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Employment Generation and the Future of Bangladesh Labor Sector: A CriticalStudy of the Role of Ministry Of Labor and Expatriates Welfare

Preamble

Bangladesh, a small country with a population of around, 128.1 million has innumerable

resources and opportunities. Managing the economy of Bangladesh does pose formidable

challenges, on a continuing basis, with problems carried over from the past years, and new

challenges emerging over the subsequent years. No one year is less challenging than the other.

Talking about the employment sector, each year about 18 lakh additional people join

Bangladesh's workforce. With an underemployment plus unemployment rate of 28.5 percent

already in the pipeline, creating job opportunities for these and also the new entrants to the job

market poses formidable challenge for Bangladesh. The challenging task of generating

employment in an environment such as the Bangladesh economy needs to be reviewed in

various aspects.

A Theoretical Framework of Employment Generation

. Every society has a host of human needs that are not being fully met, needs for greater

physical comfort, health, education, environmental safety, enjoyment, luxury, curiosity,

travel, etc. These unmet needs represent a huge untapped potential for employment

generation. Every society also has a vast reservoir of unutilized and underutilized resources in

terms of knowledge, skill, technology, information, organization, management expertise,money and values that can be harnessed to meet those needs.

Given the fact that employment is the primary means provided by society for individuals to

achieve and maintain economic security under current economic systems, societies are

necessarily obligated to ensure that the system provides opportunities for every citizen to

obtain gainful employment. Every nation has an obligation to guarantee access to gainful

employment to all its citizens. Employment should be made a constitutional right.

The number of jobs and the level of employment in any society is a function of the extent to

which the political-social-economic system is able to harness the available resources to meet

human needs. The level of employment generated is not fixed according to any universal laws

of economics. It depends on the implicit values and explicit policies on which the system is

based . Changing those values and policies changes the availability of employment. There is


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ample scope for increasing employment opportunities in every country through a judicious

application of policies.

In a country like Bangladesh, there are various sectors that avail job opportunities to its mass populace. Moreover Bangladesh offers a substantial manpower- skilled, unskilled, educated

and otherwise.

Agricultural sector

Agriculture is the single most important sector of Bangladesh's economy. 80% of the

population is engaged in agriculture (66% of the labor force). Fifty-seven percent of the labor

force is engaged in the crop sector which represents about 78% of the value added in theagricultural sector. The sector generates 63.2% percent of total national employment, of

which crop sectors share is nearly 55 %. The agriculture sector is the single largest contributor

to income and employment generation and a vital element in the countrys challenge to

achieve self-sufficiency in food production reduce rural poverty and foster sustainable

economic development.

RMG Sector

The apparel industry is a 400 billion dollar global industry Almost three million workers are

working in these garment factories, most of whom are women. The RMG sector provides jobs

for over five million people, including indirect employment. The size of the industry was

more than 12 billion US dollars which is almost 3% of the world market. Readymade

Garment (RMG) is the leading sector of Bangladesh in terms of employment, production and

foreign exchange earning

SME Sector

In 2003 there were approximately 6 million Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), whichincluded enterprises with up to 100 workers employing a total of 31 million people,

equivalent to 40 per cent of the population of the country of age 15 years and above. It is

reflected from this survey that enterprises employing 2-5 workers contribute 51 percent share

of the total SME contribution to the economy, followed by 26 percent by those having only


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one worker and 10 per cent by those having 6-10 workers. For LDCs like Bangladesh, SMEs

are a highly cost-effective route for industrial development.

Manpower export;

Bangladesh has a labour force of 70.86 million, and the supply of labour is more than thenumber of jobs available in the country. Even where jobs are available, the salary is very low

and not attractive to the job seekers. Besides, about 45% of the population lives below the

poverty line and the country must find a better way to utilise its labour force.

Against this backdrop, during the last 10-15 years millions of skilled and unskilled workers

from Bangladesh have migrated to a wide range of countries all over the world. In other

words, economic globalisation has opened the door for millions of Bangladeshi workers to

migrate outside the country in search of work.It is a well known fact that the existence of cheap labour has helped Bangladesh develop a

large garments sector that exported goods worth $9.3 billion in 2007 (UNDP). As compared

to this visible export, Bangladesh earned about $9.02 billion as remittances in 2008, which is

indeed from an "invisible export."

Currently, Bangladesh has about 6.9 million of its work force working abroad and sending

remittances.

Real Estate And Construction Sector

The real estate sector is at present creating employment for about 10 lakh people who are

directly or indirectly involved in the sector. According to the LFS, in 1999-2000, 2.1 per cent

of the labour force was engaged in construction whereas for 1995-1996 the figure was 1.8 per

cent. These figures include workers engaged in brick chipping and working in delivery trucks

to architects, engineers and entrepreneurs. Some 5,000 engineers and 6,000 management staff

are engaged in this sector.

E ducation sector


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The educational system in Bangladesh is three-tiered and highly subsidized. The government

of Bangladesh operates many schools in the primary, secondary, and higher secondary levels.

The three main educational systems in Bangladesh are: General Education System, Madrasah

Education System, and Technical - Vocational Education System. Other systems include aProfessional Education System. The total of employment opportunities availed as teachers are

around 1034567 all around Bangladesh.

Health sector

Since independence, Bangladesh has made significant progress in health outcomes. The

country has made important gains in providing primary health care and most of the health

indicators show steady gains and the health status of the population has improved.Bangladesh has 49994 registered physicians, 23729 registered nurses, 3481 registered

dentists, 645 registered homeopathy doctors, 158 unani doctors, 130ayurved doctors, 22253

registered midwives and 5000 trained skilled birth attendants. The World Health Report 2006

identified Bangladesh among 57 countries with a serious shortage of doctors, paramedics,

nurses and midwives.

