Bangladesh sees rise in migration of unskilled labour in 2022: Report

News Desk :
Bangladesh has witnessed an increase in migration of less skilled labour in 2022 after the country already sent abroad a record number of 10.29 lakh workers till November, according to a report by the Refugee and Migratory Movement Research Unit (RMMRU).
If the current flow continues till 31 December, the migration rate will be 81.88% higher than the previous year (6.17 lakh), the report added.
The organisation published the annual report titled “Labour Migration from Bangladesh 2022: Achievements and Challenges”, citing data from the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) on Thursday (29 December) at the National Press Club.
The research organisation forecasted that remittances will decrease by 3.17% in 2022 compared to last year, if the current trend continues.
In such a situation, the pioneer think-tank of the immigration sector made various recommendations including introducing a 10% incentive on remittance for remitters and restoring their confidence in the banking sector to increase the flow of remittances.
The migration rate of less skilled labour, widely referred to as unskilled labour, has increased to 78.64% till November this year from 75.24% last year, according to the report.
While experts were discussing better prospects of increasing the flow of remittance in the country by sending more skilled workers abroad, a stark decline in the number has been observed over the last few years. In 2021, 21.33% of skilled workers migrated, and now it has come down to 17.76% in 2022, says the report.
However, there has been no significant change in the number of semi-skilled workers migrating abroad. About 3.26% of semi-skilled workers immigrated in 2022, which was 3.28% in 2021.
The rate of Bangladeshis migrating under the “professional category” is comparatively lower among three other categorier- skilled, semi-skilled and less-skilled (unskilled).
Although, the rate has slightly increased in 2022 as of 21 December compared to last year.
In 2021, about 0.14% of professional workers migrated. As of 21 December 2022, 0.33% of international migrants fall under this category.