For four decades, Bangladesh has run a simple but effective economic bargain: export labour to the Gulf and import the earnings home. That bargain now seems to be fraying, and the government has been slow to notice.

The number of Bangladeshis leaving for overseas jobs fell to a five-year low in the recently concluded fiscal year 2025-26 as demand from the Middle East weakened amid uncertainty following the US-Israel war on Iran.

According to BMET, more than 9.69 lakh people left Bangladesh for overseas jobs during the last fiscal year, down 5 percent from a year earlier

Online registration for Bangladeshi women seeking overseas jobs, particularly in Saudi Arabia, will begin Thursday.