‘Skills passport’ for migrant workers

Useful certification: Workers unloading construction materials from a cargo ship in Dhaka. Without any formal recognition of their skills or experience acquired overseas, Bangladeshi workers are not able to get good jobs when they return home. — AFP

DURING the early months of the Covid-19 global pandemic, almost 400,000 migrant workers were forced to return home to Bangladesh, not knowing when the crisis would end or when they would return to their jobs.

Each year, millions of Bangladeshi men and women travel afar to work as masons, plumbers, carpenters, drivers, gardeners, cleaners and vendors. Almost all leave these shores without any formal recognition of their skills or experience. To make matters worse, they return home, as many did in April/May of 2020, without any further recognition of the considerable skills and experiences acquired overseas. This not only leaves them unable to get good jobs in Bangladesh, but also leaves Bangladesh unable to capitalise on this pool of skilled human capital.