Like many other countries, the Covid- 19 outbreak has created disruption on the employment of thousands of Bangladeshi workers abroad. A news report published in a national daily on Saturday said that the overseas job markets for Bangladeshis have been reduced to a great extent because of the pandemic. Every year, generally 6 to 8 lakh of our workers go abroad, but it has come down to only 2 lakh 17 thousand in the last year because of the virus. Besides, not a single worker was recruited in the months of April, May and July, rather 5 lakh migrants have returned home during the year.
According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), migrant experts and other concerned, with a slight normalisation of the situation, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates have started the process of reopening their labour markets for the foreign workers. Since a massive devastation has already been created in our labour market, the government now has to take pragmatic steps to help the migrant workers staying in their respective destination countries. Bangladeshi migrants are the main source of remittance earnings for the country.
As per a recent BMET data, over 1.2 crore workers have migrated to 170 countries and they send remittances of $16 billion annually. Over 80 per cent of the migrants have been employed in the Middle East and East Asian countries. According to estimates, 20 lakh migrant workers, with documented and undocumented status, still have been facing deportation because of the pandemic from the Middle East, Europe and East Asian countries.
Migration experts apprehend Bangladeshi workers from oil-rich Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman may face deportation due to the economic crisis in those countries. Saudi Arabia is the largest job market for Bangladeshi migrants, with at least 20 lakh migrants, and is the highest remittance earner for the country. But they said at least 50 per cent of Bangladeshi workers in Saudi Arabia might lose their jobs upon their job permits expiring and become undocumented. Similarly, undocumented Bangladeshis in Singapore and Malaysia may also face deportation. The post-pandemic situation may create more problems for Bangladeshi migrants in these countries.
We will appreciate government’s bilateral and multilateral diplomacy to create new avenues for our job markets abroad. For this, the government should be proactive in searching job markets and preparing the workers with training for that market. Otherwise, we apprehend Bangladesh may face a disaster.
