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Bangladesh’s overseas employment dropped by more than 32 per cent in July 2022 over that of the previous month, as the recruitment demand from the vital job markets slowed to some extent, insiders said.
Data available with the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) showed that 75,499 Bangladeshis found jobs abroad in July, while the figure was 111,539 in June.
Manpower recruiters said the demand for workers in Saudi Arabia, the largest job destination for Bangladeshi workers, declined last month.
The BMET statistics revealed that the oil-rich nation hired 39,968 workers from Bangladesh in July - as against 71,920 workers in June.
However, the overall foreign employment in the first seven months of the current year increased significantly, as the country sent 691,017 workers in January-July 2022 as against 256,187 in the matching period of last year.
Ali Haider Chowdhury, former secretary general of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA), said the demand for workers had been on rise over the months since January. But the demand became low last month.
On the other hand, many workers are now waiting for going to Malaysia, as the country is going to hire workers from Bangladesh. It is another reason behind the decline in the number of overseas employment in July, he mentioned.
The situation was temporary, and the outflow of workers would increase in the coming months, he observed.
Bangladesh sent workers mainly to 20 countries in the last seven months. Majority of them (425,563) went to Saudi Arabia, while Oman hired 97,750, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) 70,203, Singapore 34,421, Qatar 12,344, and Jordan 9,524 workers.
According to the official count, more than 14 million Bangladeshi workers have gone abroad since 1976. A total of 617,209 Bangladeshi found jobs abroad in 2021, while the number was 217,669 in 2020.