Labour migration stuck in old model as quantity is prioritised over quality

Highlights:

• Migration costs remain Tk4–10 lakh despite interim government tenure
• Illegal visa trading, brokers, agency syndicates keep costs inflated
• Over 10.7 lakh employed abroad; Saudi Arabia dominates jobs
• No reopening of Oman, UAE, Bahrain; limited market diversification
• Record $30 billion remittances aided by banking confidence restoration
• Upskilling weak; focus remains numbers over quality migration

The high migration costs, ranging from Tk4 lakh to Tk10 lakh in labour intensive Middle Eastern and East Asian destinations, remain unchanged during the 16-month tenure of the interim government like the previous regime, despite a steady level of overseas job placement and a boost in remittance inflows.

As illegal visa trading, dominance of middlemen and recruiting agency syndicates, and weak upskilling initiatives have remained largely unaddressed over the past one and a half years, the migration cost still three to four times higher than the government-fixed rate for low-skilled workers, who are around 80% of the total outbound workers, according to migration experts.

Citing that Bangladesh is facing a deep and complex crisis in overseas employment due to entrenched broker syndicates, document forgery and systemic failures, Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus yesterday put emphasis on building a broker- and fraudulence-free system in sending workers abroad.

While addressing a function at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium in Dhaka marking the International Migrants Day and National Expatriates Day-2025, the CA said, "Despite sincere efforts by the government, the scale of results we should have achieved has not been reached. Many initiatives appear impressive on the surface, which are important too, but the government has so far been unable to penetrate the core of the broker-dominated system".

Around 10.71 lakh Bangladeshis have been employed abroad until 15 December this year, compared to 10.11 lakh last year, according to data from the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET).

However, more than 66 percent of overseas employment was in Saudi Arabia, reflecting continued single-market dependency based on low-skilled migration. Efforts to explore new markets were largely absent, except for initiatives to promote skilled migration to Japan.

Infograph: TBS

There was also no visible progress in reopening three major Middle Eastern markets – Oman, the UAE, and Bahrain – which were closed during the Sheikh Hasina regime due to corruption, mismanagement, and worker-related misconduct.

Although talks are ongoing with Malaysia to reopen its labour market, the resurfacing of recruiting agency syndicates remains a concern, as destination countries have reportedly imposed some "unfair conditions," according to sector insiders.

"Bangladesh's labour migration sector is an extremely complex and multi-layered process, involving destination countries, institutions and markets simultaneously. Despite this complexity, Bangladesh's biggest problem is that the sector has never been brought under a long-term planning framework. As a result, problems have accumulated over the years and have now turned into a structural crisis," Dr Tasneem Siddiqui, founding chair of the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU), told TBS.

"On multiple occasions, proposals were made to declare a 'migration decade', under which reforms could be implemented in a planned manner by setting long-term, medium-term and short-term goals. But neither the current government nor any previous government showed interest in implementing this proposal," she added.

However, the Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry has identified 14 notable activities during the period, including the first-ever labour agreement with Saudi Arabia to ensure workers' rights and promote skilled migration, digitalisation of the migration process through an overseas employment platform, signing a number of MoUs with Japanese employers to recruit one lakh workers over the next five years, issuing immigration clearance cards from 21 districts, and opening two lounges for expatriates and their family members at Dhaka airport.

The press wing of the Chief Adviser shared these activities on 7 December, along with some policy changes and the formation of a task force for the long-term development of the sector.

Tasneem Siddiqui identified the interim government's initiative to recognise expatriates' voting rights as its biggest achievement.

She said restoring expatriates' confidence in the banking sector was another major success of the government, which has had a highly positive impact on remittance inflows.

Expatriate Bangladeshis sent a record $30.04 billion in remittances in the 2024–25 fiscal year, the highest amount ever received in a single fiscal year in the country's history.

She also viewed the bilateral agreement with Saudi Arabia and progress in the South Korean and Japanese markets as positive developments.

