DHAKA, 16 January 2005 — Manpower export and remittance earning hit a record last year with 2,72,000 Bangladeshis getting overseas employment and remittances in 2004 totaling $3.54 billion.
Officials of the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment said here yesterday the previous record was 2,68,000 Bangladeshis getting jobs abroad in 1998. The number was 2,54,000 in 2003 and it rose by 7.30 percent last year.
Expatriate Bangladeshis sent home $3.54 billion in remittance last year, 11.42 percent higher than the previous year’s $3.17 billion. Manpower export to Saudi Arabia, the biggest importer of Bangladeshi workforce, however, declined by 12 percent last year compared to 2003 mainly because of some strict measures on sending workers there on low wages.
A total of 1,30,000 workers went to Saudi Arabia last year for jobs as against the previous year’s 1,49,000, the officials said.
The other major importers of Bangladeshi manpower last year were the United Arab Emirates recruiting 42,006 workers, Kuwait 36,884, Bahrain 8,410, Singapore 6,307, Jordan 5,395 and Oman 4,025.
The number of overseas employment would have been much higher had Malaysia, a major importer of Bangladeshi manpower, opened its doors to overseas workers, said a high official of the Expatriate Welfare Ministry.
Around half a million Bangladeshis were recruited by Malaysia in mid-1990s, most of whom came back home on expiry of their job tenure. Around 1,13,000 Bangladeshis are now working in that country.
