China has the potential to be a destination for Bangladesh to export labour, thanks to its rising wages, shrinking workforce and ever expanding production capacity in the world's second-largest economy.
Chinese authority has also been seeking foreign workforce easing existing strict foreign workers' recruitment policy.
A recently-signed agreement between China and the Philippines for recruiting of 300,000 Filipinos easing the restrictions on manpower import might be a signal for Bangladesh to launch a discussion on the issue, an official at the Bangladesh Embassy said.
"Timely bilateral negotiations at the highest level between the two friendly nations can pave the way for opening up new avenue for Bangladesh's manpower exports," the embassy official in Beijing told this correspondent.
A number of large Chinese manufacturing firms recently made inquiries with the embassy whether it can help them to import unskilled or semiskilled manpower in China.
The official, seeking anonymity, said the embassy will push this matter at the highest level, though it is at the initial stage.
He believes there is a potential China could be a good destination for Bangladeshi workers.
"Only high level discussion between the two countries can realise the potential," he said.
In April last, the Philippines and China signed an agreement that lifts Beijing's restrictions on foreign workers, paving the way for the employment of 300,000 Filipinos, including 100,000 English-medium teachers.
China's labour ministry is also seeking to hire Filipino cooks, caregivers, household service workers, musicians, and nurses under this agreement.
A Chinese newspaper recently reported labour shortages are growing in cities like Guangzhou and Shanghai.
In these areas, there is an estimated 30 to 70 per cent gap between the supply and demand of workers.
Chinese news reports also reiterate that an increasing number of workers previously employed on the coast is now actively seeking work in interior provinces closer to their birth counties.
During the last two decades of China's development, rural workers migrating to urban manufacturing regions have been the chief source of labor in coastal cities, where most of the manufacturing industries are based.
According to the Chinese government's own statistics, migrant workers have increased to more than 250 million from just over 60 million during the last 20 years.
Wang Yu, a toy factory owner in Guangzhou, told this correspondent that they have been suffering from cheap and affordable workforce.
"We have repeatedly been appealing to the authorities to relax the foreign workers' recruitment policy so that we can run our factories," he said.
According to Chinese and the United Nations studies, the cost of living is generally two times higher in coastal urban areas than other regions.
The studies also demonstrate wages for factory workers are, on average, nearly 50 per cent higher in coastal cities (not including mandatory overtime) and fail to compensate for living expenses.
Both Chinese and foreign firms have started moving their labour-intensive and low-tech industries from China to Southeast Asia and African countries due mainly to the labour shortage and wage spike.
According to the American Chamber of Commerce in China, a nonprofit organisation with membership of more than 3,300 individuals from 900 companies operating across China, some 35 per cent of the companies it surveyed have moved or considered moving their production bases out of China to other countries such as Southeast Asia.
"We will have to follow other companies if we can't produce here affordably and competitively," Mr Yu added.
