The new economics of labor migration explains migration as part of family strategies to address income risks and capital constraints in developing countries. However, it does not adequately take into account the risks and costs borne by migrant families in contemporary labor migration. This paper examines the emigration-family economy nexus highlighting the undercurrent of risks in the labor migration process. This study draws from the experiences of Bangladeshi families who have family members working in Saudi Arabia. The research reports that migrants often undertake international migration at great costs of their own, incurring large debts, risking personal savings and family assets, and accentuating income risks and capital constraints, while the remittances are meager in the repair of such family economy.

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international migration labor migration Bangladesh emigration developing world income Saudi Arabia capital