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They Pump $15 Billion A Year Into Bangladesh's Economy — But At What Cost?
Jason Beaubien, NPR
How do you get ahead in Bangladesh?
Often it's by leaving Bangladesh.
An estimated 10 million Bangladeshis are currently working abroad, primarily as low-skilled laborers in the Arabian Gulf. Only India, Mexico, Russia and China send out more migrant workers each year according to the World Bank.
The Bangladeshi migrant workers are gardeners, construction workers, janitors and maids. On average they earn $400 a month, far more than they'd make doing the same jobs at home. And the totals add up. The $15 billion sent home by migrant workers last year — called "remittances" in economic jargon — is Bangladesh's second-largest source of foreign earnings after its gigantic textile industry.
But their months or years abroad can turn into misery, with stories of scams, exploitation and abuse, according to labor activists and human rights groups.
Getting in line
An entire industry has developed in Bangladesh to recruit, screen and process workers who yearn to go abroad.
Outside a two-story office building on the eastern side of the capital, Dhaka, young men hoping to get jobs in the Arabian Gulf are waiting on the street. Before they can finalize a labor contract they have to get poked, prodded and fingerprinted at a branch office of the Gulf Approved Medical Centres Association.
The job seekers are given physical exams at the Saudi-run agency to make sure they are fit to work. They are screened for HIV, TB and other infectious diseases. If they test positive, they're barred from working in the Gulf (an official in the GAMCA office says they can still find work somewhere else in the world). Women have to take a pregnancy exam and are excluded if they're pregnant.
The agency uploads their fingerprints and travel documents into a centralized database that will be available to immigration authorities in the countries the workers are sent to.
One of the applicants on a recent April day is Mohammad Kiron Mia, who is trying to get a job as a gardener in Oman.
For Mia, 36, this will be his third trip overseas. During the first he worked as a tailor in Oman for seven months. Then he returned on a two-year contract as a gardener.
"We are poor people," he says of himself and several neighbors from his village who are with him outside the agency. He is hoping to return to Oman: "The jobs in Oman are better opportunities for us because the work permit costs far less than a permit for Saudi Arabia or Dubai."
Permit fees are based on the destination and job and can cost thousands of dollars.
"I want to make a better life for my family and my children," he says. "I can make twice as much money working in Oman compared to working here in Bangladesh."
The GAMCA office where Mia has come to submit his paperwork is one of 46 across Bangladesh that process workers exclusively for Gulf countries. Other labor brokers with other agencies set up jobs for Bangladeshis seeking to work in India, Malaysia, Singapore and other parts of Asia.
"Bangladesh is one of the top 10 countries in the world for migration and remittance according to World Bank," says Shariful Islam Hasan, head of migration for BRAC, Bangladesh's largest nonprofit development and social service agency. Hasan says remittances are hugely important to Bangladesh. A single migrant's wages help provide education, health care and food for that worker's family. Bangladeshis will work abroad sometimes for five, 10, even 20 years, he says, to try to attain a better life.
"You will not find a single person in Bangladesh who doesn't have someone — a relative, someone — abroad," he says. "So everyone is very much involved with this migration and remittances process."
One of the great benefits of remittances, Hasan says, is that unlike the money brought into the country by exports from the garment industry, this money is dispersed all across Bangladesh.
Yet Bangladesh is still one of the poorest countries in the world. Despite recent progress, per capita income remains below $2,000 a year.
KSA: New Fees Applicable for Foreign Employees & Dependants
Date Monthly fee per dependant (sar) Yearly fee per dependant (sar)
JULY 2017 100 1,200
JULY 2018 200 2,400
JULY 2019 300 3,600
JULY 2020 400 4,800
https://www.clydeco.com/insight/art...reign-employees-a-new-development-and-a-recap
Jason Beaubien, NPR
How do you get ahead in Bangladesh?
Often it's by leaving Bangladesh.
An estimated 10 million Bangladeshis are currently working abroad, primarily as low-skilled laborers in the Arabian Gulf. Only India, Mexico, Russia and China send out more migrant workers each year according to the World Bank.
The Bangladeshi migrant workers are gardeners, construction workers, janitors and maids. On average they earn $400 a month, far more than they'd make doing the same jobs at home. And the totals add up. The $15 billion sent home by migrant workers last year — called "remittances" in economic jargon — is Bangladesh's second-largest source of foreign earnings after its gigantic textile industry.
But their months or years abroad can turn into misery, with stories of scams, exploitation and abuse, according to labor activists and human rights groups.
Getting in line
An entire industry has developed in Bangladesh to recruit, screen and process workers who yearn to go abroad.
Outside a two-story office building on the eastern side of the capital, Dhaka, young men hoping to get jobs in the Arabian Gulf are waiting on the street. Before they can finalize a labor contract they have to get poked, prodded and fingerprinted at a branch office of the Gulf Approved Medical Centres Association.
The job seekers are given physical exams at the Saudi-run agency to make sure they are fit to work. They are screened for HIV, TB and other infectious diseases. If they test positive, they're barred from working in the Gulf (an official in the GAMCA office says they can still find work somewhere else in the world). Women have to take a pregnancy exam and are excluded if they're pregnant.
The agency uploads their fingerprints and travel documents into a centralized database that will be available to immigration authorities in the countries the workers are sent to.
One of the applicants on a recent April day is Mohammad Kiron Mia, who is trying to get a job as a gardener in Oman.
For Mia, 36, this will be his third trip overseas. During the first he worked as a tailor in Oman for seven months. Then he returned on a two-year contract as a gardener.
"We are poor people," he says of himself and several neighbors from his village who are with him outside the agency. He is hoping to return to Oman: "The jobs in Oman are better opportunities for us because the work permit costs far less than a permit for Saudi Arabia or Dubai."
Permit fees are based on the destination and job and can cost thousands of dollars.
"I want to make a better life for my family and my children," he says. "I can make twice as much money working in Oman compared to working here in Bangladesh."
The GAMCA office where Mia has come to submit his paperwork is one of 46 across Bangladesh that process workers exclusively for Gulf countries. Other labor brokers with other agencies set up jobs for Bangladeshis seeking to work in India, Malaysia, Singapore and other parts of Asia.
"Bangladesh is one of the top 10 countries in the world for migration and remittance according to World Bank," says Shariful Islam Hasan, head of migration for BRAC, Bangladesh's largest nonprofit development and social service agency. Hasan says remittances are hugely important to Bangladesh. A single migrant's wages help provide education, health care and food for that worker's family. Bangladeshis will work abroad sometimes for five, 10, even 20 years, he says, to try to attain a better life.
"You will not find a single person in Bangladesh who doesn't have someone — a relative, someone — abroad," he says. "So everyone is very much involved with this migration and remittances process."
One of the great benefits of remittances, Hasan says, is that unlike the money brought into the country by exports from the garment industry, this money is dispersed all across Bangladesh.
Yet Bangladesh is still one of the poorest countries in the world. Despite recent progress, per capita income remains below $2,000 a year.
KSA: New Fees Applicable for Foreign Employees & Dependants
Date Monthly fee per dependant (sar) Yearly fee per dependant (sar)
JULY 2017 100 1,200
JULY 2018 200 2,400
JULY 2019 300 3,600
JULY 2020 400 4,800
https://www.clydeco.com/insight/art...reign-employees-a-new-development-and-a-recap
