Bangladesh's overseas employment sector is showing signs of recovery after two years, according to available statistics.
In July, some 50,307 Bangladeshi men and women left the country for overseas employment, which was the highest monthly recruitment since January 2009, according to the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training.
The figure was 24,347 in the same month last year, the data shows.
During January-July, some 301,804 Bangladeshi nationals were recruited across the world, which was up by 24 per cent against the total recruitment recorded during the corresponding period of 2010, the BMET data shows.
'More and more countries are opening up doors to Bangladeshi workers due to their work flexibility,' said Zafar Ahmed Khan, the expatriates' welfare and overseas employment secretary.
He said that pressure on the recruiting agents for minimising the migration cost was responsible for such upward trend of overseas employment.
The ministry had earlier set a target to send 4.5 lakh Bangladeshi workers abroad in 2011 calendar year.
'We could send more than we earlier estimated for this year,' the secretary told New Age.
He attributed the growth in manpower export to the gradual restoration of job market in the Middle Eastern countries, mainly Oman and UAE.
Some 4,75,278 and 3,91,702 Bangladeshi men and women were recruited overseas in 2009 and 2010 respectively.
'Increasing trend of fresh recruitment in 2011 is a positive sign for the overseas employment sector,' said Ali Haider Chowdhury, secretary general of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies.
In the first month of the new fiscal year (July 2011), monthly remittance inflow showed a substantial rise.
Bangladeshi expatriates remitted $ 1038.132 million in July, which was significantly higher than the remittances received in the same month last year.
The amount was $ 857.31 million in July 2010 while $ 885.38 in 2009, according to the Bangladesh Bank statistics.
At the end of the first six months of the current calendar year (January-June), a total of 250,858 Bangladesh job seekers secured employment in foreign countries.
The six-month overseas recruitment number is
20 per cent higher than what it was in the corresponding period of 2010 and almost the same of the year 2009, the BMET data shows.
Source : New Age
