Overseas employment rebounds after Covid-induced slump

In an encouraging sign of normalcy returning to the overseas labour market for Bangladeshis, the number of workers receiving immigration clearance in a single month from the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training crossed one lakh last November.

Only once before, in March 2017, had so many workers (above 1 lakh) received BMET clearance in a single month. But the November figure gains far more significance coming on the back of the post-Covid lockdown slump witnessed in the international labour market.

Shahidul Alam, Director General of BMET, told UNB that 102,863 (1 lakh 2 thousand 63) workers were provided clearance to go abroad in November 2021, by far the highest in a single month since the start of the pandemic.

According to BMET numbers, 35,732 workers were cleared to go abroad in January 2021, followed by 49,510 in February and 61,653 in March. However, during the second wave of the pandemic in the country, the number of migrating workers decreased due to the reimposition of lockdown in April, dropping to 34,145 and then even further to 14,200 in May.

Although the number rose to 45,567 in June, it slumped again to just 12,380 in July and 19,604 in August.

Shahidul Alam said that the situation started improving again after the lockdown was gradually lifted in September. Some 42,000 workers were cleared to go abroad in September, rising to 65,233 in October, and culminating in the 'record' figure in November.

In both October and November, the figure rose by over 50% compared to the previous month, driving a belief that Bangladesh may have turned the corner when it comes to the overseas labour market.

"Our labour market has recovered because aviation with different countries has become normal," Shahidul Alam said.

Out of the 485,895 workers who migrated in the first 11 months of 2021, 370,014 - 76 percent of the total -went to Saudi Arabia. Job opportunities have increased for Bangladeshis in Saudi Arabia after the pandemic, the DMET DG added.

Besides, 40,086 workers migrated to Oman, 21,339 to Singapore, 14,274 to UAE, 11,845 to Jordan, 9,728 to Qatar and 936 to Kuwait during the same period.

Shariful Hasan, head of the migration program at development organisation BRAC, told UNB that the employment of about 500,000 workers abroad in a year blighted by the pandemic is certainly a positive development. He noted that according to the International Organization for Migration, Bangladesh is one of the top 10 countries in the world in terms of foreign employment and remittance. Over 1 crore Bangladeshi migrant workers are sending remittances.

As a result of their contribution, on May 3, 2021, the foreign exchange reserves reached the milestone of $45 billion for the first time. Expatriates sent over $24 billion in remittances during the 2020-21 fiscal, itself a record.

"To put it simply, expatriates are sending up to 8-10 times more in remittances than the amount of foreign loans or grants that are now coming in to Bangladesh, or even the amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country," Shariful added.

The first outbreak of Covid-19 in March 2020 hit the immigration sector hard. Shariful Hasan said, "We stumbled repeatedly; but we did not lag behind." Despite various crises, the government, the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment, BMET, the Welfare Board, the Expatriate Welfare Bank and other international and non-governmental organizations have tried to work together, this Brac official added.