Manpower export

Today, Bangladeshis can be found working in every continent except may be Antarctica. But as guest workers, their biggest concentration is in the

Middle East - Saudi Arabia being the largest provider of such jobs. The boom in the oil industry is the source of these jobs in the Middle East. Thus these jobs are expected to last as long as the oil boom lasts. The kind of jobs that Bangladeshis do in the Middle East and elsewhere as guest workers are mainly low- skilled contractual jobs. These workers must leave the host country when their contact expires. Therefore, these jobs would basically depend on the prosperity of the host countries. Nevertheless, these workers have become the main source of foreign exchange earnings for the country. In the year 2004, the country reportedly earned 3.3 billion dollars of foreign exchange from the remittances of Bangladeshis working abroad. This is quite a substantial amount of foreign exchange for Bangladesh. In fact, these remittances provided funds to fulfill most, if not all, of Bangladesh 's foreign exchange needs.

Although the remittances of these workers are the main source of the country's foreign exchange earnings, most of these workers have gone abroad through private initiative, rather than through government endeavours. In their attempts to go abroad, each year many people fall victim to various unscrupulous organisations whereby they stand to lose their families' last savings.

The government even fails to protect them from these criminals. Yet the lack of job opportunities at home continues to drive people abroad. Each year an increasing number of Banglades-his seek employment outside the country. Desperation always leads to desperate measures. There are

Bangladeshis who are known to have undertaken the most gruelling journey on foot via the Sahara desert or via Eastern Europe by hiding in extremely overheated trucks in the hope of reaching an industrialised country where they can find a job - just any job.

What has been the government policy on emigration? It is no secret that the

Bangladesh government does not have any coherent migration policy for channeling its people abroad. If it had any, the situation would surely be different today in that many more people would have gone and found work in other countries.