More than 100,000 workers went abroad with jobs in the last eight months until February this year after the employing countries withdrew the travel ban on migrant workers from Bangladesh, officials said.
In early 2020, many countries postponed the recruitment of migrant workers due to the fallout of Covid-19 pandemic - this move created an uncertainty over sending workers from Bangladesh.
Things, however, started getting normal soon afterwards as statistics available at the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) show that 116,950 Bangladeshis went in different destinations in between July 01, 2020 and February 28, 2021.
As per the monthly statistics of the BMET, 49,510 workers went abroad with jobs in February this year, while 35,732 in January.
Of the total 116,950, a total of 92,772 or 80 per cent workers went to Saudi Arabia - the largest job destination country for Bangladeshi migrant workers.
Officials and manpower recruiters said most of the workers went to Saudi Arabia as the demand for workers has increased there since the impact of Coronavirus has been eased in the oil-rich country.
Besides, some vital labour-sending countries like India and Pakistan cannot send workers to Saudi Arabia due to Covid-19 restrictions, creating a scope for Bangladeshi workers there, they observed.
The second highest number of Bangladeshi workers - 11,094 - went to Oman, followed by Singapore with 7,443 and Jordan 2,584, as per the BMET data.
Sector insiders also said the outflow of workers would increase in the coming months as the government had allowed sending workers to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) through visit visa recently.
Ali Haider Chowdhury, manpower recruiter and also a former secretary general of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA), said the demand for workers in Saudi Arabia was very high at this moment.
Vacuum has been created as a large number of workers returned to their home countries following the Coronavirus outbreak; besides, India and Pakistan cannot send workers to Saudi Arabia due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he explained.
So, the demand for Bangladeshi workers has increased in the oil-rich country, Haider added.
At this moment, he said, recruiters are dealing with a demand from Saudi Arabia for 80,000-90,000 workers.
"But we have no required supply as many aspirants are not willing to go to Saudi Arabia because of the negative impression," Haider mentioned.
Migrant rights activists said increasing the outflow of workers was a good piece of news for the jobless youth.
At the same time, the quality of migration has to be ensured; otherwise, workers will have to suffer in the destination countries, they warned.
Shakirul Islam, chairperson of the Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program (OKUP), said it should be prioritised that the quality of migration was ensured and the workers got due jobs.
Market analysis is essential before sending workers abroad, he said.
The demand for workers declined more or less in the traditional overseas job markets before the Covid-19 outbreak - the pandemic has just made it worse, he said.
If the workers are sent without valid jobs and visas, they will face a great trouble there, he warned.
The government should not send workers only because of increasing the number of employments, Islam observed.
He also criticised the government decision to send workers to the UAE through visit visas, as workers might fall in trouble there.
Contracted, Ahmed Munirus Saleheen, secretary at the Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry, said they had taken initiatives to explore new job markets as well as increase skill migration.
So, the outflow of quality migration will hopefully increase in the days to come, he said.
Meanwhile, remittance inflow registered 35 per cent growth during the July-March period of the current fiscal year (FY), 2020-21, compared to the corresponding period of previous FY.
During the first nine months of current FY, expatriates sent some US$18.603 billion to home, compared to $13.774 billion in the corresponding period of last FY, the central bank data revealed.
More than 13 million Bangladeshis went abroad with employments since 1976, mostly in the Middle East.
