Saudi to Hire More Skilled Workers from Bangladesh
Dhaka said on Sunday that Saudi Arabia was keen on hiring more skilled workers from Bangladesh, following a Joint Economic Council meeting which concluded in the capital recently.
Last year Bangladesh sent around 400,000 workers to the Kingdom, according to data from the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training. Saudi Arabia is the largest labour market for Bangladeshi migrant workers, with 1.5 million employed in the Kingdom.
Bangladeshi semi-skilled and unskilled migrant workers spend on average around $3,500 to secure a job in the Kingdom. This figure can go up to $4,500 in some cases.
Remittances sent by Bangladeshi workers are the second-largest source of foreign currency for the Bangladesh government after those earned from exports of ready-made garments. Last year the remittances amounted to $18 billion, 60 percent of which were sent by the Bangladeshi workforce in Saudi Arabia.
