Overseas jobs heavily depend on single country.
Bangladeshis seeking overseas jobs are heavily dependent on Saudi Arabia, which is responsible for recruiting about 73 per cent of the total workers sent abroad this January.
The recruitment of Bangladeshi workers to Saudi Arabia has increased by 73 per cent in January this year compared to the corresponding period last year, according to the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training.
At least 69,988 workers were sent to different countries in the first month of this year, the BMET data shows. Of them, 51,786 went to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
In January 2019, the BMET data showed that 62,236 workers were sent abroad. Of them, 30,151 workers were sent to Saudi Arabia alone.
BMET director general Shamsul Alam told New Age that Saudi Arabia, geographically the largest country in the Arabian Plate, recruited a large number of workers from Bangladesh.
‘Saudi Arabia usually recruits many unskilled and semi-skilled workers.
Bangladeshi workers with skill deficiency try to migrate to this country more,’ he said.
Closure of Malaysia’s labour market also forced many workers to migrate to Saudi Arabia, he said.
Oman is the second largest destination for Bangladeshi workers which hired 6,506 workers this January. The country recruited 8,327 workers in the same month last year.
Singapore is the third largest country in January recruiting over 3,400 workers from Bangladesh.
Migration rights campaigners termed such deportation as ‘alarming’, as many workers went to the Arab country only two to three months back.
Migrants’ rights activists said that most of the workers sent to Saudi Arabia were unskilled and they were likely to face many problems after arrival in that destination country.
Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit director Marina Sultana told New Age that the government should declare ‘migration decade’ to streamline the labour migration by taking short-, mid- and long-term plans.
She observed that migrant workers should be gradually turned to the skilled manpower to retain the other traditional labour markets and explore new destinations.
In one stage, no country would recruit unskilled workers, she said, adding that proper plans on short, mid and long terms should be taken for sustainable labour migration.
SOURCE: New Age Bangladesh
