BANGLADESH 273,386 BANGLADESHI WENT ABROAD FOR JOBS DURING FIRST EIGHT MONTHS OF THIS YEAR AND DURING SAME PERIOD LAST YEAR THE NUMBER WERE 481,323 SHOWING STEEP FALL OR DECLINE WITH UAE SAUDI ARABIA AND KUWAIT VIRTUALLY CLOSED AND GOVT UNABLE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE IN BAHRAIN AND IRAQ 21TH OCTOBER 2013 The number of Bangladeshi nationals getting overseas jobs has marked a notable decline in the current calendar year (2013). The decline has largely been attributed by sector insiders to the absence of proper initiatives by the government to help augment employment opportunities in the overseas markets. Such insiders have expressed fears over the declining trend about fresh manpower export having a possible negative impact on the countrys future remittance earnings. Only 273,386 Bangladeshis entered the international market with jobs during the last eight months - between January and August. The number was 481,323 during the corresponding period in 2012. The monthly overseas jobs also decreased, in numbers, to 27,949 in August 2013, down from 43,773 in the same month of the previous year. According to the Bangladesh Bank (BB) data, the flow of inward remittances fell by 18.62 per cent in August 2013. The Bangladeshi nationals, working abroad, sent US$ 1.008 billion last month, which was $230.76 million lower than that of the previous month. Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain said nearly 450,000 Bangladeshis were expected to get foreign jobs in 2013. However, the actual number is rather low until now. He said manpower export has shrunk this year following a fresh bout of economic recession in many countries. But it will increase shortly, as the situation has recently shown some signs of improvement, he added. But the private recruiters blamed the government for its poor or ineffective initiatives to increase manpower export, under the present circumstances. They said the government has not been able to resume manpower export to the traditional overseas markets and create new job opportunities for the countrys youth, in the absence of cooperation with the recruiting agencies in the countrys private sector. Bangladesh, they said, could not properly take advantage of the job opportunities in Iraq, Qatar and Bahrain markets. It was also unable to open the closed markets, like those of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait, the sector insiders observed. Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) secretary general Ali Haider Chowdhury said private recruiters sent most of the workers in the previous years. But the government has now limited the scope for their sending workers abroad with jobs, creating a negative impact on the overall sector. Malaysia needs thousands of workers, but the government cannot send an adequate number of manpower there to meet the demand, he added. In this context, Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain said, We have initiated government-to-government recruitment process for sending workers on jobs to abroad in order to curb some fraudulent practices by the manpower recruiting agents. Previously the private recruiters sent a large number of workers to Malaysia, but many of them became illegal because of fake visas, he added. We have stopped such cheating, and also cut migration cost significantly. Although the flow of sending workers is slow now, but there is no complaint about any fraudulence, the minister observed. The government has appointed recruitment agents to send workers abroad with jobs. So they are bound to follow the governments rules. If the private recruiters can cut migration cost, the government will allow them to send workers, the minister stated. The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait markets have virtually been, closed following some alleged illegal activities by the recruitment agencies and the governments of those countries have already put on hold giving any visas and work permits to the Bangladeshi workers. Policy Research Institute executive director Ahsan H Mansur said the government should take a coordinated strategy immediately to help expand the overseas job market. The countrys remittance flow, he said, has already been affected because of shrinking outflow of the Bangladeshi workers to the overseas markets. It will be more affected in future, if the present trend of overseas jobs is not reversed. Mr Mansur also emphasised the need for resolving the existing tug-of-war between the government and the private recruiters to help increase manpower export. About 8.0 million Bangladeshis are now working in 158 countries. Of them, only some 20 countries have absorbed the bulk of the overseas Bangladeshi workers.
Posted on: Thu, 24 Oct 2013 01:41:53 +0000
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