Belying all expectations, job market in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) remains elusive as yet. There was no signing of agreement on resumption of manpower export to the Gulf nation during the visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina there. But the governments of the two countries signed agreements to cooperate on a number of other bilateral issues during her visit to the Gulf state.
On the recruitment issue, UAE Vice-President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum reportedly said there are some 'complexities' that could be solved through official-level talks.
However, the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) signed a memorandum of understanding with Amala, a UAE-based company, to send domestic female workers to the Gulf state. During the visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister, Amala verbally expressed a demand for 1,000 housemaids.
Currently, about 1.2 million Bangladeshis work in the UAE. The UAE authorities suspended recruiting workers from the country two years back, on grounds that the number of foreign workers had exceeded the requirement.
Manpower export from Bangladesh has significantly declined as no new job market was created overseas in more than a year. Moreover, many of the major recipient countries continued restricting recruitment from Bangladesh.
The major countries to recruit manpower from Bangladesh are Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Qatar, Malaysia, Oman and Singapore, of which, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait and Oman have imposed restriction on recruitment from Bangladesh.
According to reports, various illegal activities including murder, theft and illegal stay allegedly carried out by Bangladeshi migrant workers there have tarnished the image of the country. The situation has brought sufferings to many Bangladeshi job seekers to the Gulf nations.
This year's manpower export is very negligible up till now. Last year, the number of workers who had gone abroad was 38,337, 32,189 and 37,100 in the months of January, February and March respectively. In 2012, the number of manpower exported was 607,798 which came down to 409,253 last year.
A data of BMET shows that annual remittance earned from the sector was $13,832.13 million (around Tk 13 billion) in 2013 and $14,163.99 million (around Tk 14 billion) in 2012.
Analysts say the main cause behind the decline in labour migration was the government's decision of not allowing recruiters to send workers who were not registered with the government database.
In the backdrop of declining manpower exports, the government is now on the lookout for new markets for exporting workers. The African countries where a high-level team is due to visit remain largely unexplored as yet.
However, the government-to-government labour deal between Bangladesh and Malaysia is not working properly. With no new labour markets opening up, it is assumed that the sector is now undergoing its most challenging time.
Expectations were galore that thousands of workers would be going to Malaysia following signing of the government-to-government deal. But the reality is that only a few hundreds have gone there so far.
The government has blamed squarely on the irregularities of private sector operators for the closure of many lucrative destinations. But the fact remains that the government is just unable to manage the country's labour market on its own. Without involvement of the private manpower agents, it is impossible on its part to run the entire show.
A lot of exercise needs to be carried out to address some of the structural weaknesses that have beset the sector. Single-country dependence on sending workers is one impediment. Continued dominance of low-skilled workers among the outbound migrant poses another hindrance in the way of increasing the volume of remittance and also in providing protection to the migrants. The government should give extra attention to the Saudi market because of the false propaganda now going on against the Bangladeshis working there. Saudi Arabia is by far the largest employer of migrant workers in the Middle East.
Some labour-receiving countries were reported to have expressed their displeasure about the high migration costs incurred by labour migrants from Bangladesh. It is true that Bangladeshi workers have to pay much higher fees than their other South Asian counterparts to take up foreign employment.
Diversification of labour markets requires well-thought-out measures both at home and abroad, and demands policy coherence. Capacities need to be developed to examine the labour demands in the context of development plans and demographic changes in the labour-receiving countries.
Efforts are to be made to track new locations and avenues of work that individuals and groups are pursuing. This requires adequate staffing of Bangladeshi missions with dynamic, motivated and well-trained personnel with the ability to go beyond their routine tasks.
Needless to say, low-skilled migrants are often the most disadvantaged and are vulnerable to ill treatment and abuse. In many instances they work in the informal sector and thus are beyond formal cover of the labour laws of the countries concerned and social protection.
As migration of skilled workers fetches better protection and higher incomes, promoting such work force has been an important policy priority for the government.
Attempts should be made to gain re-access into the traditional markets by addressing the problems. New avenues should be sought through deploying effective personnel and attaining policy coherence.
In this regard, the government needs to do required homework before exploring new employment markets. There should be a sustained follow-up of decisions taken during visits by government high-ups, usually a neglected area of exercise. Follow-up actions will definitely result in diversifying the country's manpower market exploration.
Labour market watchers say the government was trying to explore labour market 'in its own way,' which was not yielding any positive result. It should hold a brainstorming session with the recruiting agencies and retired ambassadors to find out a planned course of action accordingly, they suggest.
In this connection, the Finance Ministry, the Planning Ministry and the Foreign Ministry should work together as labour migration has become a crucial sector that brings remittance of about Tk 14 billion annually.
szkhan@dhaka.net
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