LABOUR MIGRATION FROM BANGLADESH 2018
LABOUR MIGRATIONFROM BANGLADESH 2018ACHIEVEMENTS AND CHALLENGESTasneem SiddiquiMarina SultanaRabeya NasrinSanjida Akhter
Cultural Event of Obhibashon o Shonar Manush Shommilon 2018February 2019CopyrightCRMMRUPublished byRMMRUSattar Bhaban (4th Floor)179, Shahid Syed Nazrul Islam SharaniBijoynagar, Dhaka-1000Telephone : 880-2-9360338E-mail : info@rmmru.orgWebsite: www.rmmru.orgFacebook: www.facebook.com/rmmru
Labour Migration from Bangladesh 2018Achievements and ChallengesSoon after independence Bangladesh was branded asa ‘bottomless basket’ by foreign pundits. In 2017 thecountry has transformed into a lower-middle incomecountry. International migration and the remittancessent by the Bangladeshi labour migrants have played acritical role in this breakthrough. The impact ofoverseas employment and concomitant remittanceflow contributed significantly in the success ofalleviating poverty in the country as well. Realisingits importance successive governments in Bangladeshhave paid attention to migration management. Since2010 the Refugee and Migratory MovementsResearch Unit (RMMRU) has been publishing annualreports highlighting the achievements and challengesthat migration sector faces. This report on 2018 is acontinuation of that process. It is divided into sixsections. Section 1 highlights the statistics related tomigration in 2018 while section 2 lays down theinitiatives and issues at the national and internationallevels. Section 3 reviews the activities of national andinternational organizations. Bangladesh’s role in theinternational arena is discussed in section 4, and thatof the role of civil society in section 5. Section 6presents new knowledge on migration and section 7offers some recommendations.1,008,525. The Government acknowledges the roleof migration in creating opportunities foremployment of Bangladeshis.According to BMET, from 1976 to 2018, a total of12,199,124 Bangladeshis have migrated overseasfor employment. It does not necessarily mean thatat the moment a total of 12.2 million Bangladeshisare working abroad. Bangladeshi workers mainlyengage in short-term contract employment; andthus they have to return on completion of theircontracts. There is no mechanism in place to recorddata on returnee migrants and hence it is notpossible to have an estimate about the number ofmigrants currently working abroad. RMMRU andSDC panel data, 2018 on 20 districts found thatamong the migrant households, 21 percent werereturnee migrants and 79 percent were currentmigrants.Graph 1: Labour migration from Bangladesh from 1976 to 2018120000010000008000006000004000001. Labour Migration from Bangladesh 20182000001.1 Flow of MigrantsThe Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training(BMET) data inform that a total of 734,181Bangladeshi workers migrated to different countriesof the world including the Gulf, other Arab and SouthEast Asian countries in 2018. In 2018, the flow ofemigration has decreased by 27 percent in comparisonto the previous year. In 2017, the total number ofworkers who went abroad from Bangladesh stood 2013201420152016201720180Source: Prepared from BMET data1.2 Female MigrationFemale migration from Bangladesh has beenincreasing since 2015. In 2015 female migrationincreased by 36 percent from the previous year. Itregistered an increase by 14 percent in 2016 andpercent in 2017.1
The highest number of female workers (121,925)migrated in 2017. But, the flow of female migration has dropped by 17 percent to 101,695 in 2018.There are a few reasons for the drop in the numberof female migrants. Since May 2018, manyaspirant women migrants felt discouraged to goabroad as the print and electronic media beganhighlighting the news of return of abused womenmigrants from the Saudi Arabia. It led the Ministryof Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment(MEWOE) and BMET to be cautious in therecruitment of women migrants. All these haveresulted in this decline. Furthermore, in generalthere was a drop in the migration flow of both maleand female workers from Bangladesh in 2018. In2017, female migrants constituted 12 percent of thetotal flow of the year, in 2018 it marginallyincreased to 13.85 percent. Therefore, the flow ofmale migration has been lower than female migration in 2018.migration of male workers from Bangladesh stillremains in force. In 2018 there has been a drop inthe modest number of female migrants that thecountry had received in 2017. With a view toexplore new job markets for Bangladeshi migrantsstudies were commissioned by the Ministry ofExpatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment onthe labour market opportunities in 53 countries. AMemorandum of Cooperation (MoC) was signedwith Japan in 2018 under which Bangladeshiswould get the opportunity to work as technicalinterns in four sectors - construction, caregiver,hospitality and manufacturing. This is an importantdevelopment as only 668 Bangladeshis hadmigrated to Japan between the years 2013 and2018.Chart 1: Destination Countries of Bangladeshi Migrant Workers in 20180.61%2.67%1.80%2.29%KSA5.64%UAE35.05%Oman1.3 Countries of DestinationAccording to BMET, most of the Bangladeshishort-term contract workers mainly go to the Gulfand other Arab states. 