Big surge in manpower export likely next year
FE Team | Published: November 02, 2011 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
Arafat AraThe country recorded highest number of overseas jobs in October over the 10 months of 2011 thanks to gradual increase in employment opportunities in the Middle Eastern countries, officials said.
Data released by the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) showed 57,892 Bangladeshis were hired by foreign nations during October 2011, recording 79 per cent growth compared to the corresponding period of the last year.
The BMET officials said the recruiters, mainly the Middle Eastern countries, are now hiring more manpower from Bangladesh for their booming construction, garments and other economic activities.
Now the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Lebanon are recruiting a significant number of construction workers and house-maids from Bangladesh, said a senior official of BMET.
He said the employment will increase further after starting of recruitment from Libya and Iraq.
According to the official figure, 459,060 Bangladeshis found jobs abroad in the first 10 months of the year. The Persian Gulf Emirates recruited 228,469, Oman hired 106,402, Qatar 10,532, Bahrain 10,548 and Lebanon 16,863 from the country by this time.
The government had earlier set a target to send some half a million workers to foreign job markets this year, but the latest migration data gave the hope that the target would be surpassed by November.
BMET Director General (DG) Khurshed Alam Chowdhury said Iraq is set to hire tens of thousands of workers as the reconstruction of the war-torn country has gathered pace.
Export-oriented Malaysia and oil-rich Saudi Arabia could also resume large-scale recruitment.
"The migration scenario could change dramatically in the coming months. We'll see a big surge in manpower export next year," Mr Chowdhury added.
According to the official figures, more than seven million Bangladeshis now work abroad and they sent home a record $11.65 billion in the 2010-11 fiscal year.
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