Foreign jobs costlier for Bangladeshis

Bangladeshis have to spend more than Indians and Sri Lankans to get jobs in Malaysia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, says a research.
On average, a Bangladeshi has to spend $2685 to go to Qatar and get a job there while an Indian and a Sri Lankan pay only $1227 and $1200, respectively, for the same job, Prof CR Abrar, coordinator of the research team, said while revealing these findings at a workshop yesterday.
The case is similar in the matter of jobs in Malaysia and the UAE, he said. To get jobs abroad, Bangladeshis mainly depend on local agents while Indians rely on their private management and Sri Lankans on registered recruiting agencies, said Abrar, citing the research.
A team of Bangladesh's Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU), Centre for Developing Societies of India and Bureau of Foreign Labour Employment of Sri Lanka carried out the research.
RMMRU organised the workshop at Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban of Dhaka University yesterday.
For the research, the team claimed to have obtained information from 350 migrants currently living in Malaysia, Qatar and the UAE between March last year and April this year.
A large number of the migrants living in the three countries, however, have to work more than 8 hours a day while the domestic workers of the countries have to work 14 to 18 hours daily, he added.
The education level of Bangladeshis in the three countries is lower than that of Indians and Sri Lankans, the research shows.
Most of the Bangladeshis are working in the construction and service sectors of these countries while the Indians and Sri Lankans are involved in a wide range of professions there.
Among the three South Asian countries, Sri Lanka's labour attachés provide the country's migrants with comparatively better services.  
The attachés perform the tasks of providing protection and assistance to the nationals of their countries abroad.
The study shows all the attachés frequently have to deal with the issue of illegal workers in Malaysia, Qatar and the UAE.    
The researchers also came up with some recommendations to improve the service of the labour attachés, including introducing a 24-hour emergency hotline to give assistance to the migrant workers and improve attachés' regular communications with their respective countries.