Over eight lakh workers went abroad with job last year, says ministry
January 29, 2008
A total of 8,32,609 Bangladeshi workers were given immigration clearance to go abroad with employment till December 31, 2007 since the present Caretaker government came to power.
Of which, more than five lakh 71 thousand workers were sent to different countries including Malaysia with employment, Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment ministry sources told the news agency yesterday.
Bangladeshis working abroad, a key source of economic stability, sent home a record of $6.57 billion in 2007 equivalent to Tk 45,683 crore. The record remittances also pushed up Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserve, the sources said.
The countries, where Bangladeshi workforce went include Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Libya, Kuwait, Singapore, Brunei, Jordan, UK, Italy, Mauritius, Lebanon and Ireland.
The sources said that with the timely action taken by the government new labour markets have been created in countries like South Korea, Poland, Canada, Rumania, Russia, Afghanistan, Yemen, Angola, Nigeria and South Africa. New labour market is likely to be opened up in Cyprus. Expatriate Ministry sources further said that after a gap of 10 years, Malaysia started importing manpower from Bangladesh from October 22, 2006. And so far two lakh 45 thousand 16 workers went to Malaysia till December 31, 2007.
On average four hundred to seven hundred Bangladeshi workers have been going to Malaysia everyday although Malaysia had put a temporary ban on import of manpower.
The present government signed memorandum of understanding with some countries for export of manpower from the country.
The countries include, The United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman and Qatar. Dhaka and Seoul signed an agreement on the commencement of recruiting Bangladeshi manpower in South Korea under the country’s new Employment Permit System (EPS) for foreign job seekers.
The deal styled ‘Service Commitment Agreement was signed between Human Resources Department (HRD) of Korea and Bangladesh Overseas Employment Services Ltd (BOESL). However Korean language skill is a must for getting job there. The government of Oman lifted a bar on recruitment of Bangladeshi workers after 12 years and expressed desire to recruit skilled workforce from the country.
The Omani minister for manpower Dr. Juma bin Ali bin Juma during his visit to Dhaka recently had announced the lifting of bar. Presently some 130,000 Bangladeshis are employed in the tiny oil rich Gulf State. Oman requires skilled manpower like doctors, engineers, technicians and other professionals.
The sources said that Bangladesh and Qatar on January 6 this year signed an additional protocol to recruit more workers especially skilled workforce from the country for the Gulf State.
Qatar is interested in recruiting skilled professionals like academics, engineers and IT experts apart from semi-and unskilled workers. More than 15,000 workers went to Qatar in 2007.
The government has provided Tk 11. 25 crore from the wage earners welfare fund to the dependents of 1,125 deceased workers and 45 injured workers during January, 07 to November 07. There are 764 recruiting agencies in the country. The government received 256 complaints against different recruiting agencies from January ‘07 to November ‘07. Some 142 complaints were resolved while Taka one crore 56 lakh were realised from the accused agencies and given to the Complainants.
During the same period license of four recruiting agencies were cancelled for different irregularities.
Replying to question to a question on the problems faced by the Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia, expatriate welfare and overseas employment secretary Abdul Matin Chowdhury said that problem arises when the workers find their job tough for them and want to be employed elsewhere. “This problem can not be solved quickly,” he added.
Chowdhury said the officials of the Labour wing of the Bangladesh missions abroad have been advised to visit the working sites and camps on regular basis to sort out the problems of Bangladeshi workers with the employers.
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