The overseas labor market is steadily shrinking for Bangladesh. Illegal migration, human trafficking, law violations, and a lack of skilled workers are reducing overseas employment opportunities. In recent years, major labor markets have closed due to restrictions, visa bans, and other barriers. Even in countries that are still hiring foreign workers, Bangladesh has been unable to fully seize the opportunities, leaving its workers behind competitors from other nations. One of the most promising markets for Bangladesh is South Korea. Yet the country has failed to send workers there in line with demand. Although South Korea sets quotas each year, Bangladesh has been unable to meet them.

Data from Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Ltd. (BOESL), the country’s only state-owned recruiting agency, show that over the past five years, South Korea allocated a total quota of 39,255 workers for Bangladesh. In contrast, BOESL received job orders for 17,247 workers. The agency eventually sent 14,829 workers, just 37 percent of the allocated quota.

South Korea recruits foreign workers through the Employment Permit System (EPS). Under bilateral labor agreements, workers from 16 countries, including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Nepal, are hired there. The country sets quotas for migrant workers each year, allowing a fixed number of laborers to work in different sectors. Bangladesh and South Korea signed their first bilateral agreement in 2007, enabling BOESL to send workers to the country’s industrial, construction, and agricultural sectors. Labor migration to South Korea under this system has been taking place since 2008.

But even after more than a decade and a half of labor migration to South Korea, Bangladesh has consistently failed to meet its quotas, losing opportunities to send enough workers. Other South Asian countries, however, have been able to send workers close to their full quotas to South Korea.

Under the EPS system in 2024, Nepal sent 16,300 workers against a quota of 16,400, Sri Lanka sent 7,122 against a quota of 10,634, and Pakistan sent 2,640. While countries including Bangladesh can send workers to both industrial, construction, and agricultural sectors, Pakistan is limited to sending workers only to the industrial sector.

Md Shipon from Jashore has been waiting to go to South Korea since 2024. After passing the Korean language exam in his third year of honors, completing the skill and medical tests, he is still unemployed. His name was not added to the EPS roster because earlier rostered workers are yet to travel to South Korea. Under the system, if a worker does not go to South Korea within two years of being rostered, they must retake the language, skill, and medical tests to apply again.

Md Shipon told Bonik Barta, “I have been waiting since 2024. Even if our names are rostered, the two-year period will expire. Many from previous batches have waited until their term expired. They could not go to Korea. Nearly 1,700 workers who passed the language test in 2022 and were rostered have now reached the end of their term. They must pass the language test again if they want to go. About 600 to 700 workers who took the test in 2023 will see their term expire in March 2026. In 2024, more than 7,400 passed the language test and were rostered in the EPS system. Many are still waiting. Even after passing such a difficult test, many cannot go after waiting two years. People are left jobless and destitute. I see no possibility of going. Very few are being taken.”

According to BOESL data, South Korea set a quota of 10,300 workers for Bangladesh in 2025. By September of this year, only 1,244 workers had been sent. In 2024, only 2,779 workers were sent against a quota of 11,700. Over the past five years, Bangladesh received its highest quota in 2024, but BOESL was able to send only 24 percent of it. Additionally, 4,804 workers were sent against a quota of 10,200 back in 2023; in 2022, 5,891 against 5,941; and in 2021, 111 against 1,114. Worker deployment was low in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although nearly 100 percent of the quota was filled the following year, the rate of workers sent to South Korea has been steadily declining over the past three years.

Md Shawkat Ali, Executive Director (Joint Secretary) of BOESL, told Bonik Barta, “After passing the language exam, there is a skill test. After passing this test, the names of qualified candidates for Korea are released. We send this list to HRD Korea. They register it and forward it to the country’s Ministry of Employment and Labor. From there, it is sent to various job centers. Companies receive three profiles for each worker they want. Then the company selects the worker. This entire process is controlled by Korea; we have no control. They review the worker profiles and make the selection.”

Regarding the decline in the number of workers sent from Bangladesh, he said, “Countries that send more workers generally have similarities with South Korea in religion, culture, and food habits. There is also a language limitation. Additionally, there are internal factors. Political instability and economic reasons in that country reduce intake. Bangladeshi workers mainly go to the SME sector, not large companies. Due to financial constraints, many companies operate with part-time workers. The HRD Korea delegation told us this during their visit to Bangladesh. However, we hope that 4,000 workers will be able to go this year. We have also appointed six representatives in the country who maintain regular contact with recruiters to create a positive image of Bangladesh and facilitate the sending of more workers.”

A World Bank report titled Lessons from Korea’s Employment Permit System shows that fewer than 300 recruiters in South Korea’s EPS system are linked to the SME sector. 45 percent of recruiters manage companies with only five workers, while companies with more than 50 workers constitute just 5 percent. Among workers recruited under the EPS system from 2011 to 2015, Vietnamese workers were the most preferred. They were followed by workers from Indonesia, Thailand, and Nepal, cited for their superior language skills. In this ranking of preferred countries for recruitment, Bangladesh is seventh out of seven.

Commenting on the inability to send workers in line with the allocated quotas, Shariful Hasan, Associate Director of BRAC’s Migration and Youth Platform, told Bonik Barta, “So far, South Korea’s EPS system has been the best method for sending workers abroad. A transparent process is followed through exams, and workers receive good wages. Within a few years, they become financially stable. On one hand, quotas are not being fulfilled; on the other, workers who pass the exams cannot go and protest. This is unfortunate. Achieving full quota requires diplomatic efforts. The issues causing low worker demand need to be examined and addressed.”