Telecom Sector

The almost exponential growth in the Telecoms sector n Bangladesh in the last 5-10 years has

had the same transformative impact on Bangladesh's economy as the growth of Ready Made

Garments and Remittances.The telecom industry is among the largest contributors to growth,

accounting for approximately 6 percent of GDP. The booming mobile phone industry is

estimated to have created nearly 250,000 jobs throughout the country.

Light Engineering sector

In Bangladesh Light Engineering sector consists of different types of engineering enterprises,a great majority of which are small in size. Products produced by this sector include metal

products and electrical, electronic and electromechanical products. After Bangladesh became

independent in 1971, the labor force, working in the firms of non-Bengalis, initiated a number

of light engineering enterprises. Currently about 40,000 firms are generating employment for
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0.6 million people. There are about 1200 light engineering industries presently enlisted with

Bangladesh Small & Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC).

THE UNIVERSAL GENUINITY OF LABOR FORCE more from the mail

migration homes have been playing overseas land-man of thing for the

Bangladesh is a land of opportunity. Our country steps to the 21st century, it aims at

accelerated economic growth, human resource development and self-reliance. Central to all

the efforts to reach those targets will be poverty alleviation, rural development, involving

women in all national activities and creating a well-educated healthy nation to be able to face

up to the challenges of a fast moving technologically advanced global society. We have a lot

of people but nearly 45% of the people live below the poverty line. The population is huge inhere but in the most recent eras this no. of population is gradually started to convert in Skill

labor. This might helps to make the 45% figure to go down. Though the process has just

started, the need for law regarding the labor or worker arises. Moreover the demand of exact

definition of worker also arises in the mind of the different communities in Bangladesh. So

Bangladesh Labor Act 2006 introduced. This is the main law that deals with labor and

industry. The law deals with rights, duties, liabilities and the related sectors of the labor force

in Bangladesh.

In the Bangladesh Labor Act 2006 law there is no definition of labor but they stated the

definition of workers. So labor ultimately indicates the workers.

Worker:

Worker is a person who is

Appointed by directly/ indirectly

Permanently/ temporary basis

Either by employer or by the contract But it should not include any person who has in

managerial or administrative capacity. Any worker can claim his/her right.


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Types of Workers/ Labor:

In Bangladesh there are six (6) types of workers.

1. Apprentice

2. Temporary

3. Casual

4. Probationer

5. Permanent

6. Badli (transfer)

The workers also divided into three (3) different categories by the age :

1. Child worker (below 14 years)2. Adolescent worker (16 years of age in Bangladesh)

3. Adult worker ( more than 18 years of age)

In economics , the people in the labor force (or labor force ) are the suppliers of labor. The

labor force is all the nonmilitary people who are officially employed or unemployed. [1] In

2005, the worldwide labor force was over 3 billion people. [2]

Normally, the labor force of a country (or other geographic entity) consists of everyone of

working age (typically above a certain age (around 14 to 16) and below retirement (around

65) who are participating workers , that is people actively employed or seeking employment.

People not counted include students, retired people, stay-at-home parents, people in prisons or

similar institutions, people employed in jobs or professions with unreported income, as well

as discouraged workers who cannot find work. In the United States , the labor force is defined

as people 16 years old or older who are employed or looking for work. Child labor laws in the United States forbid employing people under 18 in hazardous jobs.

In the United States, the unemployment rate is estimated by a household survey called the

Current Population Survey, conducted monthly by the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. The

unemployment rate is calculated by dividing the number of unemployed persons by the size of
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economicshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_force#cite_note-0http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_force#cite_note-1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discouraged_workerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Stateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employmenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_labor_laws_in_the_United_Stateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_labor_laws_in_the_United_Stateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economicshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_force#cite_note-0http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_force#cite_note-1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discouraged_workerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Stateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employmenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_labor_laws_in_the_United_Stateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_labor_laws_in_the_United_States


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HISTORY OF DOMESTIC LABOR LAWS

The history of Bangladeshs labor law and industrial relations system is rooted in the

development of labor law and industrial relations generally in Colonial British India. The basis of the labor system is grounded in the evolution of the first labor law instituted by the

British, the Factories Act of 1881, which was initially implemented

a) To help protect British textile interests that feared competition by lower cost producers in

British India; and

b) In response to campaigners for social reform who were horrified at the conditions of

workers, particularly women and children, in Indian factories.

Part of the motivation underlying the passage of the original labor law legislation was hence

British protectionism. Textile manufacturers, primarily based in Manchester, sought to protect

their own industries from what they perceived to be unfair competition from Indian

manufacturing, primarily based in Bombay. It has been argued that this historical context of

protectionism informs both contemporary Indian and Bangladeshi attitudes towards

international attempts at reforming domestic labor law and practices.

Another key piece of legislation in the evolution of Bangladeshi labor law was the Trade

Union Act of 1926, which provided for trade union registration and for the presence of

multiple unions in the workplace. In 1965, the Pakistan government passed a revision of the

Factories Act, 1934, creating the Factories Act, 1965. Then in 1969, it promulgated the

Industrial Relations Ordinance, 1969, which consolidated several laws. Despite this

consolidation Bangladeshi labor law has, until recently, been constituted by a large number of

disparate laws and regulations regulating different aspects of labor law and industries. It was

not until the passage of the current labor law, the Bangladesh Labor Act 2006 (BLA 2006),

that many of these laws were consolidated. This represents a consolidation of approximately

26 Acts, 14 Ordinances, and 35 Rules. (USAID, The Labor Sector And U.S. Foreign

Assistance Goals Bangladesh Labor Sector Assessment,september 2008)

THE MINISTRY OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT


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The Ministry of Labor & Employment has taken the present shape and status through

different changes and development since independence considering the importance of

employment for socio-economic development and poverty alleviation.

