A potential market for Bangladeshi migrants

FE Team | Published: November 03, 2018 20:46:00

This letter is in reference to the article titled 'Chinese labour market beckons BD workers' that was published in Financial Express on November 03, 2018.
The article reads, "China has the potential to be a destination for Bangladesh to export labour, thanks to its rising wages, shrinking workforce and ever expanding production capacity in the world's second-largest economy."
The well-researched piece also stated that Chinese authority, after easing existing strict recruitment policy of foreign workers, are now seeking foreign workforce. Through an agreement with the Philippines in April of this year, the Chinese government will be recruiting 300,000 Filipinos, including English-medium teachers, cooks, caregivers, household service workers, musicians, and nurses.
The Bangladesh embassy in China has been receiving inquiries from a number of large Chinese manufacturing firms asking whether it can help them to import unskilled or semiskilled manpower to China. Also, there is huge labour shortage in some cities like Guangzhou and Shanghai of China.
In these cities, there is an estimated 30 to 70 per cent gap between supply and demand of workers. Also, an increasing number of Chinese nationals are moving from coastal areas to interior provinces which are closer to their birth places.
The combination of all these factors has led to the severe crisis of workers in China.
This is a great opportunity for Bangladesh to send male and female migrant workers there. China's labour ministry is looking for unskilled as well as skilled workers. As the relation between Bangladesh and China is very strong, officials from the highest levels of our government should discuss this prospect with China.
While unskilled workers can receive employment in factories, construction and other sectors, skilled workers are likely to get bigger salaries and benefits.
Lots of skilled professionals are migrating to other countries of the world where it takes them anywhere between two to three years to recover the migration cost and also settle down with well-paid jobs and accommodations. Such problems may be less in China where the wages are reportedly high. Also, the Chinese culture is almost similar to Bangladesh.
Bangladesh government can target the skilled workers requirement in China and train the potential group of migrants.
I sincerely hope that officials of the concerned departments related to migration in Bangladesh have read the article by Financial Express and are already considering measures based on it. Finally, I would like to thank Financial Express for publishing this informative article.
Akibul Javed,
Indira Road, Dhaka