Half million Bangladeshis employed overseas in 2011

Dhaka - Over half a million Bangladeshis found overseas jobs in 2011 as the remittance-reliant country witnessed a boom in overseas employment after two dull years following  the economic recession, an official said.

A total of 568,062 Bangladeshis, including 54,550 in December, found overseas jobs in 2011, a rise of over 45 percent over last year, an official with the Bureau of Manpower Employment and  Training (BMET) told Xinhua.

Overseas jobs for Bangladeshis had fallen by nearly 18 percent to 390,000 in 2010.

Huge demand from some Middle-East countries including the United Arab Emirates (UAE) helped more Bangladeshi job aspirants to get overseas employment last year.

The UAE alone recruited 282,739 workers in infrastructure development and service sector.

Oman was the second largest destination for Bangladeshi workers. The oil-rich Gulf nation received 135,265 workers. Singapore received 48,667 workers while Lebanon recruited 19,169.

In 2009, Bangladesh suffered a blow when only 475,278 people found overseas jobs against a record of 875,000 in 2008.

According to data from the Bangladesh Bank, inflow of remittances witnessed 25.29 percent growth in December. The country received $1.147 billion, up by $238.43 million from $908.79  million in November of the current fiscal year.