Bangladesh Defense Forum
Foreign workers headcount to begin
Staff Correspondent 10 November, 2024, 00:50
The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics is going to begin the economic census next month and one of the major aims of the census is, for the first time, to determine the number of foreign workers in the country.
The number of foreign workers is the most demanded information nowadays, additional secretary (Informatics) SM Shakil Akhter of the Statistics and Information Division told New Age on Saturday.
The actual number of foreign workers in the country, however, is not known by any government agencies.
On June 2023, the then home minister Asaduzzaman Khan told Jatiya Sangsad that about 20,000 foreign nationals from 115 countries were working in Bangladesh with work permits and visas.
Among them, 1,750 were Chinese while 5,876 Indians, 2,468 Russians, 1,246 Sri Lankans, 924 South Koreans, 557 Japanese, 416 Pakistanis, 460 Filipinos, 399 Thais, 378 Belarusians, 269 Kazakhs, 168 Americans, 139 Koreans, 123 Malaysians and 108 were Indonesians.
A major responsibility of the statistics division is to deliver actual data on demanded issues, said SM Shakil, also the project director of the Economic Census 2023.
He said that the actual number of foreign workers would be known after the census.
Answering to a question how they will determine the information on foreign workers to be given by economic establishments correct, SM Shakil said that they would also collect data from the human resources wing of business establishments.
He said that this would be done to verify the information.
BBS officials said that a total of 65 questions would be asked to 1.22 crore economic establishments throughout the country during the field-level survey that will begin on December 10.
This is the first time the BBS will seek specific information about foreign workers working in Bangladesh.
Previously, three economic censuses were conducted in the country with the last one in 2013.
The current census, according to the BBS officials, was supposed to be conducted in 2023.
However, delays in approving the project by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council will cause almost one year of deferment in releasing the survey outcomes.
BBS officials expected to release the survey outcomes in January 2025.
The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics is going to begin the economic census next month and one of the major aims of the census is, for the first time, to determine the number of foreign workers in the country.
The number of foreign workers is the most demanded information nowadays, additional secretary (Informatics) SM Shakil Akhter of the Statistics and Information Division told New Age on Saturday.
The actual number of foreign workers in the country, however, is not known by any government agencies.
On June 2023, the then home minister Asaduzzaman Khan told Jatiya Sangsad that about 20,000 foreign nationals from 115 countries were working in Bangladesh with work permits and visas.
Among them, 1,750 were Chinese while 5,876 Indians, 2,468 Russians, 1,246 Sri Lankans, 924 South Koreans, 557 Japanese, 416 Pakistanis, 460 Filipinos, 399 Thais, 378 Belarusians, 269 Kazakhs, 168 Americans, 139 Koreans, 123 Malaysians and 108 were Indonesians.
A major responsibility of the statistics division is to deliver actual data on demanded issues, said SM Shakil, also the project director of the Economic Census 2023.
He said that the actual number of foreign workers would be known after the census.
Answering to a question how they will determine the information on foreign workers to be given by economic establishments correct, SM Shakil said that they would also collect data from the human resources wing of business establishments.
He said that this would be done to verify the information.
BBS officials said that a total of 65 questions would be asked to 1.22 crore economic establishments throughout the country during the field-level survey that will begin on December 10.
This is the first time the BBS will seek specific information about foreign workers working in Bangladesh.
Previously, three economic censuses were conducted in the country with the last one in 2013.
The current census, according to the BBS officials, was supposed to be conducted in 2023.
However, delays in approving the project by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council will cause almost one year of deferment in releasing the survey outcomes.
BBS officials expected to release the survey outcomes in January 2025.
