What's keeping Bangladeshis stuck in low-skilled overseas jobs?

Infographics: TBS

Sixty percent of the 24 lakh Bangladeshis sent abroad in the past couple of years were hired for low-skilled jobs. Over 22 lakh individuals registered afresh for overseas jobs. Of them, 72% did not even complete secondary schooling and also seem destined mostly for low-paid work.

The trend is evident in their choices of jobs and destinations.

Like the previous trend, these aspirant migrants' most desired jobs include labour, general worker, cleaner, hotel boy, salesman and construction worker, according to online registration data from the Ami Probashi app, a digital platform for one-stop service to potential migrant workers. The Ministry of Expatriates Welfare supported the app creation to help the job seekers.

Analysis of top-10 job choices shows 88% of overseas job aspirants wanted eight jobs that require low levels of education and skills. Only 12% of them chose to be drivers and electricians.

There is an oversupply of low-skilled workers at home, but they are in good demand in destinations like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait – countries that are high on the choice of 94% of overseas job aspirants.

Other than the Mid-East, only Italy appears in the list of top 10 destinations of Bangladeshi applicants who registered online to go abroad under the BMET between 2022 and April this year, and approximately 85% fall within the 18-40 age range.

The data on overseas job aspirants shows how Bangladeshis have been stuck in a cycle of low-skilled jobs over the years which results in poor remittance flow in spite of its more than 1 crore migrant workers.

Both Pakistan and the Philippines rank behind Bangladesh as migrant source countries, but they are ahead in remittance earnings as per the latest World Migration Report 2024 by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Bangladesh has retained its positions as a migrant origin and remittance recipient country – ranking sixth and eighth, respectively – while Pakistan ranks seventh and sixth and the Philippines ninth as origin and fourth in remittance.

Why low pay remains Bangladeshis' destiny

The country sent a record 1.3 million workers abroad last year. Among them, skilled migration was around 25% while unskilled workers were around 50%, according to the (BMET). Others were semi-skilled and professionals.

Though the country sent over a million workers in 2022 and 2023, the remittance was stuck between $21 billion and $22 billion.

Migration experts say there is no dearth of demand for skills worldwide but Bangladeshis cannot catch up. They end up with low-skilled jobs with low pay. This is because of Bangladesh's failure to develop a trained workforce for the global job market.

"Our Eighth Five-Year Plan, which culminates in 2025, outlined a paradigm shift in migration policy. It emphasised the importance of skills development and digitalisation. However, as the plan nears its conclusion, we are yet to witness any such paradigm shift," Asif Munier, a migration expert and ILO consultant, told TBS.

Highlighting the poor state of training, he said, "While numerous new technical training centres have been established, I've visited several over the past few years and found that some are mere establishments with minimal training provided. The trainers are not familiar with modern training methodologies."

Currently, the BMET is operating 110 technical training centres (TTCs) across the country. Earlier, it had 70 such centres and 40 more have been added in recent years.

"In some of the older TTCs, training is from an ancient era, while many others don't even provide proper training," Munier said.

Terming the three-day mandatory pre-departure orientation for migrants as ineffective, he said, "Gathering 100 to 150 people in a room and delivering a lecture-style presentation on what to do abroad can't be called training."

Lack of language skills is a barrier

Highlighting the shortcomings of the current language curriculum, Munier said, "Learning English in a few days is not possible. Therefore, the curriculum needs to be revised to incorporate modern and relevant teaching methodologies."

More than half of Bangladeshi expatriate workers, especially those in the Gulf states, experience serious communication problems with poor language skills that hurt their income and livelihoods.

In a recent study published by the Ministry of Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment, 52% of migrant workers identified language barrier as a major challenge.

Experts say the workers' inability to communicate their needs is a significant factor for their exploitation.

Migrant workers find it difficult to get essential facilities and seek justice when dealt with physical abuses, they say.

The migrants also struggle to explain their health issues to medical personnel and do not get proper diagnosis and treatment, say the experts.

Remittance less than half that of a Filipino expat

Bangladesh is a major source of low-paid labour in the global market and gets poorer per-worker remittance than its competitors like the Philippines, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India.

