The country's overseas employment rose by four per cent in calendar year 2014 following initiatives by the government to increase foreign jobs, said officials.
The number of overseas jobs secured stood at 425,684 in 2014 whereas it was 409,253 in 2013, according to the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) data.
Last year, most of the Bangladeshi workers went to Oman (105,748), Qatar (87,575) and Singapore (54,750).
However, a report of the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) titled 'International Labour Migration from Bangladesh 2014: Achievement and Challenges' showed that the country's overseas employment grew by one per cent in 2014 compared to that of 2013.
Such a growth was attributed to outflow of female workers, the report said.
It also said although the overall international labour migration increased last year, it was lower about 32 per cent than that of 2012 calendar year.
Workers spent money ranging from Tk 0.67 million to Tk 1.6 million as migration cost each to secure jobs in Saudi Arabia, the report also revealed.
Secretary to the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Khandakar Iftekhar Haidar said the ministry took different initiatives to increase manpower export last year that had a positive impact on the overall labour migration.
The ministry also put emphasis on sending skilled manpower and that is why the government will set up a technical training centre in every upazila, the secretary said.
Comilla secured the top position in the list of source areas, followed by Chittagong.
The country received remittance to the tune of US$ 14.50 billion till December 19 last.
Experts said, despite lower migration trend, inbound remittance increased because of different initiatives by the Bangladesh Bank like road shows in the Middle East countries and remittance transfer through mobile solution.
RMMRU Chair Tasnim Siddiqi said a large number of job-seekers went abroad through illegal and channels like sea route.
According to a report published by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) last July, nearly 87,000 people including Bangladeshis travelled to Malaysia in 2014 by sea route. The figure was 53,000 in 2013.
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