The objective of the Ministry of Labor & Employment is to alleviate poverty through creatingemployment opportunities for the poor, unemployed and unskilled labor force of the country.

The functions of the Ministry of Labor & Employment are realized through the execution of

different activities, such as: Converting unskilled labor into semi-skilled and skilled labor through imparting

technical training; Creating congenial environment between employee and the employer to increase the

production of factories and industries; and Ensuring the welfare of labor through the formulation and implementation of labor

laws, labor wages, etc.

DEPARTMENTS UNDER MINISTRY OF LABOUR :

There are four departments under Ministry of Labour.

1. Directorate of Labor: The Department of Labor was established during the British

Indian Rule. Initially it was established to look into the welfare of Indian Immigrant Labor,

and was called the Department of Indian Immigrant Labor. Accordingly, in 1931 the

Department of Indian Immigrant Labor was transformed into the General Department of

Labor- the state agency responsible for ensuring welfare of both Indian Migrant Labour as

well as indigenous labor. Initially the head of the department was designated as

Commissioner of Labour, but in 1958 the head was re-designated as Director of Labour and

later the name of labour Commission office was changed to the Department of labour. Since

then the Department of labour has been functioning and endeavoring continuously for facilitation effective labour management relations, collective bargaining and negotiation and

ensure prompt and efficient settlement of labour disputes in the industrial sectors of

Bangladesh. (source: Website of Ministry of Labour)


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2. Chief Inspector of Factory and Establishment: Prior to 1970, the work of inspection of

factories and establishments was being looked after by then Directorate of Labor: the Director

of Labor used to be the ex officio Chief Inspector.

The labor inspection service was set up in the later part of the nineteenth century for enforcement of laws on the safety and health of workers and conditions of

employment of women and children. Circumstances have changed tremendously since then

and this has also brought about a change in thinking. An inspection service is no longer

considered a mere enforcement agency. It is also expected to provide information and

advice to employers and workers concerning the most effective means of complying

with the legal provisions. Additionally, it must keep the Government informed of new

technology. Article 3 of ILO convention No. 81 concerning Labor Inspection in Industry andCommerce states that the functions of the system of labour inspection shall be:

(a) to secure the enforcement of the legal provisions relating to conditions of work

and the protection of orders while engaged in their work, such as provisions relating

to hours, wages, safety, health and welfare, the employment of children and young

persons, and other connected matters, insofar as such provisions are enforceable by

Labour inspectors;

(b) to supply technical information and advice to employers and workers concerning

the most effective means of complying with the legal provisions;

(c) to bring to the notice of the competent authority defects or abuses not specifically

covered by existing legal provisions.

3. Minimum Wages Board: The Minimum Wages Board is a department under the Ministry

of Labour and employment and works on the people of the country who are working in the

certain private owned industrial undertakings and fix the minimum rates of wages of the

worker. The mission of minimum wages board is to recommend minimum wages of the

worker of the different private sector under direction of the Government. By fixing minimumwages Minimum Wages Board try to uproot labour unrest from the different industries and

maintain good industrial relations. The Vision of Minimum Wages Board is to fix minimum

wages of the different private sector more and more. By this way labour unrest will be


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removed and industry will be summing peacefully without disturbance which will be leads the

country to the economic development.

Formation of the Minimum Wages Board :- Minimum Wages Board consisting of

the following four members to be appointed by the Government, namely(a) The Chairman of the Board;

(b) One independent member;

(c) One member to represent the employers; and

(d) One member to represent the workers;

Provided that for the purpose of discharging the function of the Board the following

two more members appointed by the Government shall be added, namely-

(i) One member to represent the employers connected with the industry concerned; and(ii) One member to represent the workers engaged in such industry.

Function of the Minimum Wages Board : Minimum Wages Board is functioning on the

guidelines stated in the Bangladesh Labour Law, 2006 and the Rules stated in the Minimum

Wages Rules,1961. The Board made the recommendation of minimum rates of wages of

workers in certain industrial undertaking referred by the Government. The Government by

notification in the official Gazette nominates the employer and employee member of the

concerned industrial sector and gives direction to the Minimum Wages Board to fix minimum

wages to these industrial sectors. After getting this direction, the Minimum Wages Board

starts its works to fix minimum wages. The Minimum Wages Board before making its

recommendation considers the condition of the industries, nature of works of the worker,

economic and social condition, paying capacity of the employer, profit and loss of the

industries etc. where the Board made a recommendation then published it in official Gazette

and request every one to file objections or make suggestions in writing with supporting data

within 14 days from the date of publication. The Board may make recommendations to

the Government after considering any objection and suggestion of the original proposals. If itis accepted by the Government than official Gazette becomes law of the country.

4. Labour Appeal Tribunal:- Labour appellate Tribunal along with seven other Labour

Courts is a special Judicial organ under Ministry of Labour and Employment. The main

function of the organ is to provide justice to the workers and employers of Bangladesh.


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Mission: To provide justice to the aggrieved workers and employers.

