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Remittance income of Bangladesh is not increasing accordingly though a large number of workers go abroad every year while many countries are earning more comparatively by sending less number of workers.
Cabinet Secretary Md Mahbub Hossain made the remarks while addressing programme on Monday on the occasion of International Migrants Day- 2023.
The event was organised by the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment at the Probashi Kallyan Bhaban in the city.
More than 1.2 million workers went to different job destination countries during the January-November period this year, shows data of the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training.
Bangladesh sent 734,181 workers in 2018, while 700,159 in 2019, 217,669 in 2020, 617,209 in 2021, and 1135873 in 2022.
The central bank figure shows Bangladeshi workers remitted US$21.61 billion home in the FY 2022-23, $21.03 billion in 2021-22, $24.77 billion in 2020-21, and $18.20 billion in the FY 2019-20.
"Bangladesh is lagging behind in terms of remittance income as the amount of sending unskilled workers is higher than that of skilled manpower," Mr Hossain said.
Bangladesh sends workers mainly to the Middle Eastern countries while there is an opportunity to send manpower to developed labour receiving nations as well, he added.
He suggested that the expatriates' welfare ministry should go for aggressive marketing to send manpower to the European countries.
Ahmed Munirus Saleheen, senior secretary at the expatriates' welfare ministry, however, said sending workers abroad from Bangladesh in an improper way will have to be stopped.
He added Bangladesh is setting a record in sending manpower every year, but quality migration is not ensured properly; as a result it is not reflected in the country's inward remittance.
Before sending workers, the manpower recruitment agencies will have to ensure workers' wellbeing including due jobs, security, and favourable workplace environment, he observed.
He said the migration cost for Bangladeshi workers is higher than that of other labour sending countries in the globe. And visa trading is one of the major reasons for extra migration cost.
"We are trying to create an employer-pay model so that workers can go to their job destination countries free of cost," he added.
Saleh Ahmed Mujaffor, director general of the BMET, among others, was present at the programme.