ), and the remaining 4 studies mentioned other physical problems such as headaches, sleeping difficulty, respiratory problems, and chest pain ( 39 , 41 , 44 , 49 ). Fourteen studies assessed the effects of COVID-19 on mental health outcomes, including anxiety, depression, worry, fear, stress, and post-traumatic stress disorder ( 24 , 26 , 29 , 31 , 32 , 37 – 39 , 41 , 43 , 44 , 47 – 49 ). Most of these studies linked psychological distress with migrants' economic/financial situation, loss of jobs, food insecurity, exposure to the virus, and/or situation of family members.…”

Influences of climatic and non-climatic factors on COVID-19 outbreak: A review of existing literature

“…Another worrisome factor behind COVID-19 transmission is the return of migrants such as foreign workers. Though foreign worker remittance is one of the significant factors for the growing economy of developing countries, especially in the South Asian region ( Takenaka et al, 2020 ) Unfortunately, these remittance fighters who return from Europe and the Middle East to South Asia during this pandemic are worrisome for their effete health awareness and social behavior ( Islam et al, 2021 , Jamil and Dutta, 2021 ). Migration data of Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan explored that returnee foreign migrants rapidly spread the virus in South Asia ( Lee et al, 2021 ).…”