Women workers' outflow falls 27pc in 7 months

The outflow of women workers abroad has declined by more than 27 per cent in the last seven months of 2023 for a significant decrease in hiring by Saudi Arabia.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the key job destination country for Bangladeshi female workers.
Data available with the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) shows 48,543 women workers had been abroad with jobs during the January-July period.
The number of outbound women workers during the same period of 2022 was 67,127, according to the data.
Sector insiders said Saudi Arabia has reduced recruitment of women migrant workers from Bangladesh in recent months following reasons like higher migration costs that are paid by employers.
BMET statistics disclosed that Saudi Arabia has hired 33,927 women workers from Bangladesh in the past seven months of this calendar year.

On the other hand, the number was 42,647 in the corresponding period last year.
Now, Saudi employers prefer to hire workers from African countries like Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia, said Mizanur Rahman, a member on the executive committee of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA).
"For the past two months," he said, "we are receiving very little demand for women workers from Saudi Arabia."
Saudi employers are hiring workers from African countries as recruitment costs are less than that of other countries, including Bangladesh.
However, Saudi Arabia hires women workers under the employer-pay model, meaning that an employer will bear all costs regarding migration of a woman worker.
An employer needs to spend $4,000 for a Filipino woman worker, $2,500 for a Bangladeshi woman and $900 to $1,000 for an African woman.
On the other hand, the Bangladeshi overseas employment sector is heavily reliant on middlemen. For this reason, migration costs increase several times, which are ultimately borne by the workers.
BAIRA leader Mizanur Rahman, who sends women workers abroad, has sought a proper government strategy in sending females abroad to ensure quality migration.
Among the women workers sent abroad during the period in question this year, 4,282 went to Oman, 4,261 to Jordan and 1,070 to the United Arab Emirates.
According to BMET data, more than 1.1-million Bangladeshi women workers have been abroad with jobs since 1991.
Most of them were recruited by the Middle-Eastern countries as domestic helps.

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