Adding value to manpower export

The fact that manpower export in the last fiscal (FY23) has scaled six-year high with hardly any impact on remittance, though apparently conflicting, points to the fundamental problem of the country's workers' migration overseas. According to reports, a surge in manpower export in the period is due to the hiring of increased number of workers by the Middle Eastern countries. The majority of the workers went to the traditional job markets like Saudi Arabia, Oman, United Arab Emirates and Malaysia. However, the majority of these workers being unskilled or at the most low-skilled explain the less than expected remittance despite their increased numbers.

According to a FE report quoting data released by the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), Bangladesh sent 1,144,993 workers to overseas countries in the last fiscal. The number stood at 989,014 in FY22, 280,307 in FY21, 530,578 in the FY20, 692,978 in the FY19, and 880,037 in FY18. This steady rise over the past six years does not reflect any positive implication in terms of wage earners' remittance-the second highest source of the country's foreign exchange earnings. Bangladesh Bank data show that ex-pat workers remitted US$21.61 billion home in the FY23, $21.03 billion in FY22, $24.77 billion in FY21, and $18.20 billion in FY20. This also goes to explain that there is no necessary correlation between the number of workers going abroad and the money they send home. From the figures cited above, it is seen that the highest that the country received as workers' remittance in the past six years was in FY21 ($24.77 billion) but the workers who had gone for overseas jobs that year were far fewer (280,307). The arithmetic, however, may not always hold good, as it is not the fresh recruits alone who matter, for there may be a sizable number of workers already engaged in overseas workplaces.

The fact still remains that it is the poor wages, thanks to the unskilled and low-skilled hands, that account for less than expected remittance. Observes are of the opinion that manpower recruiters usually cater to the demand for less skilled workers from different countries. That is why, the number of less skilled workers is much higher than that of the skilled ones. They (the observers), however, do not consider this undesirable since the demand for unskilled hands also helps many jobseekers find employment overseas.  But, they hold, manpower recruiters need to develop network in the countries where skilled workers are in demand. In this context, it may be noted that less-skilled labour migration from Bangladesh increased from 71.59 per cent in 2010 to 74 per cent in 2022. However, BMET data show that the number of semi-skilled and skilled workers increased to 43.55 per cent in 2019, but soon afterwards, the number started declining and reached a record low of 22.22 per cent in 2022. This is starkly reflected in the wage structures of Bangladeshi workers vis a vis those of the neighbouring countries. According to International Organisation for Migration (IOM)'s migration report-2019, per capita average monthly income of Bangladeshi migrant workers in 2019 was $203.33 as against Filipino migrant workers' income of $564.1, Chinese $532.71, Indian $395.71 and Pakistani $275.74.

The key reason behind this low wage status is the fact that despite increasing movements of jobseekers abroad for decades, there has not been any worthwhile countrywide initiative to train workers in a systematic and job-oriented manner. Whatever arrangements exist under the various ministries, those must be better coordinated in order to render them more and more job-specific. Privately run institutes need also to be geared up to live up to the skill needs in vastly wide ranging jobs in foreign lands. It is in this context that the move to train a large workforce in various spheres of skill development deserves attention.

There were reports sometime ago of large-scale skill training programmes for jobseekers and those programmes attracted many intending jobseekers for overseas employment. It is not known how far those programmes were able to equip the trainees in meeting workplace demands. Also it is not known whether there was any review to examine the effectiveness of the skill training imparted.

What is important when it comes to skill-based training is the need to assess country- and job-specific needs. It is here that the job-related need and intending candidate's preference for workplace abroad must match. A mismatch may render the skills gained by a jobseeker useless. It is time that the authorities concerned look into this aspect to do something meaningful in adding value to workers' migration.    

So, increase in the number of migrant workers is not going to do the needful. The government has to work a way out to bolster value-added export of manpower.   

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