Outsourcers, speaking at an interaction here today, urged the government to revoke salary hike decision of Qatar-bound workers saying salary hike from sending country is not a good practice.

The government has recently hiked salary of Qatar-bound Nepali migrant workers from minimum wage Qatari Riyal 1,000 (Rs 23,000) — including Qatari Riyal 800 (Rs 18,500) wage and Qatari Riyal 200 (Rs 4,500) for boarding allowance. Earlier, the minimum wage was Qatari Riyal 800 (Rs 18,500) including same amount of boarding allowance.

According to outsourcers, the salary hike has decreased the workers out flow as recruiters started exploring other low cost labour markets. “Qatari recruiters have started hiring Bangladeshi for Qatari Riyal 700, including boarding facility, so demand from Qatar has reduced significantly,” said president of Nepal Association of Outsourcing Agencies in Nepal Bal Bahadur Tamang. “If the decision is not revoked, Qatari demands will drop drastically.”

Qatar is the third preferred destination of Nepali migrant workers in recent months. The destination of over 500,000 Nepalis have hired 690,395 Nepali overseas job aspirants in the last 18 years. About 80,455 Nepalis have joined Qatari jobs last year and 33,140 have reached Qatar in last six months of current fiscal year.

Qatar did not have minimum wage system like other nations including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman and Bahrain. Though, its average salary scale is around Qatari Riyal 16,737 (Rs 389,851) per month, it is not applicable to migrant workers.

Migrants from Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Philippines are earning less than Qatari Riyal 5,000 (Rs 116,000) despite being skilled workers. Average salary for unskilled migrant worker is around Qatari Riyal 1,200 (Rs 28,000) but Nepalis and Bangladeshis earn less than the average.

Published on: 5 February 2013 | The Himalayan Times