Potential Responses to the COVID-19 Outbreak in Support of Migrant Workers
The note describes the key challenges facing the health, livelihoods, and mobility of internal and international migrants and their families due to the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak. The note presents the policy options available to governments t...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2020
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/428451587390154689/Potential-Responses-to-the-COVID-19-Outbreak-in-Support-of-Migrant-Workers-April-21-2020 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33625 |
| Summary: | The note describes the key challenges
facing the health, livelihoods, and mobility of internal and
international migrants and their families due to the
COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak. The note presents the
policy options available to governments to address these
challenges and describes the assistance that the World Bank
can offer in areas related to social protection and jobs to
support these efforts. The living and working conditions of
internal and international migrants make them vulnerable to
contracting COVID-19 (Coronavirus). Measures put in place to
control disease transmission both within and across
countries have resulted in significant disruption in
transportation networks and in labor markets that have hit
migrant workers hard. The resulting decline in remittances
will transmit these negative impacts to the families of
migrants. Travel restrictions may lead to labor shortages in
critical sectors like agriculture that are dominated by
migrant workers. While the specific type of support that
should be targeted to migrants depends on location, legal
status, and type of migration, most migrants will need
access to safety nets in the form of cash or in-kind
assistance to support them as they comply with transmission
control measures and cope with the impacts of the crisis.
Policies to support employment retention and promotion will
be particularly important as a complement to these safety
nets for internal migrants and migrants returning from
abroad. Policies to offset the expected declines in
remittances will be important for all migrants and their
families. Programs created to respond to the COVID-19
(Coronavirus) outbreak should be migrant-sensitive to take
into account the unique challenges facing migrants. |
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