Dhaka, June 20 -- Migration from Bangladesh of workers to elsewhere declined in 2024. It was not unexpected as the country's situation was unstable with political changes but the issue may be deeper than that. Professional migration is not really produced by government policy and it plays a role in it but not a significant one.

The main force engineering migrant workers to move abroad is from the informal sector which includes various social networks. The process is finalized by the official bureaucracy once it reaches the end of the line. But prior to that its largely a private and social sector activity. These networks include dalals- intermediaries- family members and clan and community networks.

Thus a decline means there could also...