A recent news report found that the number of Bangladeshis going abroad for work is declining due to the global economic downturn. As a country that is dependent on remittance for a large share of our income, we have an urgent need to deal with this issue and devise a long-term strategy for exporting labour.
The crux of the problem is that our strategy to send workers abroad has been too focused on a few countries, mainly countries in the Middle East. This leaves us extremely vulnerable to reduction in demand in these places.
We have been also reliant on sending mainly unskilled or low-skilled workers abroad. This not only means that we are under-utilising our remittance income potential, but in a lot of cases this has also led to terrible working conditions for the workers. Recent research has found that most migrant workers lack even the basic language skills of the country they are working in, leaving them vulnerable to abuse by unscrupulous employers.
Improving the skill level of the labour force we are exporting will not only lead to better overall remittance income but also help us expand the range of countries where the workers can find employment.
In spite of an economic downturn, there is a growing demand for vocational skills in many countries around the world. Our strategy should include market research on the types of skills that are in demand and investment in training our workers adequately.
Abundant manpower is a source of strength for Bangladesh, but one that has been underutilised thus far. It is time that we developed a sustainable strategy that can not only benefit our workers but also improve our position as a labour-exporting country.
