Worker migration for foreign jobs will increase in the coming months as the outsourcing sector has been receiving a large number of demands in recent months. 

According to the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE), the outsourcing sector has 

received more than half a million demands from destination countries. 

“The number of pre-approvals has reached 503,992 in the last nine months of the current fiscal year,” said director at the Department of Foreign Employment Diwash Acharya. 

The outsourcing sector has received demands for 125,728 workers in the last two months — 57,231 in Falgun (mid-February to mid-March) and 68,515 in Chaitra (mid-March to mid-April). Usually, pre-approvals mature in two to three months after outsourcing agencies advertise, interview and select foreign job aspirants. 

Worker migration will definitely grow in the coming days also due to the growing uncertainty in the country, said president of Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies Bal Bahadur Tamang. 

“Low investment in development projects will further push youth towards migration,” he said, adding that the government’s incompetency has been reflected in migration. 

The government has not 

created even a thousand jobs in the last one year, Tamang added, explaining the job scenario of the country. 

About 450,000 Nepalis enter the job market every year, according to Nepal Labour Standard Survey 2008, but hardly one-fifth get jobs in the country or are self-employed. There is no option for Nepalis other than to go to foreign countries for employment. 

According to the department, Qatar has demanded the 

highest number of Nepali workers followed by Malaysia (150,435), United Arab Emirates (75,723), Saudi Arabia (72,481) and Kuwait (13,495). 

Nepali workers have fulfilled 63.18 per cent of the total demand of 503,992 till Chaitra (mid-March to mid-April). 

Qatar, which has demanded 176,096 Nepali workers in the last nine months, has hired just 33.06 per cent workers between Shrawan and Chaitra. 

The destination hired 58,223 workers in the period. Similarly, Malaysia still has to hire the remaining 35,363 workers from pre-approvals, followed by the United Arab Emirates (36,302), Saudi Arabia (10,499) and Kuwait (3,755). 

However, in the recent months migrants remittance inflow growth rate has slowed down. According to Asian Development Bank remittance decelerated to 7.8 per cent in the seventh month of the current fiscal year 2012-13 from 25.3 per cent in the same period of last fiscal year. 

The growing number of migrants could not push up the remittance inflow to the country hitting the country’s balance of payment (BoP) hard.

Published on: 26 April 2013 | The Himalayan Times