The year before the pandemic, migrant workers worldwide2 had returned a record $554 billion to their home communities. That sum was more than three times the amount distributed to poor countries by official development agencies. But as the pandemic destroyed jobs, these remittances were shrinking. Countries in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa were suffering declines of greater than one-fifth. This was a major reason why as many as 150 million people were at risk of falling into a state of extreme poverty3, and why 265 million were on the brink of life-threatening levels of
...more
