Because of the global financial crisis, thousands of Bangladeshi labour migrants are returning home, writes irinnews.org.
Layoffs and forced repatriation of Bangladeshi workers from the Middle East and Malaysia (the two primary destinations for Bangladeshi workers) are increasing at an alarming rate.
According to the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, some 13,000 were sent back in the first two months of 2009. On 11 March, Malaysia decided to revoke the visas of some 55,000 Bangladeshi workers.
Ghulam Mustafa, president of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies, expressed concern over the number of returning workers.
“If this continues for long, I am afraid Bangladesh might plunge into a great economic and social crisis,” he told IRIN.
He feared that the annual outflow of migrant workers might fall by nearly half in 2009 – to below 500,000 from a record high of 875,000 in 2008.
Remittances play a major role in the Bangladesh economy – in the last fiscal year it accounted fo 10 percent of gross domestic product. As in almost all South Asian countries, remittances provide a life line to the poor.
Worldwide, around 6.2 million Bangladeshis are migrant workers. Of these about 2.2 million are employed in Saudi Arabia; one million in UAE, Kuwait and other Arab countries; and 800,000 in Malaysia. As the need for migrant workers in these countries are decreasing, there is a need to look around for new labour markets.
Minister for Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Khandker Musharraf Hossain said: “We have moved to explore new markets like Libya and Romania.”
