Reza Mahmud :
Manpower export from Bangladesh has started gaining momentum from a drastic 2020 fall as host countries continue to reopen their economies in a new-normal pandemic situation.
A total of 3,17, 011 workers have migrated overseas from Bangladesh to take up employment during January-September this year. Besides, a total of 1,81,493 Bangladeshi nationals left the country during the same period last year, according to a data of the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET).
Bangladesh exported a total of 217,669 workers in 2020, as against 700,159 workers in 2019. This drastic drop is attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic.
As per the data, about 1,35,518 more Bangladeshi manpower joined work abroad this year than the previous year.
Officials of the BMET said that manpower exporting was totally suspended in April, May and June in 2020 due to complete suspension of international flights during the coronavirus pandemic.
Besides, the other months after June to December, only a few workers were able to go abroad amid the pandemic situation.
According to the BMET data, a total of 2,46,818 workers went to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia the highest number in the period, this year.
Meanwhile, Oman becomes the second higher manpower importer recruiting 24,279 workers from Bangladesh.Besides, Singapore imported 13,432 Bangladeshi manpower, Jordan 9,320, Qatar 6,775, United Arab Emirate 4717, Italy 303 and Kuwait hired 231 workers from the country.
Experts said that manpower exporting is a vast sector of earning foreign currency for the country.
They said it is very important sector as it provides job opportunities to a large number of unemployed people in the country.
But the sector has been suffering most due to the global coronavirus pandemic.
Stakeholders said that hundreds of thousands people were suffered due to the deadlock of importing manpower by the host countries.
Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmad said about four lakh Bangladeshi migrant workers returned home from abroad during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
A portion of returnee expatriates have further went back to their workplaces abroad in the meantime.
Manpower exporters said, the host countries need huge workforce as the deadlock of the productivity of economy is being erased gradually.
They said as fuel price including oil is increased for which the economic activities are also hiked that ultimately pushed countries to hire more manpower.
It has fueled hope among the foreign bound workers and the international recruiting agencies.
When contacted, Benjir Ahmed MP, former President of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA), told The New Nation on Sunday, “As the pandemic is decreasing and the financial activities are on the rise, the demand of workers is also increasing in the foreign countries. As a result our manpower exporting is also boosting gradually.”
He expressed hope that the pace will continue.
When contacted, Hashan Mahmud, Director of Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) told The New Nation on Sunday, “We have found enormous potentials of exporting our manpower in different countries.”
The BMET as well as the ministry is doing everything to make the manpower exporting smooth and easy, he added.
