"Last week we sent letters to all the ten labour wings in eight major labour exporting countries asking them to investigate if the Bangladeshi workers get lower salaries and report to us as soon as possible," said Abdul Matin Chowdhury, secretary to the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment.

The ministry also asked the labour wings to make recommendations on the steps to be taken for increasing the salaries for the Bangladeshi workers if it is found that they get lower pay, he said.

The letters were sent to the Bangladesh's labour wings in Malaysia, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Singapore, Bahrain, Oman and Libya, a ministry official told The Daily Star on June 18.

Reports that the Bangladeshi workers abroad, especially in the Middle East countries, get lower pay, prompted the initiative to investigate the issue, the secretary said.

He said the government will negotiate with the manpower receiving countries, if necessary, and take steps to train up the workers so that Bangladeshi workers' salaries are increased, making it at par with the salaries of the same category of workers of other countries.

On an average an unskilled Bangladeshi worker in the Middle Eastern countries get 300 to 500 riyals (Tk 6000 to Tk 10,000) monthly, while the workers from Philippines, Sri Lanka and Pakistan get 700 to 800 riyals per month, said experts on manpower businesses and migration.

An expatriates' welfare ministry official said they came to know that the Filipino domestic workers are now demanding 1000 Saudi riyals per month, while the minimum wage for the Bangladeshi domestic workers in Saudi Arabia has been fixed at 400 Saudi riyals.

Syed Saiful Haque, president of WARBE, a migrant's rights organisation, said malpractices of the visa traders and some recruiting agencies and lack of strong monitoring by the government are mainly responsible for it.

In many cases salary and other facilities that are written in the job contract letters in Bangladesh are changed once the workers arrive in the destination countries, he said.

Lack of awareness among the migrant workers is also responsible for this, he said, adding that such malpractices could be prevented if the government had a mechanism to check all the documents of the workers before they leave the country and take follow-up measures during their work period abroad.

Many Bangladeshi middlemen abroad compete among themselves in buying visas from the employers and thus increase the price of the visas, which were previously issued for the overseas workers free of cost.

"They also promise the employers to supply workers at cheaper rates. High demand of overseas jobs also contributes to lowering the salary and the recruiting agencies have a hand in this," Saiful Haque noted.

Asked about this particular issue, Expatriates' Welfare Secretary Abdul Matin Chowdhury said there are laws that the recruiting agencies cannot be involved in such unethical competition that increases migration cost and lowers salary of the workers.

"Action will be taken if the agencies are found to be competing among themselves, contributing to the lower salaries of the workers," he said.