2018 was no exception.Almost 64.48 percent of the total number ofworkers who had migrated from Bangladesh in2018 went to the Gulf and other Arab states. Themajority of the remaining 35.52 percent went todifferent South East Asian countries.In 2018 the highest number of Bangladeshi workers migrated to Saudi Arabia. The figure stood at257,317, that is about 35.05 percent of the totalflow. Like 2017, the second largest flow in 2018was also to Malaysia (175,927) that constitutedabout 24 percent of the total flow. Qatar is thethird largest destination country of Bangladeshiworkers (10%), while Oman holds the 4th position(9.8%). By receiving 41,393 workers (6%),Singapore became the fifth largest destinationcountry in 2018. The UAE government’s ban ngaporeBruneiIraqMisc. ClearanceOthers0.44%3.76%1.32%0.82% 0.11%10.43%9.88%Source: Prepared from BMET dataWith a total of 73,713 workers going to thatcountry Saudi Arabia was the largest recipient offemale migrant workers in 2018. The figure is72.48 percent of the total flow of female migrantsfrom Bangladesh. By receiving 11,034 (11%) and9,100 (9%) female workers, Oman and Jordan holdthe second and third positions respectively. 92.28percent of the total number of female workers hasmigrated to these three countries. Like previousyears it is one or two countries that dominate thelabour market of Bangladeshi workers. Theproblem with the concerned countries go through
a period of political, social or economic uncertainty orunrest then their migrant workforce get adverselyaffected which in turn impacts on the country oforigin of the workers.Chart 2: Destination countries of Bangladeshi female Migrant workers in 5%LebanonOmanQatarSchool meeting on safe migrationKuwait2.39%MauritiusOthers72.48%Source: Prepared from BMET data1.4 Skill CompositionChart 3 presents the skill composition of the migrantswho went abroad for work in 2018. It shows that theproportion of skilled workers remains the same in2018 (43.25%) in comparison to 2017 (43.07%). 16percent of the migrant workers fall under thesemi-skilled category, 39 percent of the workers fallunder less skilled category. The shares of semi-skilledand less skilled categories also have not changed in amajor way from the previous year. 0.36 percent of themigrants belong to professional and 1.8 percent toother categories.Miking about safe migration by Youth VolunteersChart 3: Skill composition of Bangladeshi Migrant workers in skilledLess skilledOthers (NOC)Training of Community Groups for Migration Services16.04%Source: Prepared from BMET data3
of migrants in 2017.1.5 Source areasAs in the previous years, with 62,562 migratingfrom the district, Cumilla tops the internationalmigrants’ list of source districts. It accounts for8.52 percent of the total workers. Brahmanbariaranks second in the list (5.49%). The next 8important source districts are Tangail (5.44%),Dhaka (4.84%), Chattogram (4.78%), Narsingdi(3.44%), Chandpur (3.30%), Kishoreganj (3.30%),Noakhali (2.97%) and Mymensingh (2.66%).Graph 2: Sources areas of Bangladeshi migrant workers in 1.00%0.00%8.70%5.60% 5.56%4.94% 4.88%3.51% 3.37% 3.37%3.03% 2.72%2.60% 2.57% 2.48% 2.44%2.32% 2.24% 2.14% 2.07%2.00% 1.98% 1.93% 1.90%Graph 3: Source countries of major remittance flow in 0%8.40%10.00%7.53%7.10%6.41%8.00%6.37% 6.35%4.48%6.00%3.39%4.00%2.25%2.00%0.30% 0.24% 0.63%0.05% 0.35% 0.14%0.00%Source: Prepared from BMET dataFollowing the trend of the previous year, thehighest amount of remittance was received fromSaudi Arabia (18.14%). It is followed by the UAE(15.64%), the USA (12.23%), Kuwait (8.40%),Malaysia (7.53%) and the UK (7.10%).1.43% 1.43% 1.35% 1.34% 1.30% 1.28% 1.24% 1.15%1.02% 1.00%Graph 4: Remittance flow from 2001-20181800016000Like previous years the scenario of the hill districtsremain unchanged. In 2018 Khagrachhari,Bandarban, and Rangamati accounted for only 0.10percent, 0.05 percent and 0.05 percent of the totalflow respectively. Those who migrated from thisregion were mostly from the Bengali community.Most of the indigenous communities in Bangladeshlive in this region. There is no visible effort tobring these communities into the mainstreammigration flow. Other communities such as theSantals are also absent in the data.1.6 RemittancesAccording to Bangladesh Bank Bangladeshimigrants have remitted US 15.54 billion in 2018.The figure was 15 percent higher than that of 2017(US 13.53 billion). Generally, migrants cannotremit money in the year they migrate. They startdoing so from the second year of migration. Theincreased flow of remittance in 2018 can perhapsbe attributed to the massive increase in the 201620172018Source: Prepared from BMET dataSource: Prepared from BMET dataBangladesh Bank reported that Islami BankBangladesh Limited has secured over 29.68percent (US 3013.61 million) of the totalremittances, making it the top remittance receivingbank in 2018. It was followed by Agrani Bank 1515.05 million (14.92 percent), Sonali Bank 1137.33 million (11.20 percent), Dutch-BanglaBank Limited - 936.42 million (9.22%) andJanata Bank - 907.06 million (8.93%).
