'Migration of Bangladeshi expats likely increased 1.5 times in 2021'

With current trends, migration of Bangladeshi workers likely increased by one-and-a-half times this year than what was amid the pandemic last year, Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit said today.

Citing government data, the migrant rights group in its "Labour Migration from Bangladesh 2021: Achievements and Challenges" report said this year as of November, some 4,85,893 Bangladeshi migrant workers went abroad for employment.

Of them, 68,579 were female migrants.

On the other hand, 2,17,699 Bangladeshi workers went abroad for employment in 2020, it said.

Compared to the pre-pandemic situation in 2019, when 7,00,159 workers went abroad, the number of Bangladeshi migrants is likely to drop by 32 percent this year, it added.

RMMRU disclosed the report before media during a press conference at the Jatiya Press Club in the capital today.

Disclosing the report, RMMRU Founding Chair Prof Tasneem Siddiqui said migration of Bangladeshi workers drastically declined last year amid the pandemic.

In that sense, migration of about 4.8 lakh workers this year is not discouraging, she said.

As place of origin, Cumilla district provided maximum 11.56 percent migrant workers this year, followed by Brahmanbaria (8 percent).

On the other hand, this year as of September, 73.59 percent of Bangladeshi migrants heading to different destinations were "less skilled".

The report says, in terms of return of migrants, this year as of November 22, 64,646 migrant workers including 4,447 female migrants returned home from different countries obtaining "out pass".

According to Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) data, 4,08,000 migrants returned home amid the pandemic last year, it says.

"This indicates, the rate of job loss [of migrant workers] increased significantly amid the pandemic," it adds.

The report says amid the pandemic, 94 percent of the total 4,10,102 Bangladeshi migrants headed to Saudi Arabia and Oman.

In terms of generating remittance, Bangladesh received $20.4 billion this year as of November. If the trend continues, Bangladesh will see a two percent growth in remittance this year.

RMMRU said signing of a memorandum of understanding between Bangladesh and Malaysia on labour cooperation was among the important incidents this year in Bangladesh's labour migration sector.

However, the subsequent success such as ensuring good number of workers heading towards Malaysian job market will largely depend on making recruiting agencies accountable, Prof Tasneem said.

Also, this year, the government took steps to amend the Overseas Employment and Migrants Act-2013, says the report.