Manpower export from Bangladesh has significantly declined as no new job market was created overseas in more than a year.
Moreover, many of the major recipient countries continued restricting recruitment from Bangladesh.
The major countries to recruit manpower from Bangladesh are Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Qatar, Malaysia, Oman and Singapore, of which, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait and Oman have imposed restriction on recruitment from Bangladesh.
According to reports of Bangladesh embassies there, various illegal activities including murder, theft and illegal stay carried out by Bangladeshi migrant workers there have tarnished the image of the country.
The situation has brought sufferings to many Bangladeshi aspirants.
“I have submitted my passport and relevant documents to a recruiting agency to pursue a job in abroad but whenever I contact them, they say that visa had not arrived yet,” said Monirul Islam from Khulna who is waiting to fly to Iraq to work there as an electrician.
He said: “Two of my children are studying in schools and colleges. It is difficult for me to bear their expenses as I earn only around Tk6,000 a month by working in a jute mill.”
Four years back Monirul had gone to Libya and stayed there for over a year to support his family, he said.
According to the website of Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), this year, 34,200 people went abroad for jobs in January, 28,510 in February and 26,205 until March 24.
Last year, the number of workers who had gone abroad was 38,337, 32,189 and 37,100 in the months of January, February and March respectively.
In 2012, the number of manpower exported was 607,798 which came down to 409,253 last year.
“We have held talks with these counties and the situation is gradually improving,” Khondaker Showkat Hossain, secretary to the Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry, told the Dhaka Tribune over phone yesterday.
Founding chair of Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) Tasneem Siddiqui observed that the government was trying to explore labour market “in its own way,” which was not yielding any positive result.
The government should hold a brainstorming session with owners of the recruiting agencies and retired ambassadors to find out
where the problems lied and plan a course of action accordingly, she suggested.
The Finance Ministry, the Planning Ministry and the Foreign Ministry should work together as
labour migration has become a crucial sector that brings remittance of about Tk1400 crore annually, she said.
A data of BMET shows that annual remittance earned from the sector was $13,832.13 million (around Tk1300 crore) in 2013 and $14,163.99 million (around Tk1400 crore) in 2012.
Tasneem said the government should engage special envoy to the Prime Minster HM Ershad to explore the sector in Middle East as he had played important roles in labour migration in the past and had good connections.
Referring to RMMRU’s findings, she said family members of the migrated workers were doing better in education and agriculture compared to those who did not have any family member working abroad.
A senior official of Expatriates Welfare Ministry said the cause behind the decline in labour migration was government’s decision of not allowing recruiters to send workers who were not registered with the government database.
“We are trying to expand the labour market and in this regard we have held talk with the ambassadors in Dhaka on March 10 to plan actions to be taken,” Khondaker Showkat Hossain said.
Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira) Secretary General Ali Haidar Chowdhury said: “We have been discussing the issue with the government to expedite labour migration. We have asked the government and the Expatriates’ Welfare Minister to instruct us in this regard,” he added.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
