Recruitment cost eats up first year's salary of a Bangladeshi migrant
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
FE Report
A Bangladeshi worker pays one of the highest recruitment costs in the world to land an overseas job that eats up his first year's salary, an international migration expert said Sunday.
"Bangladesh has one of the highest pre-departure costs due to lack of information. The workers here lack skills and education," said Professor Philip Martin.
On an average, a Bangladeshi worker spends US$2,300 or Tk161,300 before going abroad in search of jobs and better lives, which is nearly double than the maximum official cost of $1,215, said Martin.
"His entire first year's salaries in the overseas are spent on clearing the debt he made to process his migration," Martin, the chairman of Comparative Immigration and Integration Programme at University of California, Davis, USA.
He was speaking at a seminar on 'Managing Labour Migration: Implications for Bangladesh' in the city.
Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) organised the event with its research director M Asaduzzaman in the chair.
Officially more than 6.5 million Bangladeshis are living and working abroad and they remitted around $10.5 billion - or more than 10 per cent of the country's Gross Domestic Product - in 2009.
Prof Martin said although remittance plays a big role in developing the country, most of the workers flying abroad work in low-paid jobs.
"They lack education, skills and information, which create problems in their workplaces abroad," he said, adding most have their extended family networks finance recruitment costs.
Martin said Bangladesh can use its homegrown microfinance model to help willing migrants fund his recruitment processing cost.
"Partnership between banks and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working in the area can be an important tool to make a pre-departure loan programme successful," he said.
"More protection for migrants can be ensured if banks and NGOs review foreign work contract. And workers remittances must return via bank to make repayment of loans," said Martin, also an expert on agricultural and resource economics.
He said recruiters receive foreign job offers and rely on agents and subagents to find willing migrants to fill up foreign jobs. "Most of them do not visit foreign employers to check on placements."
Mr. Martin said Bangladesh should develop 'Brand Bangladesh' via internationally accredited training institutions and certificates to help workers find jobs in 'star' destinations such as the UK, the USA and Europe instead of relying on 'cash cows' in the Gulf - the country's major overseas job market.
"It however will take a few years to develop such an acceptable brand," he said.
Martin said the global economic crisis might have a slight interruption in the growth of migration. "There is a slowdown in new migrant arrivals in Korea, the USA and the UK. But relatively few migrants have lost jobs and departed due to the recession."
He said migrant hosting countries are expected to take more migrants over the next decade. "Traditional immigration countries have already expanded side-door entries for guest workers, students and exchange visitors."
A Bangladeshi worker pays one of the highest recruitment costs in the world to land an overseas job that eats up his first year's salary, an international migration expert said Sunday.
"Bangladesh has one of the highest pre-departure costs due to lack of information. The workers here lack skills and education," said Professor Philip Martin.
On an average, a Bangladeshi worker spends US$2,300 or Tk161,300 before going abroad in search of jobs and better lives, which is nearly double than the maximum official cost of $1,215, said Martin.
"His entire first year's salaries in the overseas are spent on clearing the debt he made to process his migration," Martin, the chairman of Comparative Immigration and Integration Programme at University of California, Davis, USA.
He was speaking at a seminar on 'Managing Labour Migration: Implications for Bangladesh' in the city.
Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) organised the event with its research director M Asaduzzaman in the chair.
Officially more than 6.5 million Bangladeshis are living and working abroad and they remitted around $10.5 billion - or more than 10 per cent of the country's Gross Domestic Product - in 2009.
Prof Martin said although remittance plays a big role in developing the country, most of the workers flying abroad work in low-paid jobs.
"They lack education, skills and information, which create problems in their workplaces abroad," he said, adding most have their extended family networks finance recruitment costs.
Martin said Bangladesh can use its homegrown microfinance model to help willing migrants fund his recruitment processing cost.
"Partnership between banks and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working in the area can be an important tool to make a pre-departure loan programme successful," he said.
"More protection for migrants can be ensured if banks and NGOs review foreign work contract. And workers remittances must return via bank to make repayment of loans," said Martin, also an expert on agricultural and resource economics.
He said recruiters receive foreign job offers and rely on agents and subagents to find willing migrants to fill up foreign jobs. "Most of them do not visit foreign employers to check on placements."
Mr. Martin said Bangladesh should develop 'Brand Bangladesh' via internationally accredited training institutions and certificates to help workers find jobs in 'star' destinations such as the UK, the USA and Europe instead of relying on 'cash cows' in the Gulf - the country's major overseas job market.
"It however will take a few years to develop such an acceptable brand," he said.
Martin said the global economic crisis might have a slight interruption in the growth of migration. "There is a slowdown in new migrant arrivals in Korea, the USA and the UK. But relatively few migrants have lost jobs and departed due to the recession."
He said migrant hosting countries are expected to take more migrants over the next decade. "Traditional immigration countries have already expanded side-door entries for guest workers, students and exchange visitors."