The declining trend in overseas employment of Bangladeshi workers continues, as only 27,949 persons landed jobs abroad in August, the lowest in a month this year.
In the first eight months of this year, the number of overseas employment declined by 2.13 lakh, compared to the same period last year. A total of 2.73 lakh workers went abroad till August this year, against 4.86 lakh during the same period last year, according to the latest data released by The Bureau of Manpower Export and Training (BMET), the lone government organisation that monitors overseas employment. In January this year, the highest number of persons (38,337) went abroad for job purposes.
“It is not that Bangladesh alone has been affected. The declining trend in employment is seen everywhere around the world,” claimed Engineer Khondker Mosharraf Hossein, minister for Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment. He told The Independent that there has been a fall in demand for workers because of lack of development activities in destination countries. He, however, expressed the hope that the number of overseas employment would be around four lakh at the end of the year. The minister said there was nothing to be worried about as the flow of remittance to the country doubled, reaching USD 15.5 billion from USD 7 billion during the previous regime.
Over six lakh workers went abroad last year for employment in around 20 countries. According to sources, the declining trend in manpower export began in August last year and has been continuing. The overseas employment fell by 30 per cent that month following a restriction on recruiting Bangladeshi workers imposed by United Arab Emirates. Since then the trend kept plummeting.
Private recruiters blamed the government’s policy for the dwindling manpower export situation. They said the government wanted to send workers abroad by public sector agencies, bypassing the private ones. As a result, the overseas employment has been witnessing a declining trend over the last couple of months, they pointed out.
The government’s efforts to sign government to government (G to G) agreement with a number of destination countries boomeranged on Bangladesh, pushing its overseas employment to a bottom level, said a leading private recruiting agent, who did not want to be named. He said the situation is unlikely to improve as long as the government does not change its attitude towards private recruiters.
When contacted, Ali Haider Chowdhury, secretary general of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA), avoided accusing the government policies directly for the dwindling manpower export. He said the manpower export declined as the private recruiters lost interest in exploring overseas jobs following an “unnecessary interference” by the government. “We are maintaining a low profile,” said the leader of BAIRA, a platform of around 1,200 private recruiters.
Haider also pointed out that the demand for Bangladeshi workers abroad dropped recently, which is mainly responsible for the declining trend in overseas employment. A number of countries did not recruit workers from Bangladesh, he said.
According to sources, the government signed a G to G agreement with Malaysia and proposed such an agreement with some other countries, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to avoid visa trading by the private recruiting agencies.
Mosharaf Hossein said visa trading by the private recruiters was largely responsible for the large number of expatriate Bangladeshis becoming illegal. A number of countries stopped hiring workers from Bangladesh because of the presence of illegal workers there, he said.
According to him, around three lakh Bangladeshis in Malaysia and six to seven lakh in Saudi Arabia became illegal recently. The time of their staying abroad has been extended up to November this year following the government initiative, he said.
As many as 91,484 Bangladeshis found jobs in Oman, the highest among all countries. Singapore came second in hiring workers from Bangladesh. A total of 41,312 Bangladeshis went to Singapore till August this year. Qatar, another Middle-East country, also hired a significant number of workers (36,714) this year.
The employment of female workers abroad, however, posted a sharp rise this year, against last year’s figures. Till August this year, 36,246 female workers went abroad, against 23,965 during the same period last year. Jordon became the top recruiter, as 14,706 women went there for jobs. They mainly found jobs as workers in garment factories, according to sources.
-With The Independent input
