Bridging workers' skill gap

That development of the young generation's skills is a sine qua non for the overall national and economic development has universal approval. So policymakers promise high to build a knowledge-based and a smart country where a large number of science and technology universities and technical and vocational institutions are supposed to churn out a vast pool of talent equipped with technical skills. All these are soothing to the ears and quite inspiring, but the gap between promise and actual performance is rather perplexing.

If two recent developments in our manpower export sector analysed, the contrast between what we aspire to be and the reality that exists becomes painfully clear. On the one hand we are flooding the Middle Eastern countries, a traditional destination for unskilled labourers, with workers where they are struggling to find jobs due to the overflow of job seekers. Thousands of our expatriate workers are returning home from these countries empty-handed and lumbered with repayment of huge loans they made. On the other hand, the demand for skilled and semi-skilled workers is quite high in East Asian countries like Japan and South Korea, but we cannot send an adequate number of workers to these countries due to a woeful shortage of skilled youths.

How job seekers here are wanting in skill sets is highlighted by a report carried in the FE. According to the report, Bangladesh had received a quota from the South Korean government to send 10,000 semi-skilled or skilled workers in 2023, but only 4,804 could be sent. Among the reasons behind not fulfilling the quota, a lack of adequate number of technically skilled youths who know the Korean language stands out. The tendency of Bangladeshi workers to switch jobs frequently also is said to have created a negative impression among Korean employers about workers from Bamgladesh. But the very fact that our workers can frequently change jobs for higher salaries in Korea speaks of their quality as well as a high demand for skilled or semi-skilled workers. So, the case of squandered opportunity in South Korea is just another example of the failure to diversify and expand the manpower sector here.

The authorities in the manpower sector should give a serious look first at their own performance records before attempting to shift the blame onto the job seekers. Though the workers' failure to live up to rules and regulations of host countries shouldn't be taken lightly, it is beyond all doubt that the authorities failed to create awareness among outbound workers and haven't adopted a sound mechanism so that workers stick to the terms and conditions under which they were engaged.

Both Japan and South Korea are continuously scouring developing countries for manpower. Both of the countries could be highly lucrative, high-end alternative manpower exporting destinations for Bangladesh, if the authorities would only shift their focus from sending unskilled laborers in droves to Middle East to equipping the aspirant outbound workers with the necessary technical and language skills before sending them to countries with higher demand. The demand is there and will always be there for skilled and unskilled workers. Bangladesh needs to decide how big it wants its slice of the cake to be, plan accordingly, and aspire to become a force to be reckoned with in the manpower export industry worldwide.