Reveal costs: JS body chief to overseas job agents

Eng Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, labour and employment minister, speaks at a seminar on "Prospect of Manpower Export and Search for New Labour Market" at the FBCCI conference room in Dhaka yesterday. Anisul Islam Mahmud, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on expatriates welfare ministry, and AK Azad, president of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), are also seen. Photo: FBCCI

The chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the expatriates and welfare employment ministry yesterday likened Baira, the association of agents who charge Bangladeshis who seek work abroad, to children, for ignoring his inquiries.
"There is no chance for a hide-and-seek game," said Anisul Islam Mahmud, the parliamentary body chief. "We have to interact, as we live in the same society,” he told a seminar in Dhaka.
The Tk 2 lakh migration cost Bangladeshis pay is lower in India, he said, adding that the parliamentary body tried to check these costs with the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies. “We did not get expected support from Baira," he said.
Bangladeshis planning to seek work in the Middle East should think twice, however, as Bangladesh has almost filled its quota, said the Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain yesterday.
The Middle Eastern states employ the majority of nearly 6.9 million Bangladeshi migrant workers, who sent home nearly $11 million in fiscal year 2009-10.
But the outflow of migrants to the Middle East, the main employer of unskilled Bangladeshi workers, is declining particularly in the countries such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
"Bangladesh migrant workers' traditional market has become contracted," said Hossain, citing “social and economic factors.” The minister said the region is hiring fewer foreign workers for demographic reasons. "There is no link between trials of war criminals and manpower exports at all," he said, concerning rumours to that effect.
However, he said the situation could soon change. "Prospects for new markets are opening even after traditional markets have become saturated, " he said, citing “high demand for nurses and caregivers.”
Others at the seminar organised by Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) said long-term demand for migrant workers will rise due to Europe's ageing demographic profile. Most also expect demand for semi-skilled workers to rise.
However, high migration costs, inadequate training for job-seekers, manpower shortages at Bangladesh embassies abroad and widespread allegations of cheated migrants hurt prospects of more remittance-earners, they added.
Centre for Policy Dialogue Executive Director Mustafizur Rahman echoed the call to bring down migration costs, but called on the government to invest in the sector.
Noting government aims to hit $31 billion in remittance earnings by 2015, he called allocations for the sector negligible considering its contribution and number of workers.
Rahman stressed that Bangladesh can take advantage of the future growth in global demand for migrant workers by preparing now: "Tomorrow's market is not similar to today's market. We have to make preparations from now on to respond to the changes in the demand."
He suggested a public-private partnership establish training facilities to address future needs.
FBCCI President AK Azad chaired the programme, where recruiting agents, diplomats and bureaucrats also spoke.