Vision: To settle the disputes arising out of labour related matters following the Bangladesh

Labour law 2006 within a shortest time.

ROLE OF MINISTRY OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT

Ministry of Labour and employment plays significant role in generating labour employment

in Bangladesh. It takes different projects to increase the employment rate and maintain the

satisfaction level of existing labour.

Domestic workers have their demand abroad. Therefore, it is duty of Ministry of Labour

to help them for building their capacity so that they can work well abroad. . If they are notsent abroad legally, they might be trafficked illegally

This ministry has fixed the working hour for labours. For adult working hour is decided

on the basis of 3 criteria- Daily basis, weekly basis and yearly basis.

Ministry of Labour tries provides stipend to workers. This ministry has taken stipend

programmes for trainees of BIMT and Technical training center.

It has taken a project for promotion of Reproductive Health, Gender Equality and

Women's Empowerment in the Garment Sector's.

Extreme forms of poverty play a crucial role. Child labour is part of a vicious cycle,

with poverty as a main cause as well as a main consequence. This implies that child labour

cannot be addressed in isolation. This ministry puts some restrictions on child labour to

reduce the destructive impact of child labour. ( World Journal of Management Volume 2.

Number 2. September 2010. Pp. 80 94, Ruba Rummana, **Md.Iqbal Bahar Chowdhury and

***Rumana Rashid)

Ensuring the working environment is very much important. So Ministry of Labour and

Employment impose some regulation on the factory owners to maintain the good workingenvironment and ensure the health condition of the workers. If the job pattern, itself is very

dangerous then proper cautionary steps should be taken by the factory owners. One of

proposed project of this ministry is- Project on Maintain health & safety of Industrial workers

and awareness build up training of labour law, 2006.


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This ministry takes some strategic plan to reduce the labour unrest all over the country.

One role of this ministry is to protect workers from exploitation. It also decides the

minimum amount of wages for workers in garment sector.

Problems/ Backdrops regarding the role of the ministry of Labor and Employment:

All of Statistics related to the Bangladesh labor market, labor force, labor and

employments are unreliable because of a large, informal, unreported market.

Although 1.8 million out of the five million workers in the formal sector of the

economy were unionized, this represented only a small fraction of the economically active population.

Most unions (trade unions and other middle man) are affiliated with political parties.

Strikes are a common form of workers protest. There are industrial tribunals to settle labor

disputes. Unions have become progressively more aggressive in asserting themselves,

especially on the political scene.

The legal workweek is 48 hours, with one day off mandated. This law is rarely

enforced, especially in the garment industry.

Children under the age of 14 are prohibited by law to work in factories but may work

(under restricted hours) in other industries. However, such restrictions are rarely enforced and

children work in every sector of the economy.

In 2002, the government estimated that 6.6 million children between the ages of five

and 14 years were engaged in all types of employment activities, many that were harmful to

their well-being. This is end of the 2010, the question is, is the estimation is only for the

purpose to estimate? Or they should take some steps? If so then why they are silent till now?


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In Bangladesh, around 2.5 million people mostly women - are employed in the

garment industry, which is the country's largest export sector and main foreign-cash earner.

The Bangladeshi Ministry of Commerce estimates that currently one-fourth of Bangladesh

garment factories don't even comply with mandatory standards on pay, working hours and

conditions. According to local unions and labour-rights organizations the levels of non

compliance are much higher.

According to a report by the Bangladeshi labour-rights NGO Alternative Movement for

Resources and Freedom (AMRF) Society, seventy-two incidents of labour unrest took place

in the first six months of 2010, leaving at least 988 workers injured by police actions. 45

workers have been arrested.This is the picture of the employees dissatisfaction. Because of the wage fixing problem a lot

of social and political problems arises. But that should not be as it harms our society and

country.

The National Wage Board recommended an increase of the minimum wage to 3000

Bangladeshi 'taka' (27). Garment-workers unions and labour-rights organizations have

reacted with indignation and disappointment at the newly-proposed increase to the minimum

wage in Bangladesh' garment industry. Labor activists reject minimum wage proposal. This

increase isn't sufficient to support the basic needs of the garment workers and their families,

and doesn't cover the huge increase in living costs of the recent years. Most of these workers

are the sole source of income for their families, and 1 a day is far below what a family of

three, four or five need to survive. Unions also point out that during the current presidency in

Bangladesh; five other minimum wages have been set in other industrial sectors, none of them

below 4200 taka.

But Labor unrest has been on the increase all over Asia, typically in the countries which

have major garment exports. The last months have seen protests against wages and labor

conditions, with major strikes, demonstrations and protest marches in China, the Philippines,

Thailand, Pakistan, Cambodia, Burma (Myanmar), Sri Lanka and India.


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ILO says Bangladesh faces new job burden as industrial sector faces gloom,

Bangladesh is expected to employ only 0.4 million new workers this fiscal as the country's

industrial sector faces uncertainty amid one of the worst global recessions in modern history,

said the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

But the Geneva-based UN agency has said that a slowdown in manpower exports means the

domestic labour market would require creating jobs for an additional 0.3 million people a

year.The bulk of workers would be absorbed in agriculture and service sectors, but the ILO

report said, "The concern is a large part of this newly absorbed labour force in the agriculture

sector would work at less than optimal level, increasing underemployment in the field.

