Easing travails of overseas job-seekers

The surge, as reported, in the remittance inflow from Bangladesh's expatriate workers in the last fiscal year (20024-25) that has broken all past records could not have come at a better time. In fact, the total amount of remittance over the entire period of FY'25 that crossed US$31 billion marking an increase by 25.50 per cent compared to that of the  previous fiscal (FY24) at US$23.74 billion speaks volumes for the confidence that the hard working remittance earners have in the government that replaced the autocratic regime of the past through the July-August, 2024 popular uprising. There is no denying that the stringent measures that the incumbent interim government  adopted to curb illegal informal channels including the so-called 'hundi'  of money transfer as well as introduction of a more market-oriented exchange rate regime have played a positive role in achieving this positive outcome. Admittedly, the financial incentives offered to encourage the expatriate workers to send their remittance through official channels did play their part in the rise of the volume of remittance inflow.

This is obviously an occasion to celebrate as the hard-earned remittance money will go to bolster the country's foreign exchange reserves and contribute to maintaining macroeconomic stability and managing external debt. It is not only the government's hard currency hungry foreign currency account that the enhanced remittance earning will serve, the money will also improve financial conditions of the recipient families. But as the boost in remittance inflow is not simply a matter of government policies or the mere goodwill of the migrant workers, the present level of remittance inflow cannot be taken for granted. Numerous factors including the policies of the host governments on migrant workers, bilateral relations between governments -- the host government and migrant workers' country of origin, international politics, behaviour of the global foreign exchange market at a given time etc.; determine the rate of  remittance.

So, it would be wise to shift the attention to other important issues that the policymakers have always given short shrift to. Even as the remittance earners as a community in general are showered with words of praise from the government, the Press and the intellectual class for the yeoman service they have been rendering to the nation, the total outlook changes as soon as they are faced with an individual remittance earner. A not-so-impressive-looking  migrant worker, often having her/his origin in the countryside, obviously fail to claim the attention they deserve from the smart, educated, and mostly urbane officials of the foreign missions or those at home.

An immediate outcome of this indifferent attitude of the foreign mission officials towards the migrant workers from their home country is that the officials of the host government or the private sector employers of that country, too, find no reason to be kind to those migrant workers in question. To break this vicious circle of apathy and neglect towards the hapless migrant workers, the government at home needs to play a very proactive, attentive and protective role. On this score, the government should learn from how aggressively other manpower exporting countries deal with the host governments when it comes to the cause of their nationals abroad. The government, at the same time, should pay attention to easing the travails the overseas job-seekers undergo at every step of their journey abroad. High amounts they are charged by the recruiting agencies, the agents of overseas employers, as part of various documentation fees, must be reduced to the bare minimum. To start with, the government should initiate a hassle-free one-stop service for overseas job-seekers.