The average monthly remittance sent by a Bangladeshi expat is $203.33, while it is $564.1 for a Filipino worker, according to the IOM in 2019.

The monthly average income of a Pakistani expat is $275.74 while $395.71 for an Indian and $532.71 for a Chinese citizen.

"Our inability to send skilled workers does not imply a lack of demand for such labourers abroad. The high demand for skilled labourers is being met by competitor countries like the Philippines, India, and Pakistan," Nurul Islam, a former BMET director (training) and consultant of skill for employment investment program (SEIP) of the government, told TBS.

Despite the migration of 13 lakh people last year, remittance inflows have not shown any significant increase, he said. "On the one hand, their wages are low, and on the other hand, a major portion of their earnings goes towards repaying debts. Moreover, many migrants fail to find employment upon arrival."

Highlighting the lack of a concrete plan by the BMET and its affiliates to transition away from being a source of less-skilled workers, he said the existing training facilities are not being utilised effectively.

"There is a lack of goodwill on the part of the parties concerned. Although skills-related issues are well-known, no concrete solutions are there."

"We are not producing enough skilled workers. While some initiatives are being taken under the ILO's Skills Development programme, these workers can't find jobs. Skills training is not fit for jobs abroad. The majority of visas that come in through recruiting agencies or friends and family are for unskilled workers," founding chair of Refugee and Migratory Movement Research Unit Tasneem Siddiqui said.

A top official of BMET, wishing anonymity, told TBS "A project to build capacity for conducting training as per the international labour demand is under process."

Regarding poor quality equipment and manpower at the TTCs, Md Akram Ali, director (training standards and planning) of BMET, told TBS, "While the older TTCs are well-equipped, the process of procuring devices and hiring personnel for the new ones is currently underway. This is somewhat time-consuming as some appointments are made through the Public Service Commission."

Missing out on demographic dividend

Among the aspiring migrants' data of Ami Probashi, around 70% belong to the age group of 18-35 years.

Of the aspirants, only 12% passed SSC and 8% HSC, while graduate and post-graduate degree holders are more than 50,000, and around 2,500 also have PhD or equivalent degrees, according to the data.

A decade of what analysts term "jobless growth" that leaves an abundance of working-age people without a job and lack of higher skills matching the jobs are among the reasons that make youths desperate for overseas jobs of any sort.

Many risk lives in desperate bid to move to Europe

Amid limited job opportunities and economic conditions in the country, a good number of Bangladeshi migrants try to move to Europe, a better destination than the Middle East in terms of wages, every year. Their dangerous journey to Europe across the Mediterranean Sea reflects their desperation to find a better life abroad.

Eight Bangladeshis died when a boat carrying 52 migrants of different nationalities to Europe sank in the sea off the Tunisian coast following a fire incident on 15 February. All of them were from the young age group.

According to officials investigating cases like human trafficking, Bangladeshis make attempts to enter Europe via Dubai and then Iran on visit visas. According to the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR, from January to March of this year alone, 17,169 people reached Italy by sea, with Bangladeshi citizens comprising 23% (2,670 people), topping the list of sea crossings.

Regarding the high trend of labour migration among the less-educated, Tasneem Siddiqui, told TBS that the types of jobs available abroad, that is, jobs that do not require higher education, match their skills.

"Therefore, they want to go to those places. Again, many of those who have passed bachelor degrees in rural areas or have similar educational qualifications and are in a good financial situation target Europe," she said.

Mustafizur Rahman, a distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, said, "While unemployment is a factor, many also seek a better life abroad. This phenomenon is not unique to Bangladesh; it is a prevalent trend among young people in the developing world."

"Apart from economic and social factors, many are driven by factors like a desire for a more democratic environment and freedom of expression," he added.

The number of unemployed people has increased by around 2.4 lakh to 25.9 lakh in the first quarter of this year compared to the last quarter of the previous year, as reported by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.

"Our job opportunities are very limited, especially for the youth. And over the last decade or so we have seen jobless growth syndrome," Selim Raihan, a professor at the Department of Economics of the University of Dhaka, told TBS.

"I view remittances sent from abroad positively if there are no opportunities within the country. However, the problem is that job opportunities are also limited abroad," he said.