The maternity leave policy available to women in Bangladesh is 12 weeks which is paid

at 100%. But, currently ILO suggests minimum 14 weeks maternity leave. However,

interestingly enough, there are no specific laws that exist for management level (women)

workers. The law that exists Bangladesh Srom Ain, 2006 or The Bangladesh Labour Act,

2006 given in Chapter IV called Maternity Benefit, refers to workers that do manual work

mainly in factories, etc. In fact the definition of worker given in Bangladesh Labour Act,

2006, Chapter I, Section 2 (Lxv) is any person including an apprentice employed in any

establishment or industry, either directly or through a contractor, to do any skilled, unskilled,

manual, technical, trade promotional or clerical work for hire or reward, whether the terms of

employment be expressed or implied, but does not include a person employed mainly in a

managerial or administrative capacity.\

Termination of Service of Workers: A worker, whatever be his .length of service, may

be terminated by his employer at any time withoutany reason whatsoever on service of noticefor. a certain period orpayment In lieu thereof and payment of compensation @ 30 days

wagesfor every completed year of service. This is Inhuman and against the human rights.

When there Is provision for dismissal in case of commission of any offence or miS COnduct,

the provision for termination depending on the liking or disliking of an employer Is not

desirable.
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Non-fixation of age of retirement: Industrial workers in our country do not retire on

the ground of superannuation. Provisions for retirement fixing an age limit. For the same and

payment of gratuity or other benefit need be made.

Loss of Lien of Workers : There is a provision In section 5 (3) of the Employment of

Labour (standing orders) Act, 1965 that a worker will lose his lien to his appointment on his

failure to return within 10 days of expiry of his leave. This Is redundant. When there Is

provision in section 17 of the Act that absence without leave for more than 10 days is a

misconduct and a worker In such case may be dismissed or otherwise dealt with and adismissed worker gets some compensation for past service and a proceeding is to be drawn

up, it does not stand to reason that If there was such absence after leave was once taken, there

should be automatic termination of service.

SUGGESTED MEASURES FOR THE FUTURE LABOR FORCE TO GET RID OF

THE MENTIONED BACKDROPS:

Labor is the main driving force of the economy of Bangladesh. Unfortunately they are also

the most neglected community. Much has been talked about for their welfare. But little has

been done.

The backdrops of the role of ministry of labor and employment reflect a dark prospect to the

future Labor force of Bangladesh. But we have tried to give some suggestion regarding the

expected role of the ministry and also the way they can make a strong labor force in the future

with a updated labor market. This is very important for our economical well being and also

for the development in the labor market. Government can play a vital role for the

development of labor and Ministry of Labour also should take some steps to improve thecurrent situation of labour.


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The government can impose labor settlements through arbitration , as well as by

declaring a strike illegal.

INADEQUACY OF LABOUR LAW - Our labor code, though contains a corpus of

labor legislation, is not adequate to meet the modem problems especially in the present socio-

economic condition. So the more detailed and specific laws should be written.

Service book is an important fact. The ministry of labor and employment should

make and take proper steps for the implementation of the book.

The minimum wage policy of the garments workers should be concerned more and the

ministry of labor and employment should held more and more meeting, discussion with theOwners, businessmen, labors and CBA and also with the experts for creating a WIN-

WIN situation.

The private sectors are avoiding the rights of the employees most of the time. The

ministry of labor and employment should take control over the private sectors or make a

law that if they break the rule the company should give compensation.

Most of the time the labors are unaware of their rights and the misunderstanding arises

between Owners and labors. So the ministry of labor and employment should encourage both

of the party so that a WIN-WIN situation can create.

Youth Development Center and the training of those centers should be strong and

increased. The ministry of labor and employment should encourage the program and should

be involved in those programs more.

Success Story of Sagorika Bhadra

Sagorika Bhadra hails from Faridpur. Her family consists of her husband and two children.

Two children are in engaged in studies. However, she could not manage her family well

with the small income of her husbands earnings. After Knowing the success in self-

employment from some of her relatives who received training from Youth Development

Center of Faridpur, she decided to do a six-month training in block boutique. Then she had

a consultation with her husband and he gave consent to her for doing the training. After

graduating from the training, she took a loan of TK. 25,000 from the Center and she


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established a training center herself. Now she has 6 trainees in the center and she earns

Tk.10,000 a month.

(Source: Youth Department, 2001)

Improving the Labor Market through Skills Development in Bangladesh

Skills development can be broadly divided into two areas:

o education and pre-employment training;

o and employment retraining and skill upgrading.

The ministry should emphasize these two areas and that will boost up the supremacy of

Bangladesh labor market.

Skills development programs can be generally designed by governments and delivered by

the ministry to both the public and private sectors.

So the ministry of labor and employment should give proper stimulus to the government and

should take the responsibility to deliver and implement.

In order to develop the skills he ministry of labor and employment should pick these three

points and should strengthen the process by

1. Improve the curriculum of the program

2. Encourage the private sectors

3. Involve more the students.

The permanent Vs temporary labor policy should be revised . After how many

months the employee can be fixed that should be strictly maintained. Most of the firm does

not follow the rule. A service worker gets the permanent seal after 8 months of his/ her

appointment. Is it logical?

Provision for Closing down of Establishments: The wordings relating to stoppage

of work are ambiguous and misleading; these need be explained in simple manner, further

provision in this section for permanently closing down of shops, commercial and industrial

establishment may be made with permission from the labor Court or other appropriate

authority and payment of adequate service benefit to the workers.


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Government should help labours through appropriate budgetary allocation. And

Ministry of Labour and Employment should ensure the utilization of this budgetary allocation.