2. Important Migration Issues in 20182.1 Labour Migration in Election ManifestosThe eleventh national parliamentary election was heldon 30 December 2018. Political parties and thealliances had declared their manifestos before theelection. The manifesto of the Awami Leaguecontained 35 sections in which migration wasaddressed under the labour welfare and labour policy(3.17). Sending more skilled workers to differentdestinations and chalking out plans and schemes toensure growth and benefits from the investment of theremittances of migrants were pledged. Extendingloans on soft conditions and low interest by ProbashiKalyan Bank and ensuring loan for permanentemployment to the returnee migrants were alsoincluded in the manifesto of the Awami League. The23rd of the 35 points manifesto of the Oikyofrontdetailed out their goals on expatriates’ welfare. Thealliance promised for the suffrage of the expatriates.Imparting training, ensuring dispute resolution,creating specialized facilities at the airports, providingincentives for investment, transporting corpses of thedeceased migrants home and creating opportunitiesfor facilitating contribution of the skilled andprofessional migrants staying abroad to the nationaleconomy of Bangladesh are amongst those figured inthe Manifesto. Besides, 19 point manifesto of BNPshed light on the voting rights of the migrants.2.2 Unanticipated return of tortured womenmigrant workers from Saudi ArabiaThe return of female migrant workers due to tortureand abuse figured prominently in the media in 2018.About 800 domestic workers returned to Bangladeshsince the beginning of January 2018. They claimed tohave faced a range of problems in the destinationcountries including physical torture and sexual abuse.75 more women migrants were reported to have beenwaiting for repatriation in various safe homesestablished by the Bangladesh government in SaudiArabia. Those who have returned bore the marks ofphysical torture and even claimed to have beenvictims of sexual abuse. A good number of thesereturnee migrants complained that the female headsof the family tortured them.A number of male migrants returned from SaudiArabia in 2018 as well. This is the first-everincident of return of such a large number ofmigrants from that country. The returnee workerscomplained that despite having valid passport, visaand ‘aqama’ the Saudi police first detained andsubsequently sent them back home. Some of themhad migrated to Saudi Arabia just a few monthsago, while others have been working in thatcountry for a long time. In 2018, Saudi Arabiareiterated its earlier policy of reserving certaincategories of work for Saudi nationals. The policyensures that 20 percent of the workforce should bereserved for Saudi nationals. In the past these stepsmet limited success. Furthermore, the jobs ofunskilled and semi-skilled workers have not beenaffected by this scheme as hardly any Saudinational took part in unskilled jobs. Nonetheless,this policy will affect a large group of Bangladeshiworkers who are involved as tailors in burkha(veil) factories. Already, a large number ofBangladeshi who are associated with this factories,had returned to Bangladesh.2.3 Cancellation of the syndicate system by thenew government in Malaysia2018 was an important year for labour migration ofBangladeshi workers to Malaysia. In February2016 a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) onG2G (a state facilitated labour recruitment systemthat included private sector) was signed betweenBangladesh and Malaysia. Since February 2017,179,330 Bangladeshi workers migrated to Malaysiaunder this scheme. Immediately after coming topower, the new government in Malaysia led byMahathir Mohammed, as part of investigating5
corruption of Najib’s government, halted theprocess of recruitment of Bangladeshi workers thatwas monopolized by 10 recruiting agencies inBangladesh. Later, on 25 September 2018, at abilateral meeting a decision was taken to abolishthe 10-agency based recruitment system allowingall registered recruiting agencies to participate insending workers to Malaysia. In addition, theworkers who were granted permission to work inMalaysia before August 2018 were also allowed toenter the country by January 2019.2.4 Male migration to United Arab EmiratesThe labour market of the United Arab Emirates(UAE) has virtually remained closed for maleBangladeshi workers since 2012. Till date UAEonly receives the female domestic workers. Undera MoU signed between the two countries the UAEcommitted to receive domestic workers andgradually extend it to include a total of 19categories of workers from Bangladesh. Includedamong those would be guard, chef, gardener,shepherd, house-maid, driver and personal nurse.The manpower ministry of UAE will supervise therecruitment process that will be conducted byTadbir Service Centre, a recruiting agency. Only3,235 Bangladeshis migrated to the UAE in 2018.2.5 New legislative and policy initiatives inBangladesh2.5.1 Wage Earners’ Welfare Board Act 2018Wage Earners’ Welfare Board has been establishedas a statutory body through ‘Wage Earners WelfareBoard Act, 2018’. The Act was gazetted on 29 July2018 after being enacted in parliament as the 30thAct in 2018. This is a procedural law that lays outthe formation and work-plan of the Wage