Overseas jobs fall sharply in August as demand shrinks in S Arabia, Malaysia

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FE ReportbrOverseas jobs for Bangladeshis fell by 38 per cent in August compared to the previous month due to a decline in demand in the Middle Eastern countries and Malaysia, officials said on Monday. brThe Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training said in August 54,708 Bangladeshis found jobs abroad August, the lowest monthly figure since January, which is also 27.86 per cent down from the same period last year.brThe number of jobs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and Malaysia, two of the major employers of Bangladeshis, came down sharply in August, dragging the total overseas jobs down by 37.97 per cent, said a BMET official.brOnly 5121 Bangladeshi found jobs in Saudi Arabia in August, down sharply from 9749 in the previous month while only 3610 people got employment in Malaysia, down from 18,126 in July.br There have also been fewer job opportunities for Bangladeshis in the Persian Gulf countries of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain, said the official.brThe number of overseas jobs in the first eight months (January-August) of this year, however, recorded a 23.75 per cent growth, boosted by high demands in the Gulf countries and in South East Asia during the initial months.brWe issued visa clearances to a record 618,806 people in the first eight months. The figure was 500,065 during the same period last year, a senior official of Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment said.brHe said during the period 252,030 in the UAE, 117,309 found jobs in Saudi Arabia, 76,355 in Malaysia, 34,675 in Oman and 33,244 in Singapore. brOf the total overseas jobs, 88,202 Bangladeshis found jobs in July, 98,002 in June, 82,739 in May, 72,257 in April, 59,183 in March, 71,716 in February and 91,999 in January.brMore than 5.6 million Bangladeshis are now working in over 100 countries across the globe. In the 2007-8 fiscal they sent home $7.939 billion in remittances, up nearly two billion dollars than the previous fiscal. brA leader of Bangladesh International Recruiting Agency (BAIRA) said the sudden fall in overseas jobs was mainly due to months of negative campaign about Bangladeshi workers.brSome newspapers in the gulf nations have portrayed Bangladeshis as violent and unruly. As a result, many private firms have cut recruitment of our workers, Abdul Alam, also a proprietor of top recruiting agency SA Trading.brA BMET official said it was too early to the fall in August was a one-off thing or shape of things to come in the near future.br