Losing Omani labour market is bad news

The latest decision by the government of Oman to suspend issuance of visas for hopeful expatriate workers from Bangladesh is going to deal a serious blow to inward remittances. Although Bangladesh's foreign ministry has been quick to allay fears that the ban is not permanent but a temporary one will hardly be of any solace to the country's financial situation, which is having little luck in holding on to its depleting foreign exchange reserves. The numbers of workers employed in that country has surpassed 708,000 according to data published in July. This was a big jump in numbers from last year.

From what has been made public by the Bangladesh embassy in that country, it is understood that "Due to termination of employment contracts, many foreign workers are taking jobs illegally and are staying there illegally", and this has led Omani authorities to halt any further migration in an effort to put a stop to this illicit practice. For years, media in Bangladesh have been highlighting the malpractices by private recruiters in the country that have fleeced citizens of their savings to send them abroad with promises of jobs. And for years this illicit practice has been going on without authorities stepping in firmly to put a lid on it. This has led to a fall in goodwill in the traditional overseas labour markets about the manner in which our countrymen go there to work. Having spent twice or thrice the amount for migration (compared to other migrants from other Asian countries), Bangladeshi workers are often desperate to stay on beyond their contractual periods to work and recuperate their losses. This is the area where authorities need to focus their attention so that such incidents of illegal overstay and employment in grey areas come down drastically, which in turn will help keep Bangladesh from being blacklisted in the future.

The timing of the Omani decision naturally has taken everyone by surprise. Bangladeshis ranked the third largest contributor to labour market of that country until September of this year. The fact that more than 100,000 workers travelled to that country in the first nine months is something of a record. There are of course, other reasons for this scaling back of expatriate workers and that has everything to do with Oman's domestic economic realities. Back in June 2021, international media reported that more than 200,000 foreign workers had exited the country between March, 2020 and March, 2021. Rising unemployment had come due to economic downturn and there was an active move to nationalise the workforce that gained momentum after the Covid-19 broke out. The current policy of the Omani government is to increase job opportunities for their citizens and replace foreign workers. This policy has coincided with the malpractices that have plagued Bangladeshi recruitment practices and created a situation that is going to have serious ramifications for the country.

It is necessary to look into other possible labour markets for Bangladeshi workers beyond the Middle East. That said, it is necessary to take cognizance of the fact that customized training regimes need to be introduced alongside skills development to help our workers assimilate with greater ease into the targeted labour markets abroad. Language skills, social customs and technical skills all have to be brought under the aegis of training programmes that prospective workers will have to undertake before heading to foreign labour markets. This is what other countries that have large expatriate worker groups are doing and it is time Bangladesh did the same.