Job situation in Bangladesh worsens as foreign countries restrict taking Bangla labour
Economic crisis, especially inflation may pick up before coming February elections
By Ashis Biswas
To everyone’s surprise Bangladesh’s economy is doing none too badly, even as hard times continue to plague the interim Government led by Dr M Yunus. Nearly sixteen months after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government, despite occasional fluctuations, the country’s export earnings and remittances have remained steady overall. Major financial institutions including the International monetary fund and the World Bank have proved generally helpful to the Dr M. Yunus -led administration.
Dhaka-based analysts, including some doomsayers among them, naturally appreciate the good work done by Mr Yunus and his team. However, a general concern about future uncertainties, especially on account of unpredictable decisions taken by US President Donald Trump on world trade matters, remains as strong as ever. Following the recent imposition of new tariff on Bangladeshi goods, , which were somewhat reduced by the US after much high level lobbying and a public appeal by Bangladesh, the situation has improved marginally for the stopgap authorities.
Meanwhile the continuing inflation at around 10% in recent months, the highest in South Asia , together with the alarming erosion in the value of the BDT (Bangladeshi Taka) relative to the US dollar, hits exporters and common people alike. Worse, the consequences of these and other ‘negatives’ impact good governance and the morale of the people. There have been allegations that some Bangladeshi workers/labourers working abroad frequently use the illegal hundi’ route to send back home their money, to secure the higher black market value of the US dollar — currently one US dollar is exchanged for nearly 130 BDT.
Dhaka-based officials are also worried about the current, general anti migrant sentiment rising in various European countries, much of this being directly attributable to occasional outbreaks of ethnic violence involving attacks Muslim terrorists, no matter whether they are Bangladeshis or not. As the influence of right wing parties increase in Italy, Germany, Holland and Norway, governments/parties in the developed countries tend to deal with migrants in several ways that often remained unreported in the Western mainstream.
Some of these are, keeping decisions pending for long periods for work seeking migrants; in the US and elsewhere, increasingly authorities are allowing entry only for talented migrants with special abilities. The cost of their entry too, has been increased in the US recently.
But the majority of Bangladeshi migrants usually work as labourers at relatively low wages, not being in the skilled category.
However, the situation is not so bad for Bangladeshi migrants who seek work in West Asia or Indonesia and Malaysia. The Yunus-led .administration remains very alert in ensuring reasonable working conditions for migrants, through constant dialogue and monitoring of the conditions for Bangladeshis.
The biggest challenge for Bangladesh is its relative failure to create new jobs at home for thousands of jobseekers. Despite many rounds of talks and diplomatic efforts, foreign investments have dried up for the moment, the MOUs drawn up for specific projects in Bangladesh held up because of the coming elections next February.
But the deadlock developing over migration and related issues, adds to domestic political tensions. The unusually high inflation hurts everyone, naturally the well- off people are effectively insulated from immediate financial problems.
To give only a brief of the kind of rich vs poor social divide has developed in Bangladesh, statistics provided by a thorough study published in Bangladesh media provides an indication. According to research conducted by a private organisation specialists, in 2022, the percentage of people below the poverty line was18.7%, while the percentage of very poor people was 5.6%.
Now in 2025, these figures respectively are, 27.9 % and 9.3%! As for inflation, it was around 10% fir most of 2024, not to speak of 2025.
Clearly, the trends are ominous for the interim government and the new elected power wielders after February 2026 will inherit no bed of roses. (IPA Service)