National budget of Bangladesh is the most influential instrument in the hand of the

Government through which labours potential can be reaped the best. ( World Journal of

Management Volume 2. Number 2. September 2010. Pp. 80 94, Ruba Rummana,

**Md.Iqbal Bahar Chowdhury and ***Rumana Rashid)

Another strategic approach could be to harness the pre-existing strengths of the labor

courts. The labor courts appear to be reasonably well-functioning, albeit highly under-

resourced and backlogged. A number of NGOs have been actively using the courts to achieveindividual restitution for labor law violations. If the labor courts and the legal practice already

have earned some degree of respect from stakeholders, it could make sense to leverage this

and further develop the capacity of the labor court institutions. An increasing number of

employers and plaintiffs are agreeing to negotiate out of court settlements. Further

development and training in out of court settlement, as well as mediation, conciliation, and

arbitration, could be a beneficial use of resources.

Ministry of Labour and employment should encourage women in leadership position to

make unions more representative.

There is provision for appointment letters, identity cards, and for maintenance of a

service book and labor register in every company. But most of the companies do not follow

the service book. Ministry of Labour should ensure the use of service and labour register book

in every company.

In Bangladesh, the person who is below 14 years old is considered as a child. According

to Children Act- 1974, there is separate court for children (Juvenin court) and children can not

keep with adult prisoners. Children should keep away from those activities which are

hazardous for them. But very few companies follow this rule. In our country children are

employed in various dangerous works. The ministry of Labour should monitor the companies

where child labour exists and ministry also ensure that children should not engage in any


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works which is harmful for the. If any employer forces any child to do so then they should be

punished.

In RMG sector minimum wage rate is fixed for every worker. Bur they are not provided

the right amount of wages at right time. This ministry should monitor that whether the

workers are paid properly or they are cheated by employers.

MINISTRY OF EXPATRIATES WELFARE AND OVERSEAS

EMPLOYMENT


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The main objective of this Ministry is to ensure the welfare of expatriate workers and to

increase overseas employment. The Ministry has been rendering ceaseless efforts in

enhancing the flow of remittance and to provide equal opportunity for the people of all areas

of the country for overseas employment and ensuring overall welfare of the migrant workers.Since the ministry is very new and its units/divisions are very few, Bureau of Manpower,

Employment & Training (BMET) is it only and active unit. Bangladesh is one of the leading

overseas labor-sending countries of the world. By establishing the Bureau of Manpower,

Employment and Training (BMET) under the then Labor Ministry, the country initiated its

activities to govern migration as early as 1976. Earlier this division was under direct control

of Ministry of Labor and Welfare. Now, the division is operating under the Ministry of

Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment. The 1922 Emigration Act was replacedwith the 1982 Emigration Ordinance.

The objective of this division is to create new overseas employment opportunities throughout

the global market. BMET ensures the welfare for the overseas employees and directly help

them for searching works to the various countries of the world. BMET also collects labor

market related information to take the government decision. This division helps unemployed

people to be self-employed and to implement the poverty alleviation programs. BMET

develops and designs new policies and procedures to monitor the functions of recruiting

agencies. The ultimate target of BMET is to increase the overseas employment, ensure

welfare for overseas employees, helps them to get compensation from overseas employer,

compensate them in case of death, illness, or any sort of problem in overseas. Moreover,

BMET helps to ensure the remittance inflow to boost up the economy of the country.

As a pledge to the people of Bangladesh to streamline the sector of overseas job placement of

our teeming and invaluable human resources, Bangladesh Govt. has established theministry of Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment on 20 December 2001.

CURRENT STRUCTURE


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Currently the ministry has one secretary, one joint secretary and two deputy secretaries to

perform its regular functions. The current staffing is not adequate to govern and

manage the migration sector. The desks of the ministry is organised along

alphabetical order of recruiting agencies. This does not match the functions thatthe ministry has to perform in managing migrantion.

IMPACT OF GLOBALIZATION

In the context of globalization, the biggest comparative advantage of Bangladesh is its huge

and cheap labor force. As the process of globalization has increased the connectivity and

interdependence of the world's markets and businesses, it has similarly increased migration of

workers from one country to another. This is indeed an opportunity for Bangladesh to

systematically promote migration of its surplus workforce.

OVERSEAS RELATIONSHIP

This migration of Bangladeshi skilled and unskilled workers for overseas employment has

been significantly influenced by globalization. Statistical data from the Bangladesh Bureau of

Manpower and Training (BMET, 2008) shows that since 1976 until 1990 Bangladesh used to

export skilled and unskilled workers only to a limited number of Muslim counties (except

Singapore), especially with whom it had good relations, such as Saudi Arabia, U.A.E, Kuwait,

Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Libya, Malaysia and Singapore. At that time the number of peopleworking outside the country was about 103,000.

MISSION STATEMENT AND MAJOR FUNCTIONS

1.1 Mission Statement

To consolidate the process of overall socio-economic development of the country by creating

skilled labor force through providing appropriate trainings based on demand in the global


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labor markets, enhancing inflow of remittance by increasing overseas employment and

ensuring welfare and rights of expatriates.

