Forma # 1.ai - ICAB

Figure 17: Overseas Migraon from Bangladesh to Major Manpower Imporng Countries (July – November)
Source: Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET).
Increased market share of
non‐Middle Eastern countries in
recent times is indicative of some
market diversification away from
the Middle Eastern countries;
however, share of these countries
is relatively low, also because
these tend to demand more skilled
manpower. In spite of some
improvements in the skill
composition of migrant labour
force in recent times, the share of
‘less’ and ‘unskilled’ category
continues to dominate
Bangladesh’s migrant workforce
(more than 74 per cent of total
overseas migrants from
Bangladesh during July‐October,
2010 belonged to the ‘less‐skilled’
category). This has handicapped
Bangladesh’s capacity to access
the newly emerging opportunities
in the post‐crisis global labour
market.
Stringent Regulatory
Measures in the Host
Countries
Bangladesh’s problems have been
compounded by the moratorium
on issuing of new work permits
(Akamas) and their renewal by the
Saudi government. Although they
had earlier indicated that it would
allow transfer of Akama for
Bangladeshi workers, which
would enable them to switch to
new employers after expiry of the
initial job contract, till now no
progress has been made on this
front. Discussion with various
stakeholder groups97 indicate that
due to the current policy, Saudi
employers are unwilling to issue
work visas to Bangladeshi citizens.
This has undermined
employability, and led to illegal
status of workers in the many
instances. As a consequence,
remittance flow from Saudi Arabia
has been adversely affected.
Illegal Stay of Bangladeshi
Workers Abroad
As was noted above, because of
Akama related complexities, a
large number of Bangladeshi
workers have lost their legal status
in Saudi Arabia. Similar has also
been the case in Malaysia where a
large number of Bangladeshi
migrant workers have lost their
legal status. This had two negative
impacts: As was found from
discussion with returned migrants
from Malaysia, many such
workers are discouraged to leave
Malaysia and return since they are
apprehensive that once they leave
Malaysia they will not be able to
go back.98 Recent reports suggest
that more than 0.4 million
Bangladeshis are now residing
illegally in Malaysia. Secondly,
the emergent situation has
induced the Malaysian
Government to put embargo on
recruitment of workers from
Bangladesh.
High Cost of Migration
Cost of overseas migration has
traditionally been higher in
Bangladesh compared to
neighbouring countries. Many of
the players involved, including
recruiting agents, have connived
to exploit the workers. This has
led to this higher migration cost in
Bangladesh. It has been found that
in most cases a worker from
Bangladesh has to incur more than
twice or thrice the cost borne by a
worker from India, Pakistan or
Nepal to go overseas. For
instance, although the government
has fixed payment for workers
going to Malaysia at a maximum
of 84 thousand taka/workers (as of
2009)
The Bangladesh Accountant January - March 2011 31