The economic downturn has inevitably hit migrant workers hard. Here, reporters from the FT’s foreign bureaux investigate the plight of migrants from Poland and the US to Brazil and China, to see which groups are returning home and which are finding innovative ways to survive the downturn abroad.

Click on each frame in the graphic below to see a video or audio slideshow

Downturn slows tide of US-bound workers, by Matthew Garrahan
Families struggle to survive as flow of dollars dries up by Adam Thomson
Downturn hastens Nigeria’s ‘brain gain’, by Matthew Green
Thoughts turn to home for white South Africans by Richard Lapper
Sun sets on migrants’ Japanese dreams by Lindsay Whipp and Jonathan Wheatley
China schools offer parents incentive to stay put by Tom Mitchell
Downturn puts paid to Polish mobilityby Jan Cienski
Ukrainians forced to cross border for work by Jan Cienski