1.2 Major Functions

(a) To contribute the socio-economic development of the country through overseasemployment;

(b) To ensure the overall welfare of the expatriates and protecting their rights;

(c) To expand the existing and to explore new labor markets;

(d) To assess demand of overseas labor markets and accordingly to implement training

schemes to create skilled labor force ;

(e) To issue/renew recruiting agency license and conduct all activities related to overseas

employment;(f) To provide the deceased and the endangered expatriates with financial and administrative

assistance from the Wage Earners Welfare Fund ;

(g) To sign contracts on training and employment with international organizations concerned

with migration, government of other countries and organizations;

(h) To extend special civil benefits to the expatriates and to select Commercially Important

Persons (CIP) from the NRBs; and

(i) Administration of the subordinate offices under the Ministry and administration of Labor

Wings in Bangladesh Missions abroad including appointment/transfer of officers.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE MINISTRY

To create and ensure regulatory framework for bringing transparency, accountability

and proper monitoring among all stakeholders in this sector;

To promote manpower export sector by facilitating capacity building at both

government and private sector level;

To work with other governments and international bodies for easing mobility of labor

both as a factor of production and as a tool to alleviate poverty that will create greater

harmony and cohesion among global community;


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To undertake and facilitate all sorts of welfare activities for promotion of interface of

Bangladeshi expatriates and Diaspora population with people and government of the home

country.

THE ROLE OF THE MINISTRY IN EMPLOYMENT GENERATION

Starting in 1976 in a regular way, the manpower export sector has blossomed immensely both

in dimension and complexities requiring a well orchestrated regulatory framework and

promotional activities. Ever-increasing remittances from expatriates have already occupied

the role as the foundation of the countrys economy, making this sector the prime

development agenda. With growing expatriates and Diaspora overseas, the need for interfaceof them with home country is becoming more and more important. At the same time the

scenario of global job market is changing with increasing emphasis on skill and ease in

communication as defining factor. This particular ministry has played a significant role in

helping the expatriates in getting a job abroad.

Basically, many people think that living and working in another country other than their own

must be hard, but when this sacrifice is remunerated with a financial security, it becomes

worth its while.

The Ministry of Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment (MoEWOE) is the

nodal ministry for labor migration. It has some major functions: To ensure expatriate worker welfare To create and manage overseas employment of Bangladeshis.

It is responsible for facilitating the recruitment process,

It is also responsible for regulating the recruiting agencies and It also maintains regular contact with the labor wings of foreign missions.

The Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) is the Ministry of

Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment (MoEWOEs) oldest entity. It is


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responsible for providing employment opportunities, at home and abroad, as well as for

human resource development.

It conducts a range of activities, including:

The collection and dissemination of labor market information Maintaining an online database of all job seekers who register. Processing foreign demands for workers, Monitoring the activities of local regulating agencies, Designing and developing tools for effective monitoring and Conducts need-based worker training programmes.

According to BMET, when Bangladesh first started sending workers abroad officially in1976, the government was directly involved in the process. But when the number of such

migrants gradually increased, the government totally depended on private recruiting agencies

since early 1980s, and limited its role to regulating the functions of the private agencies.

According to BMET, the number of Bangladeshis gone abroad for jobs was 8.32 lakh in

2007, 8.75 lakh in 2008, and 4.75 lakh in 2009. In the first four months of this year the

number was 1, 34,787.

INITIATIVE MUSTERED FOR THE FEMALE EXPATRIATES

But now when the government has decided to send manpower abroad through its own

arrangement again, the recruiting agencies have become its critic. BMET, as a regulatory

body, strongly enforces rules to check malpractices instead. BMET, a wing of MOEWE

generated employment even for the female workers. Female migration policy was also

changed in 2003 creating scope for regular migration of unskilled and semi-skilled women.

In case of sending expatriates, BMET will send trained female domestic helps for only Tk

20,000," BMET will select jobseekers involving district deputy commissioners, and upazilalevel public representatives. Finally, when this pilot project will prove to be successful, the

male workers will be sent.

INITIATIVE AVAILED FOR THE CHILDREN EXPATRIATES


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The government is likely to take a decision to give scope for the expatriates ' children to study

in the country's reputed educational institutions, sources said.

To this effect, 'expatriate quota' will be introduced to the renowned schools and colleges soon,

giving a wider scope to the expatriates children to study in those famous educationalinstitutions as per their merits and qualities, they said.

If the planned 'quota' system is introduced then it will give a wider scope to the expatriates '

children to get admission into famous and leading schools and colleges.

Bangladesh is one of the leading overseas labor-sending countries of the world. By

establishing the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) under the then

Labour Ministry, the country initiated its activities to govern migration as early as 1976. The1922 Emigration Act was replaced with the 1982 Emigration Ordinance.

INITIATIVES ADDRESSING MIGRATING ISSUES

A series of initiatives were taken by the ministry during the course of addressing migration

issues, including: Establishing a separate ministry to govern migration in 2001, Framing the Overseas Employment Policy in 2006, Amending female migration policy, and Decentralizing BMET functions through increased number of District Employment and

Manpower Offices (Demo).

In addition, major changes have also taken place in the area of remittance governance.

The Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment has formed five delegations

for visit to at least 17 countries in Europe, Australia, East Asia and Africa to search for

employment opportunities, officials say . (Porimol Palma; 2010). According to Expatriates' Welfare Secretary Dr Zafar Ahmed Khan, this aggressive plan has been initiated because

quotas for Bangladeshi workers in some Middle East countries are reaching the end.

( Porimol Palma;2010)


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POTENTIAL LABOR DESTINATIONS

The countries listed as potential labour destinations include Japan, China, Hong Kong,

Taiwan, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Botswana,

Zimbabwe, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Poland. The initiative came when boththe overseas job and growth of inward remittance from the Bangladeshi expatriates witnessed

a decline.

This ministry has actually initiated the workers overseas work permit. Bangladeshi labors

were sent abroad in the countenance of earning more money, and sending remittance back to

their own country. Though there are malpractices and corruption in the ministry of Expatriates

Welfare and Overseas employment, the ministry still is concerned about the future of the

labor sector. The most recent global financial crisis has forced the government to take variousmeasures in order to protect the labor market.

