Bangladesh’s manpower export rebounds

1,31,316 people go abroad only in Dec

Golam Mostafa Jibon: Despite the corona pandemic, the export of manpower including women from Bangladesh has gained momentum again after a slump in 2020.
At least 1,31,316 people have gone abroad to join in different works only in December. Of them, 11,564 were women. Never before in the history of Bangladesh has so much manpower been exported in one month.
Earlier in March 2017, more than 1 lakh workers went abroad. Manpower exporters and economists said that, the main markets for Bangladesh’s workers sending are the Middle Eastern countries. These countries, like many other countries in the world, are gradually recovering from the badly impact of corona pandemic. Economy of those countries has been started boosting since rising of fuel prices in the global market.
It seems that the amount of remittances in Bangladesh will also increase in the coming days.
According to the Bangladesh Manpower Employment and Training Bureau (BMET), a total of 6,17,209 workers left the country in 2021. Even if the labor market is not opened anew, the demand is increasing from the old market. Besides, the labor market of Malaysia is also going to open. The two governments have already reached to a formal agreement.
Overall, Minister for Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Imran Ahmed thinks that manpower export will increase further in the new year.
“We (the government) are really happy with the record of manpower exports in December,” he said.
The Minister said, “People will be sent to Malaysia soon. This time I will strictly monitor the sending of workers to Malaysia. In the meantime, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed in this regard. This time, I will try to send workers at low immigration cost by keeping it completely syndicate free. As a result, a new dimension will be added to the export of manpower. More remittances will come to the country.”
According to BMET, around 6.25 lakh workers went abroad last year. Of them, some 35,232 went abroad in January, 49,510 in February and 61,653 in March. The rate of labor sending was slowed after the rising of corona infection in April. In that month, 34,145 workers went abroad and some 14,200 people went in May.
As coronavirus infections continue to decline in June, the number of worker sending continues to rise. Some 48,567 people went abroad in June, 12,360 people in July, 19,604 people in August and 42,006 people in September. Some 65,233 people were sent abroad in October, 1,02861 people in November and 1,31,316 people in December.
Out of the total manpower export in 2021, some 4,57,227 people went to Saudi Arabia. In other words, 74 percent went to Saudi Arabia. Some 29,202 went to UAE, 1,848 to Kuwait, 55,009 to Oman, 11,158 to Qatar, 11 to Bahrain, 235 to Lebanon, 13,116 to Jordan, 3 to Libya and 39 to Sudan.
Some 28 went to Malaysia, 27,875 to Singapore, 108 to South Korea, 123 to the UK, 653 to Italy,
3 to Japan, 12 to Brunei, 215 to Mauritius and 5 to Iraq.
Meanwhile, the export of women manpower has also increased over the previous years. About 80,143 women workers were sent abroad for works in 2021. Of them, some 4,669 women went in January, 6,382 in February, 8,297 in March, 5,239 in April and 4,238 in May.
Besides, some 6,901 women were sent to different countries for works in June, while 1,691 in July, 3,659 in August, 8,053 in September, 8,488 in October and 10,962 in November.
The highest number of 11,564 women went abroad in December last. Among the female workers, highest 46,361 persons went to Saudi Arabia.
After that, 11,697 women workers went to Jordan and 7,645 went to Oman. Last year, most women workers were sent to those three countries.
Mohammad Abul Bashar, former president of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA), an organization of manpower exporters said, “We set a record in manpower exports in December. The Malaysian labor market has opened up after three years. Consequently, workers will go there again. Many people will go to Middle Eastern countries. It will help to earn more remittances.
The government has increased the incentive for remittances from 2 percent to 2.5 percent from January 1. All in all, it will have a positive effect on remittances. We are already seeing that effect.”
Abul Bashar thinks that it is possible to send more female workers to the labor market, if we can provide working environment and security to women. After the outbreak of corona in 2019, the labor market of Bangladesh fell on its face.
In 2019, the year before the epidemic, 7,00159 workers were sent abroad for jobs. Due to the corona, it came down to 2,17,669 people in 2020. But, it slowly began to see the light of day again in 2021.
According to BMET records, a total of 13 million Bangladeshis went to work in different countries of the world from 1976 to 2021. Question was raised about the efficiency of the workers in sending this huge number of manpower.
Manzur Hossain, director of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) said, “The amount of remittance sending by expatriates will be increased due to rising of manpower export. It is a good sign for our economy.