ABSTRACT
Internal migration trends in Bangladesh were significantly impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak which raised concerns in relation to individual health safety and livelihood. The pandemic created numerous opportunities and vulnerabilities of the internal migrants, further confounding the migratory pattern. Drawing on data from a recently completed mixed-method study of internal migrants across four cities in Bangladesh, this paper highlights that the implementation of lockdown measures made it very challenging for many migrants to sustain their livelihood in their own locality. They found it difficult to explore new livelihood opportunities, even after migrating to cities. Nevertheless, depending on the relevance of skills in operational formal and informal work sectors as well as how one can evaluate an individual’s vulnerabilities and opportunities within societal structures and human resource capacities, only a small number of migrants were successful in taking advantage of the very few opportunities during the pandemic. The dynamics of recovery, combined with variations in sectoral issues, influenced the outcomes for internal migrants during this time. The paper contributes new knowledge on internal migration and claims that the importance of understanding these unique migratory patterns might help shape effective policies and initiatives to support internal migrants and thus enhance their resilience in the event of future crises. The empirical data and circumstantial evidence produced by the paper might be relevant to other regional and global contexts where internal migration for work is a common phenomenon.
