Govt agency fails to garner even 1.0pc overseas jobs
Wednesday, 2 September 2009
FE Report
Relatives and friends living abroad have outshown Bangladeshi private recruiters in facilitating overseas employment, with over half potential workers securing jobs through the social network, migration experts say.
At the same time, they note that the government recruiting agency's role had also ebbed as the Bangladesh Overseas Employment Services Ltd (BOESL) failed to garner even 1.0 per cent share of annual outflow of workers.
"In little more than one half the cases or 54 per cent, it was friends and relatives in the destination country that played the primary role," said Hasan Zaman, a World Bank economist, said, referring to the overseas jobs.
Mr Zaman, who is doing extensive research on international migration and remittances, said this factor is especially strong outside Dhaka and Chittagong--more likely due to the tight-knit Bangladeshi community in the United Kingdom, originally from Sylhet.
Migration experts say an estimated 6.5 million Bangladeshis who live and work aboard are serving as "de facto recruiters" of workers.
The Washington lender, in a nationwide survey, has found that 41 per cent of potential jobseekers found jobs abroad by private agents in Bangladesh.
On an average, the bank economists estimated, Bangladeshi agencies charge Tk 161,346 for processing a foreign job. The median fees, however, for overseas employment are Tk 120,000.
These recruiting agencies earn $2.0 billion roughly a year from processing overseas jobs.
The survey also shows that foreign employers hire directly only 4.8 per cent Bangladeshi migrant workers.
Officials at state-run manpower bureau said the BOESL facilitated overseas jobs for less than 2000 in 2008 when nearly 900,000 Bangladeshis went abroad with work permits. The BOESL sent workers mainly to South Korea, Poland and Qatar.
The bank economists say recruiting agencies are mainly located in the capital while the Chittagong metropolis plays a very minor role as a hub for processing overseas migration, notwithstanding its importance of remittance flow.
In fact, about 40 per cent of respondents in the survey in Chittagong region said they would like establish contact with agents based in Dhaka.
At the same time employment recruitment agencies "appear to have quite a decentralised operation in nearly half the cases the agencies were reported to have been located at the district or the village levels," the economist added.
For decades, international migration has played an increasingly important role for the economy, which helps cut poverty and ease pressure on the domestic job market.
Migrants' money -- known as remittances -- also boosts foreign exchange reserves and stimulates domestic demand.
Some 875,000 workers were employed overseas last year, remittance flows amounted to around 10 per cent of GDP (Gross Domestic Product).
Today, Bangladesh is now among the top ten remittance recipient nations worldwide, according to the World Bank's Development Prospect Group.
Almost two-thirds of Bangladesh's remittances originate from the oil-rich Middle East, followed by the United States.
Relatives and friends living abroad have outshown Bangladeshi private recruiters in facilitating overseas employment, with over half potential workers securing jobs through the social network, migration experts say.
At the same time, they note that the government recruiting agency's role had also ebbed as the Bangladesh Overseas Employment Services Ltd (BOESL) failed to garner even 1.0 per cent share of annual outflow of workers.
"In little more than one half the cases or 54 per cent, it was friends and relatives in the destination country that played the primary role," said Hasan Zaman, a World Bank economist, said, referring to the overseas jobs.
Mr Zaman, who is doing extensive research on international migration and remittances, said this factor is especially strong outside Dhaka and Chittagong--more likely due to the tight-knit Bangladeshi community in the United Kingdom, originally from Sylhet.
Migration experts say an estimated 6.5 million Bangladeshis who live and work aboard are serving as "de facto recruiters" of workers.
The Washington lender, in a nationwide survey, has found that 41 per cent of potential jobseekers found jobs abroad by private agents in Bangladesh.
On an average, the bank economists estimated, Bangladeshi agencies charge Tk 161,346 for processing a foreign job. The median fees, however, for overseas employment are Tk 120,000.
These recruiting agencies earn $2.0 billion roughly a year from processing overseas jobs.
The survey also shows that foreign employers hire directly only 4.8 per cent Bangladeshi migrant workers.
Officials at state-run manpower bureau said the BOESL facilitated overseas jobs for less than 2000 in 2008 when nearly 900,000 Bangladeshis went abroad with work permits. The BOESL sent workers mainly to South Korea, Poland and Qatar.
The bank economists say recruiting agencies are mainly located in the capital while the Chittagong metropolis plays a very minor role as a hub for processing overseas migration, notwithstanding its importance of remittance flow.
In fact, about 40 per cent of respondents in the survey in Chittagong region said they would like establish contact with agents based in Dhaka.
At the same time employment recruitment agencies "appear to have quite a decentralised operation in nearly half the cases the agencies were reported to have been located at the district or the village levels," the economist added.
For decades, international migration has played an increasingly important role for the economy, which helps cut poverty and ease pressure on the domestic job market.
Migrants' money -- known as remittances -- also boosts foreign exchange reserves and stimulates domestic demand.
Some 875,000 workers were employed overseas last year, remittance flows amounted to around 10 per cent of GDP (Gross Domestic Product).
Today, Bangladesh is now among the top ten remittance recipient nations worldwide, according to the World Bank's Development Prospect Group.
Almost two-thirds of Bangladesh's remittances originate from the oil-rich Middle East, followed by the United States.