25% More Workers Went Abroad this FY

The lack of employment opportunity in the country has caused nearly 200,000 youths to go abroad in search of jobs in the first half of the current Fiscal Year.

By TC Correspondent The movement of youth from the country in search of work abroad has been increasing even at the time the government is selling a dream of creating jobs within the country. In the six months of the current fiscal year 2011/12, nearly 200,000 workers left the country as compared to 160,000 in the same period last year. “The number would have easily crossed 200,000 if the government of Saudi Arabia and Qatar had not rejected the Nepali handwritten passports,” said Lalbabu Kawari, Director of Department of Foreign Employment (DOFE), Ministry of Labor and Transport Management. Meanwhile, according to Nepal Rastra Bank, the remittance inflow from the overseas workers has increased more than 39 per cent in the first five months of the current FY compared to the same period of last FY. “Lack of job in the country and attraction of the pay overseas has attracted more Nepalis to go abroad,” said Kawari explaining the reason for this more than 25 per cent increase in the number of migrant Nepali workers. According to him, if this trend continues, around half a million Nepalis will be gone overseas for job by the end of current FY. “I have to look after my family and I don’t have any job here. My friend in Qatar has found a job for me,” said Bikram Chaudhari, one of the prospective migrant workers. According to DOFE,

Nepalis have migrated to more than four dozen countries for work. The Gulf countries hired almost 50 per cent of the Nepali workers who left the country in the first half of the current FY. In the Gulf region, Qatar has been the highest employer of the Nepalis this year followed by Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kuwait. Malaysia from South East Asia has been the second largest employer of Nepali migrant workers this year. Among the 912 Nepali workers who went to South Korea in the first half of the current FY, 667 were under Employment Permit System through the government’s channel. The destination is planning to hire about 15,000 Nepalis in 2012. “The passport of 4000 Nepalis with Korean visa has been received and people have already started going to Korea for work,” said Kawari. Out of 639 workers who migrated to Japan, 24 were hired by Japan International Training Cooperation Organization (JITCO). According to Kawari, because of the complexity of the visa process for Japan, the number of workers going there has not been as much as expected. The number of female migrants of current FY is more than double of the same period as of the last FY. While nearly 5000 females migrated overseas in the first half of the last year that number has crossed 10,000 this year.

“The attraction of the highly paid jobs overseas and help from their relatives working overseas to get them job there has increased the number of female migrants,” said Kawari. More than half of the total female migrants in the first half of the current FY have gone to Kuwait followed by UAE and Malaysia. “Even after working so hard I couldn’t earn much in Nepal, so I thought of going to Kuwait for job,” said Kalpana Kumari, a female prospective migrant worker. There have been many cases in the past where peoples were duped by the manpower companies. Kawari claims that such cases have reduced now, thanks to the awareness campaigns being conducted by the Ministry of Labor and Transport Management.