Bangladesh to send 45,000 maids to Singapore

Singapore will recruit 45,000 Bangladeshi domestic workers in a boost for the impoverished country's labour export sector after jobs dried up in the Middle East and elsewhere in Asia, an official said today.

Singapore will recruit 45,000 Bangladeshi domestic workers in a boost for the impoverished country's labour export sector after jobs dried up in the Middle East and elsewhere in Asia, an official said today.

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Singaporean recruiting firms agreed on the number following talks in Dhaka last week, director of the government's Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) Nurul Islam told AFP.

"They want some 45,000 maids in a year. We shall train the maids and start sending them to Singapore by the end of
this year," Islam said.

"It's a very good news for us. It comes as our traditional markets such as the Middle Eastern countries and
Malaysia have yet to ride out the impact of the global recession."

The global downturn affected jobs for Bangladeshi workers in the construction and manufacturing sectors in the Persian
Gulf.

According to the BMET, Bangladesh sent 202,000 workers abroad in the first half of 2010 -- the lowest in four years.

Malaysia, hit hard by the recession, has accepted no new Bangladeshi workers for more than a year.

Saudi Arabia, which employs more than two million Bangladeshis, signed up only 2,200 in the first quarter of
2010. For the same period in 2008, it employed 48,000.