Bangladesh's labour market is expanding abroad despite the economic slowdown due to the global pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war. Job opportunities have been created in many new countries. Bangladeshi workers are working in the pollution-free city being built in Saudi Arabia called "The Line." Remittance flow has increased due to the influx of trained workers in many countries, old and new. Due to the creation of skilled workers, the demand has increased abroad. A new labor market is being created. Remittances are increasing.
Meanwhile, the uncertainty about Malaysia's labour market seems to be over. According to the latest news, the syndicate of recruiting agencies exporting Bangladesh's manpower to Malaysia's labour market has been broken. As a result, all recruiting agencies in Bangladesh will have an equal opportunity to export manpower to that country. According to BMET data, a record amount of manpower was exported from Bangladesh in 2022. The number of workers sent abroad increased significantly last year as demand increased in several major destination countries and several new markets emerged. However, despite the increase in manpower exports, Bangladesh is still lagging behind in terms of quality immigration. In 2022, an average of 93,750 workers went abroad from Bangladesh every month; before the pandemic, the average number was around 60 to 70 thousand. Only 95 thousand 988 workers migrated abroad in December of last year.
The top destination for Bangladeshi immigrants is Saudi Arabia. As of November, last year, 56 percent of all foreign employment in the country had been in this country. It is followed by Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Malaysia, Qatar, Kuwait, and Jordan. Besides, some skilled and unskilled workers have migrated to different countries as plumbers, electricians, or refrigerator and air conditioner technicians.
Meanwhile, since 2022, Italy and Greece have started hiring new workers. Italy has hired at least 6,600 workers in the first 11 months of 2022. Bangladesh signed a memorandum of understanding with Greece on sending workers in February last year. According to this MOU, 4000 Bangladeshi workers will have the opportunity to work legally in Greece. According to sources, about 10,000 Bangladeshis work in the garment sector in Greece. Many are also employed in the agriculture, restaurant, and tourism sectors. They send 100 to 150 million Euros a year. Many Bangladeshis left for Italy, Portugal, Germany, and France in fear due to the crackdown on illegal immigrants. As a result of the memorandum of understanding executed last November, Greece is going to open an embassy in the country. This will increase the number of workers going there legally.
Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Limited (BOESL) has sent more than 5,500 workers to South Korea through the Korean Employment Permit System (EPS) since November last year. These workers have been assured of higher pay, labor rights, and other benefits. As of last July, 103 people had immigrated to Poland. The new labor market of Bangladeshis in Eastern Europe�in Romania, Bulgaria, and Moldova�has a demand for male workers as well as female workers. According to the information of the Refugee and Migratory Movement Research Unit (RMMU), more than 10,000 Bangladeshi workers have migrated there in the last two years as construction, shipbuilding, agriculture, factory, garment, babysitting, and restaurant workers. Besides, 794 Bangladeshi workers have migrated to the new labor market in Albania since May last year.
On the other hand, Saudi Arabia has announced that it will set a precedent by building pollution-free cities. If all goes well, the city will be fully built by 2024 under the "Neom" project. This eco-friendly city has been named "The Line." The construction of the city began in 2021. When photographed from above, it looks like someone has drawn a line in the forest. That is why the city has such a name. This city is being developed in a 105-mile-long area. One million people can live together in this city. The city will be designed in such a way that hospitals, schools, and restaurants can be reached within five minutes. Saudi Arabia has invested 20 billion dollars in this project. If the project is implemented, at least 380,000 jobs will be created. By 2030, the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country will increase by 48 billion dollars. This entire project is part of the "Neom" project. There is a demand for Bangladeshi workers to build this city.
According to Bangladesh Bank data, remittance income in the country will have increased by the end of 2022.The upward trend in remittance flow continued in December as well, for the second consecutive month, with a record of 11.25 lakh foreign jobs last year. Remittance flow into the country increased by 4.23 percent year-on-year to reach $1.7 billion in December 2022. Remittances came in at $787 million less in 2022 than the previous year, despite the increase in the migration of expatriate workers abroad. After the Association of Bankers (ABB) and Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers Association (BAFEDA) fixed the dollar rate for remittances, the inflow of remittances has decreased slightly.
As there is success in the manpower export sector, there are still many types of problems, irregularities, mismanagement, and opacity, which have created several challenges in terms of the bright potential and progress of this sector. Among these are the challenges of going abroad due to a lack of education and awareness, falling into the clutches of various types of fraudsters, including middlemen or brokers, high costs, technical and linguistic inefficiency, a lack of social protection for expatriate workers, etc. For a smooth and safe migration process, various wings of the ministry, including the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare (BMET, BOESL, and Wage Earner Welfare Board), the Labor Wing of the Embassy, and private recruiting agencies should work in coordination. Therefore, we expect that more effective measures will be taken to safely export manpower through dialogue, cooperation, and coordinated initiatives between the Ministry and the recruiting agencies.
- The writer is a researcher and columnist
