Facilities, Complexities of Migrant Workers and Effects on GDP

Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Malaysia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates are the current top destinations for Bangladesh migrant workers. Jordan and Lebanon are popular locations for female employees. As part of its attempts to export labor to alternative employment opportunities, the government has launched projects to transfer workers to six additional nations; the nations are – Cambodia, Poland, China, Romania, Croatia, Seychelles, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Migration from Bangladesh is facilitated by either the government or private recruiting companies in Bangladesh; the government of Bangladesh facilitates migration at a significantly lower cost than private recruitment organizations charge (IOM, 2017). Counterparties and sub-agents assist in connecting bigger private recruiting firms with migrants on a local level (IOM, 2020).

Every year, more than 400,000 individuals leave Bangladesh seeking work in other countries. However, they experience a multitude of challenges, including high fees charged by recruitment agencies for migration, particularly for low-skilled workers; lower wages that do not correspond to the employment contract; a lack of proper information regarding accommodation facilities and accountabilities; and discrimination, exploitation, and female worker harassment. Analyzing all of these challenges, the ILO is collaborating with the government of Bangladesh to enhance overall labor management by ensuring worker safety and protection, as well as good working conditions.

Economic, demographic, and societal variables are among the major reasons affecting the flow of employees overseas. In Bangladesh, migration flow is positively correlated with GDP growth (World Bank 2012), and the long-term trend has been favorable for more than two decades as economic expansion has intensified. The vast majority of Bangladeshi nationals reside in Saudi Arabia and India (UNDESA, 2019). Saudi Arabia was the most popular destination country for new Bangladeshi migrants in 2019. (BMET, 2019). Only 2% of migrants are classified as “professional,” while 48% are classified as “poor skilled” (IOM, 2017; BMET, 2019). Many migrants work in construction or dangerous jobs in their destination countries (IOM, 2017; IOM, 2020).