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South Korea has announced an 11,500 job quota for Bangladeshi workers for this year, the highest-ever Korean job quota for Bangladesh.
Korea which employs semi-skilled workers from 16 countries through the employment permit system (EPS) announced the job quota last month.
Like last year, it will hire over 100,000 workers from the countries for its manufacturing industry, according to Bangladesh's embassy in Seoul.
Dr Mallick Anwar Hossain, managing director at Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Limited (BOESL), said, "We've received an 11500 job quota from South Korea for 2024."
"We're making maximum preparations to fulfil the quota this year," he added.
However, Bangladesh fell short of sending its full quota of workers to South Korea in 2023, achieving less than 50 per cent of the allotted jobs.
Bangladesh received a record 10,000 jobs quota in 2023. But, it could send only 4,804 workers.
The shortfall was caused by several factors such as negative perceptions of Bangladeshi workers due to immature job switching, the dampened demand from Korean employers, inadequate market promotion from the Bangladesh side, lack of language efficiency and cultural issues.
When asked, the BOESL managing director said they selected 35,000 workers with language skills. Another test will be conducted in a few days where at least 20,000 aspirants will be selected through a lottery.
"After passing the language skills training, we will take the fluency test again this year so that we can send competent workers."
BOESL, the government's lone recruitment agency, has also taken steps to provide necessary directions to the private training centres to help improve their language courses, he added.
Replying to another query, he said they recently visited some factories in South Korea as part of market promotions.
"About 60 per cent of employers have a positive opinion of Bangladeshi workers. We're trying to create a good impression among others about our workers." Despite not being able to fulfil the quota, Bangladesh got more quota than the previous year. When asked, an embassy official said the population is declining day by day, resulting in a shortage of working people in South Korea.
As a result, the number of recruitment from different countries, including Bangladesh, has increased in recent years, he mentioned.
On the other hand, Bangladeshi workers are working hard which is preferred by many employers, he said.
According to a projection by the Korean National Statistical Office the working-age population would drop to 51 per cent of the total population by 2050. The population aged 65 or older is expected to reach 40 per cent.
South Korea - an emerging and vital job market for Bangladeshi semi-skilled and skilled workers -- allocated a total quota of 110,000 semi-skilled workers from source countries in 2023.
Bangladesh began sending workers to South Korea in 2008 under the EPS which recruits workers for various sectors such as motor vehicles, rubber, plastic, apparel, handicrafts and food.
Bangladesh mainly fills positions in the motor vehicle, food and handicraft industries.
BOESL officials say completing the around five-year contract opens doors to better opportunities within the same company or elsewhere as a skilled worker.
A typical worker earns Tk 180,000-200,000 in South Korea.
BOESL officials said they discourage workers from changing jobs in South Korea. Despite BOESL's efforts like Tk 100,000 deposit per worker, many switch jobs for marginally higher salaries, impacting Bangladesh's ability to fulfil quotas.
Now, the agency is also focusing on motivational counselling during training to encourage workers to persevere through their initial contracts.
Korea announces EPS quotas annually, with Nepal emerging as a key competitor for Bangladesh due to Nepali workers' superior language skills.
Jasiya Khatoon, director of WARBE Development Foundation, says that as Korea is an important market, BOESL should create demand-based workers. Besides, it is necessary to go for necessary market promotion.
"Because, even if the country gets a record job quota, if there is no marketing, there will be no desired number of job demands from employers."
Bangladesh sent 5,891 workers to South Korea in 2022. On the other hand, BOESL officials acknowledged that even the 2023 figure (around 5,000 workers) represents remarkable progress compared to prior years except in 2020 and 2021.
The country sent 1,645 workers to Korea in 2019, 2,355 in 2018 and 1,786 in 2017. But only 141 and 111 workers were sent in 2020 and 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bangladeshis sent $52.95 million in remittances during the July-January period of the 2023-24 fiscal year. The total for FY 2022-23 was $118.69 million and $135.46 million in 2021-22, the Bangladesh Bank data show.