Overseas employment drops 18.5% in October amid Saudi skill certification requirement

Overseas employment from Bangladesh declined by 18.46% in October this year compared to the previous month and 25.6% compared to the same month last year, according to data from the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET).

Sector insiders attribute the fall mainly to the introduction of a mandatory skill certification requirement for low-skilled workers under the Skill Verification Program (SVP) – widely known as Takamul – implemented by Saudi authorities.

Bangladesh sent around 78,027 workers abroad in October, down from 95,694 in September this year.

Saudi Arabia recruited 40,612 Bangladeshi workers last month – the single-largest share among destination countries. However, this figure represents a 32% decline from September.

Shamim Hossain Chowdhury, former secretary general of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira), said implementation of Takamul certification has slowed the process.

"Low-skilled workers such as loaders and unloaders now require skill certificates, but the process managed by BMET and Saudi authorities is still not fast enough to handle the expected number of workers," he told the Business Standard.

Currently, 26 technical training centres (TTCs) in Bangladesh are authorised to conduct the SVP programme across 73 trades, as approved by the Saudi government. BMET operates around 110 TTCs in total.

"We are trying to increase the number of approved TTCs, but the Saudi authority has its own procedures, which take time. Once expanded, we can conduct more tests," said Engineer Salah Uddin, Director (Training), BMET.

"Last month, we conducted around 52,000 tests. If demand rises, we have the capacity to increase that number," he added.

Saudi Arabia recently introduced the mandatory SVP for low-skilled workers, creating new hurdles for overseas employment. However, the requirement has been temporarily relaxed for certain categories, such as cleaners, following requests from Bangladesh.

Saudi Arabia remains Bangladesh's largest overseas employment destination, hosting more than 32 lakh Bangladeshi workers, according to unofficial estimates. Over 80% of these workers are employed in low-skilled jobs such as cleaners, construction workers, and domestic helpers, typically earning around Tk30,000 per month.

Recruitment in other destinations remains modest, ranging between 1,000 and 11,000 workers per country. In October, Qatar, Singapore, the Maldives, Cambodia, Kuwait, and Jordan were among the top ten destinations, with recruitment figures varying from 1,380 to 11,400 workers.

Labour migration to traditional markets such as Malaysia, Oman, and Bahrain remains largely suspended.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Bangladesh sent 60,000-70,000 workers per month on average, a figure that rose to nearly 1,00,000 per month in recent years.

Meanwhile, remittance inflows continue to grow. Expatriate Bangladeshis sent home $2.56 billion in October 2025, marking a 7% year-on-year increase, according to Bangladesh Bank data. In October 2024, remittances stood at $2.4 billion.

During the first four months of FY2025-26 (July-October), Bangladesh received $10.14 billion in remittances, up from $8.9 billion in the same period of the previous fiscal year.

Bankers said the foreign exchange market has stabilised, and the influence of illegal hundi channels has waned, leading to higher remittance inflows through formal banking systems.

Since the interim government took office, remittances through official channels have steadily increased, they added. The exchange rate offered by banks is now nearly equivalent to the open market rate, encouraging expatriates to send money legally through banks.