right prospects for manpower export

right prospects for manpower export with recovery from recession-budget allocated Tk 70 crore for Skill Development Fund
August 20, 2009 by PlanningWatch
      2 Votes

As some key economies showed signs of recovery from the global recession, Bangladesh’s prospects for exporting manpower to traditional destinations appeared hopeful but renewed initiatives should be taken to diversify markets and upgrade skills to capture high-salaried jobs.
Experts in the sector also underlined the need for financial support for the poor job-seekers from the country’s backward regions and reducing the cost of migration through effective institutional arrangements, free from deception.
On their part, Bangladeshi expatriate workers can take advantage of a wider set of opportunities if investments are made through both public and private initiatives in basic education and upgrading skills, according to some recent reports and study findings.
Physicians, paramedics, engineers, high graded technicians, teachers, management executives and service sector experts may be sent for working abroad in the near future.
Recruiting agents have claimed a steady progress in shifting towards skilled jobs as, they pointed, the country’s earning has increased in the past months despite significant decline in the flow of workers going abroad.
Export of manpower is likely to boost again from the first quarter of 2010 in view of the current trends of the global recovery, forecast the president of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies, Ghulam Mustafa.
The country earns over $9 billion remittances a year but, he said, the actual amount would be more than $20 billion if the money coming through informal channel and the value of cash and kinds that migrants bring back with them are taken into account.
Acknowledging the importance of reducing the cost of migration, Mustafa mentioned that the association would come up with an announcement in this regard after the Eid on the basis of a code of conduct for the recruiting agents.
‘We have to change ourselves as this is a business involving human beings. We have a social responsibility,’ he added.
It is, however, recognised that the Bangladeshi recruiting agents would have to focus on exploring new destinations in the developed countries apart from securing technical jobs in the existing markets, especially the Middle East and Gulf.
Saudi Arabia accounts for more than 40 per cent of Bangladeshi expatriate workers, followed by the United Arab Emirates 16 per cent, the United Kingdom 10 per cent, and Kuwait 10 per cent, according to a World Bank study.
Also, migration still takes place primarily from certain regions — ‘the migration corridors’ — and the study pointed out that around 25 per cent of households in Chittagong division and 16 per cent in Sylhet division receive remittances while the percentage of recipients of remittances is less than 5 per cent in Khulna, Rajshahi and Barisal divisions.
‘The steady demand for low-skill labour from countries, mainly from the Middle East and South East Asia, means that increasing number of Bangladeshis will continue to migrate abroad and send money to support families back home,’ observed the study report on household survey of migrant workers.
Dwelling on the potentials of raising income of migrant workers, Zaid Bakht, a research director of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, pointed out that the same number of expatriate workers could have earned much higher amounts in foreign currencies, had they had higher skills.
‘We have to upgrade skills and diversify sectors, shifting focus from the construction sector… We have also to look for new destinations. Above everything we have to ensure reduced cost and an efficient system,’ he said.
Announcing special training porgrammes for migrant workers, finance minister AMA Muhith in the current budget allocated Tk 70 crore for Skill Development Fund for retention and expansion of the labour market abroad, research for exploring new labour markets, for conducting training for the prospective workers and re-training for the expatriate workers who returned home losing their jobs.
Emphasising the need for opening new windows, BAIRA president Mustafa said Bangladeshi recruiting agents should now target the ‘whole world’. For example, he said, Dhaka should try to keep in touch with Baghdad for sending manpower whenever the opportunity arises.