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Over the first five months of the current calendar year, Bangladesh dispatched over half a million workers overseas, as per the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET).
The BMET expressed optimism that the sector would surpass last year's record of sending over 1.0 million workers abroad. However, the notion that "the more Bangladeshis seek employment overseas, the greater the inflow of remittances for the country" appears to have faltered.
According to data from the central bank, despite the escalating exodus of workers, remittance income has failed to rebound, with Bangladesh witnessing a 10.27 per cent decline in inward remittances compared to the previous year in May.
The figures indicate that in May this year, the influx of remittances amounted to US$ 1.69 billion, a decline from the US$ 1.88 billion recorded during the same period last year.
Industry insiders attribute this remittance conundrum to 'hundi', an illicit and unofficial avenue for transferring funds back home.
They propose that promoting the official banking channels by offering attractive foreign exchange rates and augmenting incentives would bolster the remittance inflow.
In 2022, Bangladesh sent around 1.1 million workers, witnessing a robust growth trend in recent years after a setback resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
Of the half million Bangladeshis who migrated in the first five months of this year, some 503,401 workers secured employment in various destination countries, according to BMET data.
The country consistently dispatched over 100,000 workers each month, except for April, which saw a decline to 78,833 workers, as shown by the BMET data.
Statistics show that Saudi Arabia recruited over 37 per cent of the total Bangladeshi outbound workforce during the five-month period, while Malaysia accounted for 27 per cent and Oman for 13 per cent. Bangladesh sends workers mainly to 20 countries. During the January-May period in 2022, a total of 503,979 workers left home for foreign jobs.