The mistake keeping Bangladesh from tapping into Japan’s labour market

Japan’s labour shortage, driven by its ageing population, has created a major opportunity for Bangladesh. However, we have fallen behind due to gaps in skills, Japanese-language proficiency and demand-driven training.

By measuring labour migration in terms of numbers rather than skills, failing to formulate effective policies and plan ahead, and being unable to build effective partnerships with employers, we have failed to turn our demographic advantage into sustainable employment despite having a large young population.

There are several clear examples of Bangladesh’s past failures in accessing Japan’s labour market. In July 2005, an agreement between Bangladesh and Japan was signed to create opportunities for Bangladeshi workers to receive technical training and work in Japan. However, over the following eight years, Bangladesh managed to send only 41 workers to Japan under the agreement, 12 through the government agency, the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), and 29 through private recruitment agencies.

This was an embarrassing example of policy failure on Bangladesh’s part. Yet Japanese small and medium-sized enterprises had a demand for Bangladeshi workers. Inadequate language skills, inappropriate worker selection, lengthy administrative procedures and a lack of coordination among the organisations concerned stood in the way of capitalising on that opportunity. Our failure to move forward was not due to a lack of opportunities, but rather an inability to turn those opportunities into actual employment.

Although an agreement was reached with Japan’s IM Japan in 2015 to train 500 Bangladeshis, and a new initiative was launched in 2017 to provide one-year training in the manufacturing and construction sectors, Bangladesh failed to demonstrate the capacity to turn these initiatives into large-scale, sustained employment programmes.

Even after Bangladesh signed a memorandum of cooperation with Japan on a framework for sending Specified Skilled Workers (SSW) on August 27, 2019, overcoming limitations in language education, skills assessment and transparent recruitment has remained an urgent priority.

More significantly, surveys conducted by Japan’s immigration authorities among technical trainees from various countries have revealed that many fall into debt after paying large sums of money to recruitment agencies and intermediaries in their home countries. In light of this risk, Bangladesh’s failure to establish a transparent and accountable recruitment system needs to be reassessed.

These experiences demonstrate that signing a memorandum of understanding is not, in itself, a measure of success. True success lies in translating such agreements into skilled workers, lower migration costs and sustainable employment.

One of the major weaknesses of Bangladesh’s labour export system is the disconnect between training and actual recruitment. Training programmes should be designed based on data showing how many workers are needed in each sector, what qualifications employers require and which skills tests candidates must pass. However, the tendency to measure success by the number of training centres, trainees or certificates issued has obscured the actual outcomes.

Learning Japanese, acquiring professional skills and passing qualification tests are time-consuming processes. When training centres vary in quality and there are no genuine employment opportunities after training, young people end up wasting both time and money. As a result, many aspiring to work in Japan fall behind even at the preparation stage.

The question is: why has Bangladesh not done enough to establish partnerships with Japanese employers and introduce training programmes tailored to their needs? Why has the country failed to develop the capacity to assess demand in foreign labour markets based on data rather than assumptions?

This failure cannot be attributed to any one individual; it reflects longstanding weaknesses in policymaking and institutional management.

Japanese-language proficiency is not merely an additional qualification for working in Japan. It is essential for understanding workplace instructions, communicating with colleagues, maintaining safety and managing daily life. Yet Bangladesh has failed to make the expected progress in establishing a comprehensive system that makes Japanese-language education accessible, affordable and of consistent quality.

The concentration of opportunities in Dhaka, high training costs and a shortage of qualified teachers create barriers for prospective workers. For a young person in a rural area, covering the costs of language classes, examinations and documentation can often be difficult. In other words, in a labour market where preparation is crucial for entry, access to that preparation is not equal for everyone.

The state’s responsibility was not simply to establish training centres, but to integrate language education, vocational training and recruitment into a single system. The absence of such a coordinated approach has put Bangladesh at a disadvantage.

Complaints about intermediaries, opaque fees, fraud and excessive costs have long plagued Bangladesh’s migration system. Preparing to enter a market such as Japan is already expensive. When uncertainty over recruitment is added to the equation, the risks for young workers and their families increase manifold.

Japanese employers, meanwhile, want partners who can reliably provide suitable workers. If Bangladesh cannot ensure transparent recruitment, verified training and reasonable costs, it cannot gain a competitive advantage simply by virtue of its abundant workforce.

Our mistake has been to leave migration largely dependent on individuals’ own initiative and financial capacity. The state, however, should have taken responsibility for controlling recruitment costs, effectively monitoring licensed recruitment agencies and establishing channels for direct engagement with foreign employers. When workers fall into debt before even leaving for a job abroad, much of the benefit of securing higher-paying employment is undermined.

Bangladesh is not alone in Japan’s labour market. Other labour-sending countries are also working to expand language education, technical training and cooperation with employers. Some benefit from decades of labour migration experience, established recruitment networks and familiarity with the Japanese language and culture.

Bangladesh’s policymakers should have analysed the experiences of competing countries to identify the country’s own weaknesses. A sustained strategy was needed to determine which sectors offer Bangladesh a comparative advantage, where training needs to be expanded and how employers’ confidence could be earned. However, the complacency associated with being a major labour-sending country prevented us from fully appreciating the importance of such competitive preparation.

To overcome these failures, the first step should be to develop a five-year action plan for Japan’s labour market, with measurable targets. Clear indicators must specify how many workers are to be sent to Japan in each sector, how many will receive language and skills training, how many will secure jobs and how many will remain employed. The performance of training institutions must be measured not by the number of certificates issued, but by actual employment outcomes and workers’ earnings.

Direct partnerships must be established with Japanese employers, industry associations and training institutions. At the same time, access to language education and skills testing must be expanded beyond Dhaka, financial assistance for training must be provided, recruitment costs must be fully disclosed, and swift action must be taken against fraud. Employment contracts must clearly specify wages, working hours, accommodation costs and procedures for filing complaints. Bangladeshis working abroad must also have access to legal assistance in Bangla and an effective grievance redress mechanism.

Most importantly, diplomatic visits and memorandums of understanding must not be presented as substitutes for success. Success should be measured by how many Bangladeshis actually secure decent jobs, how little they have to spend to migrate and how safely they can work abroad.
Japan’s labour market presents a major opportunity for Bangladesh, but there is no guarantee that this window of opportunity will remain open indefinitely. Unless we learn from past mistakes, new initiatives will simply repeat old failures. Bangladesh must establish itself not as a source of cheap labour, but as a partner capable of delivering skilled, reliable workers while safeguarding their rights.

The question, therefore, is not merely how many workers Bangladesh can send to Japan. It is whether, having failed for so long to adequately prepare despite the opportunities available, we now have the political will to take responsibility for those failures and correct them.

* Dr Selim Reza is an associate professor and coordinator of the Centre for Migration Studies (CMS) at North South University.

* The views expressed here are the author’s own.

* This article has been translated into English by Ayesha Kabir