Coronavirus could push migrant workers and their families into hunger, UN agencies warn

 WFP, Nov. 11, 2020

World Food Programme and UN Migration report says workforce of 164 million people struggling to earn because of pandemic

Families dependent on remittances — cash transfers from relatives working abroad — risk going hungry as coronavirus restrictions take their toll on migrants and displaced people, according to a report published on Tuesday.

Most of the world’s 164 million migrant workers are in the informal sector — typically in low-skilled, cash-in-hand jobs in the agriculture, construction or service sectors — and disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

Now, dwindling remittances — chiefly used to cover food and other essential needs — look set to drive up hunger, the study by the World Food Programme (WFP) and UN Migration (IOM) suggests.

“World Bank figures show remittances to low- and middle-income countries could drop at least 14 percent by 2021,” said Claudia Ah Poe, Head of the Needs Assessment and Targeting Unit in WFP’s Research, Assessment and Monitoring Division, one of the lead authors of the report.

In full: https://insight.wfp.org/coronavirus-pandemic-could-push-migrant-workers-and-their-families-into-hunger-un-agencies-warn-df828aaa2f88