High on manpower export, low on remittance receipts

Mobarak Hossain, 31, of Feni, went to Qatar in 2016 on a work visa and joined a construction company.

His salary was Tk18,000 at the time. 

"I did not have any training. Currently, I am working for Al Shahaniya area near Doha and receiving Tk24,000 per month,'' said Mobarak over phone on Sunday.

"Workers having skills can go abroad in other categories and receive higher salaries,'' he added. 

Like Mobarak, thousands of Bangladeshi workers go abroad every year in search of overseas employment.

Employers treat them as less-skilled (otherwise widely known as unskilled) workers and pay them low wages.

Things are brighter, though, for skilled workers, whose employers pay them better wages.  

Deen Muhammad is one of them. He is now working at a restaurant in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

"When I came here in 2015, I did not have any professional skill. I received Tk16,000 as monthly wages for my part-time job while studying hotel management. My pay has been Tk50,000 since I completed the course,'' he said.

"Malaysian Ringgit 1,100 (Tk22,546) is fixed as the minimum salary for a migrant worker," he said. "A skilled worker can earn a handsome salary here.'' 

Although there are 71 technical training centres (TTCs) under the Bangladesh Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET), thousands of workers are going abroad without training. 

According to the BMET, 5,803,502 less-skilled workers went abroad between 1976 and 2018, which is 47 percent of the total expatriate workers abroad.

According to the World Migration Report 2020 of the International Organisation for Migration, Bangladesh ranked 6th among migrant origin countries. However, it did not have any berth among the top 10 remittance-receiving countries that year.

In 2010 and 2015, Bangladesh was among the top 10 remittance-receiving nations.

In the latest report, the Philippines was ranked as the fourth remittance-receiving country, with its position being ninth among migrant origin nations. 

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, 37 percent of Filipino migrant workers were unskilled in 2018.

Dr Nurul Islam, director (Training Conduct) at the BMET, said unskilled manpower was officially called less skilled. 

"The inflow of remittance does not completely depend on skills. We have to bear in mind how worker-receiving countries consider our skill certifications," he added. 

He added, "We also have to consider the level of skills of our workers compared to that of the top remittance receiving countries."

Technical Training Centres 

The BMET has set up technical training centres (TTCs) at all districts across the country and has a plan to set up training centres at all upazilas.

Between 2015 and 2018, 2,346,684 people have been imparted training. During this period, 3,056,255 went abroad, meaning they included a big number of unskilled people. 

Set up in 1965, the Bangladesh-German Technical Training Centre at Mirpur, Dhaka, is among the longest-serving training institutions in the country.

This correspondent visited the centre on Tuesday and talked to Saiful Islam of Noakhali, who is a residential trainee. 

He is going to Japan through government arrangements under a Memorandum of Understanding between Dhaka and Tokyo.

"I have been selected for employment in Japan. I had to go through various tests .At this centre, 31 of us are learning the Japanese language in a batch," he said.  

The Bangladesh-German TTC trains 8,500-9,000 people in 30-35 courses each year, focusing on employment at home and abroad.  

The institution has been conducting courses for mainly welding and fabrication, quality control supervisor, mid-level supervisor, refrigeration and air conditioning, plumbing and pipefitting, graphics design and general electrical work under its Skills for Employment Investment Program (SEIP).

According to the institution authorities, a bigger number of people get employment at home compared to those who go abroad after receiving training. 

It is mainly graduates from electrical, air conditions and welding courses who go abroad, especially to the Middle East. Other destinations include Cambodia and Japan.

"Most villagers are not aware of the training centres. And thus they go abroad without training and receive low wages," said Rina Akter Jahan, principal of the Bangladesh-German Technical Training Centre. 

"Manpower recruiting agencies do not follow the directives of the expatriate welfare and overseas employment ministry in the matter of giving priority to trained people to be sent abroad. Rather they pick unskilled people through middlemen for a bigger financial profit," she added. 

The Institute of Marine Technology (IMT) at Faridpur conducts a four-year diploma course in marine technology and shipbuilding technology. 

Some 100 people undergo training every year. 

"We have nearly 400 students. After completing the diploma, 20-30 percent go abroad. The other graduates stay in the country as currently they receive better pay here than abroad," said Khorshed Alam, principal (in-charge) of IMT, Faridpur.  

Shariful Hasan, head of Brac Migration Programme, said the training centres have work force shortages and that is why they cannot prepare quality people for sending abroad.  

"The training centres' focus is on the infrastructures more than producing quality manpower."

Recruiting agencies, however, turned down the allegations of sending unskilled manpower abroad. 

"The supply of workers depends on demand from foreign employers. They demand both skilled and unskilled manpower," said Mohammed Ali Siddique, a member of the executive committee of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira). "Employers in the Middle East mainly demand unskilled cleaners and labourers." 

Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmed said, "Demand for unskilled workers has decreased owing to the use of machinery both at home and abroad. So skilled workers are the main target of the government.

Our ministry has taken initiatives to set up training centres at the upazila level.''

"The old migrant worker destinations are shrinking every year. Our government is trying to find new markets in Croatia, Rumania, Poland and Uganda. Remittance flows will increase more in the days to come,'' he added.