Wednesday | 15 January 2025 | Reg No- 06
বাংলা
   
Wednesday | 15 January 2025 | Epaper

Brokers: Main bar in manpower export

Published : Wednesday, 5 January, 2022 at 12:00 AM  Count : 888
Md Zillur Rahaman
As a result of the huge number of unskilled workers going abroad from Bangladesh through brokers, only the number of expatriates is increasing but remittances are not increasing according to expectations. Most of these unskilled workers come from the rural poor and lower middle class family. By tempting them in various ways, the middlemen are grabbing large sums of money. They sold the land and handed over all the life savings to the brokers.

As brokers are at the grassroots level of the immigration process, emigrants rely heavily on them. Because of them, the cost of immigration continues to rise, not only in this country, but also in the destination country a strong tout class has developed. Stakeholders feel that action needs to be taken against them through bilateral talks at the government level.

Due to the reliance of brokers, the reputation of the manpower export sector is being questioned in the country and abroad. In the process of manpower export, most of the recruitment is done through brokers and many people give money to touts without knowing the name of the recruiting agency. Brokers make passports, through them medical tests are done, plane tickets are also collected. Due to broker reliance, it costs 4 to 5 times more for Bangladeshi workers to go abroad than for workers from other countries.

However, the income of Bangladeshi workers is low due to lack of skills. In the last 42 years, almost half of all migrant workers have been unskilled workers and one-third skilled workers. Except for the rest, most of them are semi-skilled and a small part is professional. The rate of skilled workers has increased in the last few years. Like last year, they were 43 percent and now the government has 70 training institutes across the country. As a ministry, about 7 lakh people have taken training in 2018. However, people in the sector think that job training is needed according to the needs of different countries, not randomly. Indonesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka are doing just that, we also need to move forward on that path.

The Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) recently conducted a study on the possibility of exporting manpower to 53 countries. It shows that in the last one decade, the labor market has expanded from 97 countries to 168 countries. However, in most countries the number of workers is going up. In fact, new labor markets are not being created. In this case, the manpower concerned say, either the brokers have to be legalized under the law by paying the prescribed commission or fee, or they have to be stopped. Moreover, it is necessary to build skilled workers by judging the demand of the new market. Embassies need to provide experienced manpower in immigration. It is important to increase the quality, not the number of migrants, then remittances will increase automatically and it will be sustainable in the long run.

In addition, it will be difficult to reduce the cost of immigration if the visa trade cannot be stopped. It can be stopped most effectively if skilled workers increase. Usually a skilled worker visa cannot be bought with money.

According to research by the Refugee and Migration Movement Research Unit (RAMRU), which deals with immigration, 19 percent of people cannot afford to go abroad, the average financial loss is about 2 lakh. 32% of the migrants are facing various harassment including not getting job abroad and the remaining 49 percent are getting jobs. The government wants to stop the brokers to stop these harassments but it is not possible to eliminate the brokers. Every step of immigration requires the help of a broker. Therefore, by arranging their registration, the fees of the brokers can be fixed for each job. Those who are interested in immigration get confidence in the known brokers. The government's directive to set up separate agency offices in different districts is also unrealistic. Instead, the agency's organization, Baira, could open offices in all districts. Employees of all agencies will be able to work there.

According to a recent report from RAMRU, the cost of immigration in Bangladesh has increased in 2021. At the end of the year, due to the increase in air fares, the participation of migrants in work is being hampered. In just two weeks, the airfare has been increased from Tk. 40-45 thousand to Tk.

Due to this many migrants have to migrate at high cost. As of September 2021, according to RAMRU, about 1,500 migrant workers on holiday from Bahrain could not return to their workplaces. Many of them have been trapped in the country for 18 months and 3,000 workers could not return to work in Bahrain on time due to visa renewal complications and other problems.

Some of them have again spent money and migrated to other Middle Eastern countries on lower wages. In this cases, the middlemen are taking the chance and make a good business through the expatriates.

The crisis in the manpower market should be largely resolved if the two embassies or missions in the respective countries are mobilized to eradicate the tyranny of fraudulent brokers in the manpower export sector and to look into the problems and crises of the workers residing abroad.

People who want to go abroad in remote areas of the country are still falling into the clutches of touts and are counting several times more money than they need, many are losing everything. On the other hand, one of the main complaints of the expatriate workers is that they do not get the help of Bangladesh Embassy when they need it. The main task of embassies or foreign missions is to see the advantages and disadvantages of the expatriates working in that country.

If the officials are active, Bangladeshis abroad should not be in such a delicate situation regarding work, collection of dues and legal matters. If the quality of service to the missions of Bangladesh is enhanced with more sincerity and efficiency and the directives of the government are properly implemented, the picture of manpower export sector may be different, we are looking forward to it.
Md. ZillurRahaman, Banker and
Freelance Columnist






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