Countries That Live By Remittances, Die By Remittances
13th July 2020
In 2019, people working outside their homelands sent $554 billion of their earnings back to their native countries. Nearly all of this cash flowed from developed nations to less developed ones. The $554 billion in remittances eclipsed the total of all foreign investment in these receiving nations, and three times the amount these nations received in foreign aid.
Then came the COVID-19 pandemic. The global health crisis touched off a global economic crisis, resulting in millions of lost jobs and restrictions on travel that make it difficult for foreign workers to get to a job in another country, even if one is available. For countries like the United States, the long-term impact of millions of foreign workers – legal and illegal – and the resulting loss of job opportunities and wages for native workers and the outflow of $150 billion each year is a problem.