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Worker departures 294k last FY
KATHMANDU, JUL 20 -
An estimated 400,000 jobseekers enter the labour market each year. With job opportunities in the local market drying up and soaring demand from overseas, nearly 300,000 Nepali workers have left for foreign employment in 71 countries around the world.
According to the Department of Foreign Employment’s annual data on the departure of Nepali workers during the fiscal year 2009/10, a total of 294,094 individuals including 10,056 women left the country for foreign employment. The number is up by 35.42 percent compared to 217,165 departures in the previous year.
During the first four months of the last fiscal year, the number of workers going for work abroad decreased continuously compared to the same months in the previous year due to the festive season and the impact of the global recession, said foreign employment entrepreneurs.
“During the first two to three months, demand for workers was low as the major labour destinations hired fewer Nepali workers citing the impact of the recession,” said Gyanu Gaire, vice president of the Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies. “Demand started to increase heavily following the recovery and increased demand from Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.”
The number of outbound had started to increase by double digits from the fifth month when Malaysian and Saudi Arabian firms started to hire more workers from Nepal replacing Bangladeshi workers. On a monthly basis, the highest ever 32,876 individuals left the country during the last month of the last fiscal year.
“The number of outbound workers will continue to rise if we manage to solve the passport problem at the earliest,” said Gaire. He added that so far over 90 percent of the individuals leaving for work abroad had obtained their passports from their districts; and that if the passport issue was not solved soon, outbound would start to decline within a few months.
Malaysia, being the largest absorber of workers from Nepal, took in a total of 113,982 individuals during the year, which was up by 225 percent compared to the 35,070 workers in the previous year. Similarly, Saudi Arabia, which used to be the top labour market in past years, absorbed 63,700 (up 33 percent) Nepali workers, while Qatar hired 57,340 (down 25 percent) workers.
Likewise, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait took in 33,840 (up 7 percent) and 8,255 (up 260 percent) Nepali workers respectively during the last fiscal year.
The number of female workers leaving the country for work overseas has also increased by 17 percent to 10,056 from 8,594 during the previous year. The government has allowed Nepalis to work in 108 countries around the world.
Country No. of Workers
Malaysia 113,982
Saudi Arabia 63,700
Qatar 57,340
The UAE 33,840
Kuwait 8,255
Baharain 4,234
Lebanon 3,788
Oman 3,285
South Korea 2,418
Libya 1,622
Others 1,900
Fiscal Year Male Female Total
Upto 2005/06 — — 758,675
2006/07 204,143 390 204,533
2007/08 244,366 4,685 249,051
2008/09 211,371 8,594 219,965
2009/10 284,038 10,056 294,094
Posted on: 2010-07-21 07:49
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