Malaysia is expected to recruit around 200,000 migrant workers from Bangladesh over the next six months, according to the Bangladeshi government.
The recruitment process will reportedly involve several agencies and begin in phases from the end of September.
Around 800,000 registered Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia
Reported by FMT, Bangladeshi junior minister for local government, rural development and cooperatives Mir Shahe Alam said there are currently around 800,000 registered Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia.
He added that there are also workers who remain unregistered.
“Our minister has asked the Malaysian authorities to register them,” he said.
Mir Shahe was speaking to reporters after Malaysia’s high commissioner to Bangladesh, Shuhada Othman, met Bangladeshi local government, rural development and cooperatives minister Abdul Moyeen Khan.
Bangladesh previously called for labour market to reopen
In June, Bangladeshi prime minister Tarique Rahman visited Malaysia and urged Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to consider reopening the country’s labour market to Bangladeshi workers.
Malaysia has restricted the recruitment of workers from Bangladesh since 2024 following reports involving debt bondage and forced labour.
At the same time, the Malaysian government aims to reduce the number of foreign workers in the country to around 10% of the total workforce by 2030.
Malaysian authorities have yet to publicly confirm the reported recruitment of 200,000 workers.
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