Why migration cost remains high

Expatriates' Welfare Adviser Asif Nazrul highlighted the interim government's efforts to reduce migration costs during International Migrants Day on 18 December last year.

A year later, another Migrants Day has arrived, but the issue remains largely unchanged.

According to sector insiders, expenses for low-skilled overseas job seekers from Bangladesh to major destinations including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and Singapore currently range from Tk4 lakh to Tk10 lakh. Before 2008, costs ranged between Tk80,000 and Tk5 lakh.

High migration costs for Bangladeshi workers were identified as the top challenge in the overseas employment sector in the White Paper on the State of Bangladesh's Economy published November last year.

Illegal visa trading, the involvement of middlemen, and high airfare are the main reasons for the elevated migration costs, according to labour recruiters.

"We have to procure job demands from destination countries, which account for a major portion of total migration costs. The government must work with destination countries to curb or regularise this system," said Shamim Ahmed Chowdhury Noman, former secretary general of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira).

Commenting that strict accountability in the recruiting agency and broker system was essential to reduce migration costs, Tasneem Siddiqui said, "Instead of reducing the number of licences, issuing new licences has made the situation more complicated rather than lowering costs. More than 200 new agencies have been granted licences over the past one and a half years."

The previous regime increased the number of agencies to 2,500 from just 900. Although BMET cancelled around 200 licences, new approvals pushed the total number back to around 2,500.

This excessive number of agencies has created instability in the sector, as it is disproportionate to actual labour demand.

A top BMET official told TBS, "The government fixed the migration cost for labour intensive destinations, but it's not effective as the whole cycle involves crucial parts abroad. We are trying to regularise the agencies and middlemen."

He declined to comment on the large number of agencies.

Focus remains on number rather than quality

Sending over 10 lakh workers annually – more than 80 percent of whom are low-skilled – has been the common picture over the past four years, and the interim government has not significantly deviated from this trend.

Dr Mohammad Jalal Uddin Sikder, a migration expert and associate professor at North South University, told TBS, "The interim government was not a political government, but it was no exception in focusing on numbers rather than quality migration. They could have done better by creating a long-term environment for a transparent, skill-based migration system."

"We have also seen that corrupt recruiting agencies involved in the Malaysian syndicate have continued to operate during this period," he added.

Migration experts believe that although nearly 11 lakh Bangladeshi workers went abroad by December this year, this cannot be described as a sustainable success.

They warned that if Saudi Arabia were to stop recruiting workers for any reason, Bangladesh's labour migration sector would face a major crisis.

Rather than chasing numbers, experts argue that greater attention should be given to the quality of remittances. There is no need to send 12–13 lakh workers abroad every year; if remittance inflows remain stable, the focus should be on sending fewer but more skilled and accountable migrants.

Expatriates' Welfare Adviser Asif Nazrul and senior secretary Neyamat Ullah Bhuiyan could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts via phone and text messages.

Public–private initiatives insufficient for upskilling

Although BMET has increased its capacity in 26 Technical Training Centres (TTCs) to conduct skill verification tests for the Saudi labour market, the overall state of upskilling remains below expectations. Currently they have 110 TTCs across the country.

"Most technical training centres in the country still lack adequate teachers, modern training equipment, and even basic infrastructure. It is not possible to produce skilled workers from such institutions," said Tasneem Siddiqui.

Speaking about upskilling, she said, "Lack of awareness is a major problem. Many workers are not interested in improving their skills. To address this, RMMRU, with support from the Swiss government, is implementing a project of Helvetas Bangladesh in five upazilas of Cumilla so that migrant workers can make informed decisions about migration, maximise economic benefits through upskilling, and reduce migration-related risks."

Under the 'Strengthen and Informative Migration System' project, training has been provided to local stakeholders and Union Digital Centre entrepreneurs, orientation sessions have been organised to prepare workers before overseas employment, and grievance management committees have been formed.