Earners’Welfare Board. With the aim of implementing theobjectives under the Act, the Welfare Board isauthorized to initiate and implement projects,6provide emergency support to migrants, extendthem support upon return to ensure protection andsocial and economic reintegration, help migrantfamilies carry the bodies of deceased migrants andbear the burial cost, provide scholarship tomeritorious children of migrant workers andsupport the physically challenged children ordependents of migrants. An important feature ofthe law is that it has taken on board the needs offemale migrants of the country. The Act obliges theBoard to submit an annual report on its activities tothe government within four months after the end ofeach financial year. Finally, the Policy for WageEarner’s Welfare Fund 2002 stood annulled underthe Act of 2018.2.5.2 New policy of sending female labourmigrants to Saudi ArabiaIn addition to performing the recruitment functionthe Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and OverseasEmployment has been playing an important role inensuring safety and upholding the rights of femaleworkers in the countries of destination. Inparticular it ensures adherence to minimumstandards that are applicable to female migrantsgoing to Saudi Arabia. Included among those isthat the migrant must be in the age group 25 to 38years, pass the interview before finger-prints aretaken, study at least up to grade 3, be able to readthe agreement provided by the recruiting agencythat contains name, address and contact number,and have the physical and psychological ability toadjust in an alien culture. Besides, any woman withchildren below the age of five is not allowed tomigrate. Finally, the recruiting agency is to bear theresponsibility of the workers for the entire durationof the contract.
2.6 Amendment in the laws in labour receivingcountries2.6.1 Twelve jobs are banned for expatriates inSaudi ArabiaThe newly adopted policy in Saudi Arabia barsmigrants to be employed in twelve types of work. Thejobs were mostly in sales: watches, eyewear, medicalequipment and devices, electrical and electronicappliances, auto parts, building materials,automobiles, furniture stores, and the like. The fall inthe price of crude oil has resulted in increase in therate of unemployment in Saudi Arabia (12%). Toovercome the crisis, the Saudi government hasdecided to nationalize several professions. The bancame into force on 10 November 2018.Perspective gathering workshop of ESRC project in Chattogram2.6.2 Amendment of the Labour Law in QatarFor a few years Qatar is trying to establish protectionmeasures in its labour law. Prior to 2022 World Cupfootball tournament, the government of Qatar hasrevised its labour law. In 2018 the government signedtwo important human rights instruments: theInternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rightsand the International Covenant on Economic, Socialand Cultural Rights. For the first time theInternational Labour Organisation (ILO) hasestablished an office in Qatar to help implementationof labour rights and safe work environment. Therecently revised law allows migrant workers to leavethe country even before the expiry of their contractperiod. The workers will not need to secure priorpermission of their employer in this regard. Theminimum wage for currently employed short-termworkers is fixed at Qatari Riyal 750. A disputeresolution committee has been formed to address theminimum wage related disputes. Despite forming thecommittee, doubts persists among the workers if theycan register complaints without facing adverserepercussions. They fear that in case they choose tofile complaint against their employers the latter candismiss and send them back to Bangladesh.Photo voice - a new research technique in use by RMMRUDr. Nurul Islam of BMET receiving award from Mr. Nurul Islam BSc, MP,Hon’ble Minister of MoEWOE, for special contribution i
But, the flow of female migra-tion has dropped by 17 percent to 101,695 in 2018. There are a few reasons for the drop in the number of female migrants. Since May 2018, many aspirant women migrants felt discouraged to go abroad as the print and electronic media began highlighting the news of return of abused women migrants from the Saudi Arabia.
of labour migration and mobility in Africa 1.1 Increased ratification and domestication of key international standards on labour migration 1.2 Implementation of free circulation regimes in RECs and adoption of national policy 1.3 Expanded engagement of labour institutions and social partners in labour migration governance
Labour Migration and Human Development 2011 AnnuAL RepoRt Figure 1.1: Geographic coverage of Labour Migration and Human Development Division (LHD) projects active in 2011 source: vectorworldmap.com - version 2.2 1.1 Overview of labour migration and migration and development dynamics
the food products and beverage industry of bangladesh 3.2 types of foods and beverages products made in bangladesh. 16 3.3 impact on bangladesh gdp 18 3.4 employment opportunities 21 3.5 strategic issues in bangladesh. 22 3.6 swot analysis of food and beverage of bangladesh 23 3.6.1 strengths of bangladesh foods and beverage industry 24 3.6.2 weakness of foods and beverage industry of .
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