EVEN though workers’ recruitment by Saudi Arabia has dropped to half in 2018 due to different hurdles and complications, the rich Middle Eastern country is still the largest destination for Bangladeshi unskilled workers. About 2.33 lakh workers went to Saudi Arabia from January to November last year although the Kingdom recruited over 5.51 lakh in the previous year. As the Kingdom is undergoing some sorts of reformations nowadays, we think the competition for the job would be tougher in the coming days. To tackle the situation, Bangladesh government must take skill development programmes along with mandatory language course to grab the competitive job market. It is not for only Saudi Arabia, these training programmes would help our jobseekers in every corner of the world.
In 2018, Saudi Arabia recruited 33.64 per cent of Bangladeshi workers who migrated with short-term jobs while Malaysia became the second largest destination. Qatar, Oman and Singapore were consecutively third, fourth and fifth destinations for Bangladeshi workers in last year. Most of the workers have migrated to overseas countries from Cumilla with 51,935 workers in 2018 though followed by Tangail, Brahmanbaria, Dhaka and Chattogram.
With the rise of migrant workers; their rights violation, abuse, indecency, workplace, and lack of housing and utilities in those countries have become a matter of concern. Exploitation by middlemen is very common in rural areas what at the end indulges fortune seekers in agony. The migrant aspirants sell their valuables, including lands and homestead, to go to the desire countries.
Creating alternative destinations and involving the unskilled laboureres in skill development programmes is prime need at this moment. Currently, the unemployment rate and the rate of new job generation are disproportionate while the private job creation is very low and midlevel jobs are occupied by foreigners in most offices. We hope, the authorities concerned will take initiatives to explore more and more destinations for the country’s growing labour force. But first of all, our labour force must go through skill development programmes before going to other countries.