TURNING CRISIS INTO OPPORTUNITY

Migration has become extremely competitive and complex. The recent financial crisis deeply

affected Bangladeshs global labor market. Since the crisis the government has taken various

measures to protect its labor markets. The honorable Prime Minister of Bangladesh personally

visited Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Singapore and advocated for recruitment of our

workers and protection of their rights. Concerned governments have made commitments to

help Bangladesh to maintain its labor markets. Nonetheless, in 2009 and in the first half of

2010 Bangladesh is experiencing downward trends in labor migration. 1 Compared to 2007 and

2008 the figure has almost come down to half. Saudi Arabia used to take more than half of

our workers. Now it has come down to two percent. After the recession Malaysia started

taking workers. Instead of Bangladesh it has taken Nepali and Sri Lankan male workers

replacing Bangladeshis. In 2009, fifty six percent of our total workers went to one city of

UAE. If for any reason we lose that market then number of Bangladeshi migrants will reducealarmingly. Over the successive years, downturn in number of migrant will be reflected in

downward remittance flow. Practical experiences of the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Cambodia,

and Vietnam showed that major infrastructural capacity has to be developed to absorb such

external shocks, and to protect the countrys position in global labour market.


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Facilitation and Regulation of Recruitment for Overseas Employment

Rights and Welfare

Labour Attache Management

Long term Bangladeshi Affairs

Policy and Research

2. The functions of these five departments would be:

Regulation and Recruitment: The department will guide and supervise the recruitment

facilitation functions of BMET and set rules under the BOEP and the Emigration Ordinance

for continuously adapt with changes occurring in global and migration context. It will also

monitor the performance of BOESL. Rights and Welfare : the department will be liable to guide and coordinate the

functions of the rights and welfare directorate. It will frame the guideline for the directorate

to define services which would come under the rights and welfare.

Department of Labour Attache will recruit, train, promote, deploy and manage the

labour attaches. It will give necessary guidelines and directions to the labour wings abroad.

Department of Policy and Research: This department will set necessary policy reform

and research agenda, suggest amendment on Overseas Employment Policy 2006 andemigration ordinance 1982, guide BMET in collecting market information, prepare model

MoUs and bilateral agreements to be pursued by Expatriate and Foreign ministry

RECOMMENDATIONS AVAILED FOR THE MINISTRY OF EXPATRIATES

WELFARE

1) The Ministry of Expatriates Welfare and Overseas employment must try and strengthen

its employment services for securing a vigorous labor sector.


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2) BMET Instead of two should have five separate wings -- (a) Immigration, (b) Research

and promotion, (c) Regulation of recruiting agencies, (d) Complaints and recovery and (e)

Training.

3) There must be a co-ordination in between the policy making and policy implementation.

4) The communication gap between countries needs to be reduced by the ministry by

sending expatriates.

5) Remittance being sent by migrant workers needs to be utilized in different productive

sectors, so it can contribute to employment generation and boost the country's economy.

6) Ministers of various countries must be urged by the ministry of Expatriates Welfare to

pay the salary of Bangladeshi workers on time.

7) The ministry must initiate some sort of training for workers with different skill levels.8) The ministry must create skilled labor force with technical knowledge through

vocational trainings on different trades (such asmarine technology, electronics, information

technology, welding etc.)as per demand of overseas labor market to enhance overseas

employment.

9) Female workers need to be trained as per demand of overseas labor markets.

10) Overseas employment need to be increased by exploring new labor markets and

expanding existing ones.

11) Collection, preservation and analysis of information and statistics should be done on

possible labor markets.

12) Attestation of employment capacity of the overseas firms demanding Bangladeshi

workers and ensuring Bangladeshi workers benefits including pay and allowances according

to the concerned overseas laws and standards.

13) Promoting Bangladeshi culture abroad, assisting expatriates in providing education to

their children.

14) Expatriates need to be encouraged to send remittance through legal channels.

Conclusion:


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Reference:

1) World Journal of Management Volume 2. Number 2. September 2010. Pp. 80 94, Ruba

Rummana, **Md.Iqbal Bahar Chowdhury and ***Rumana Rashid)


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2) USAID, The Labor Sector And U.S. Foreign Assistance Goals Bangladesh Labor Sector

Assessment,september 2008)

3) Tasneem Siddique.2010.Revving up BMET. The daily Star; September 08

4) Professor Mustafizur Rahman.2010 . Steering the economy in 2010.The Daily Star; February 24

5) Rizwanul Islam. 2010. It's all about jobs. The Daily Star; May 30

6) Sayeed Arman. 2010. MDGs: Challenges for Bangladesh. The Daily star; October 28

7) Maitreyi Bordia Das and Xian Zhu.2010. Encouraging women's employment in Bangladesh.

The daily star; April 10

8) Porimol Palma.2010. Manpower stays out in the cold. The Daily star; January 06

9) http://rmmru.org/homepagefiles/Sixth_Five_Year_Plan/Targeting%20Good

%20Governance%20Incorporation%20of%20Migration%20in%20The%206th%20Five

%20Year%20Plan.pdf.

Article on : Bangladesh The Employment Generation Program for the Poorest Project

WASHINGTON, November 30, 201010) http://web.worldbank.org

11) PRESS RELEASE on Bangladesh: Labor activists reject minimum wage proposal

12) Website of Ministry of Labor and Employment

13) Website of Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment

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bus law done finally

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