Labor migration

 

Labor migration has, over the years, become one of the key pillars of Nepal’s economy, contributing over 23 percent of the country’s GDP. Out-migration is now a ‘forced cup of tea’ for nearly two-thirds of the 400,000 plus labor force that enters Nepal’s job market every year. 

 

The porous border with India coupled with shared cultures and religions and rampant poverty at home have resulted in the mass exodus of youth to the southern neighbor. They have also been flocking to the Gulf nations and Malaysia, as well as other lucrative destinations, in search of jobs. 

 

 

According to informal estimates, India still houses the largest number of Nepali migrant workers despite rapid globalization and the spread of a liberal economy around the world. The mass exodus of Nepali migrant workers is ever on the rise, except for a blip in 2008/009, most probably due to the global economic recession. 

 

Unlike in previous decades, both males and females, irrespective of their ethnic backgrounds, have been leaving for the oil-rich countries of the Persian Gulf, Malaysia and South Korea (not to mention India) hoping for a bright future, though this dream is unlikely to come true for more than two-thirds of foreign job aspirants. 

 

It is hard to argue against the fact that out-migration contributes handsomely to the country’s sluggish economy and keeps it humming. Prompted by lack of employment opportunities, rising social insecurity, shrinking local means of economy, every day, 1,700-plus Nepalis are going abroad in search of jobs. It is estimated that the total number of Nepalis working abroad is around three million. 

 

The remittances have strengthened the balance of payments and contributed to GDP growth. According to different agencies’ reports, Nepal is one of the top five remittance-receiving countries in terms of remittance to GDP ratio, while this Himalayan republic is the second-largest remittance receiver among the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) after Bangladesh. 

 

The government figures show that Nepal received Rs 434 billion remittance in the fiscal year 2012/13 through the banking channel while another one-third of the amount was remitted through illegal channels like Hundi. 

 

As many as 56 percent of households in the country are receiving remittance while population living below the poverty line has been reduced to under 25 percent, basically due to remittance inflow in the poor and Dalit households. Many believe that labor migration thus has become the de facto symbol of Nepal’s unreal development. This also indicates that labor migration is an integral facet of Nepal’s workforce. Young people are likely to choose migration as a strategy for coping with life’s challenges or improving their odds of earning a decent livelihood. 

 

If so, where has the remittance gone? The Nepal Living Standards Survey (2011) states that 79 percent of the remittance that comes into Nepal is used on daily consumption, 2.4 percent on capital formation, 7.1 percent on repaying loans, 3.5 percent on education and 4.5 percent on household property accumulation. 

 

The dismal picture of remittance use is there for everyone to see in these statistics. But the use of remittance for repaying debts is a natural phenomenon for those rural people who were struggling even to arrange two square meals before going for foreign jobs; while investment in education also cannot be negated as it will be a long term productive asset. Furthermore, replacing a thatched-roof hut with a concrete building and providing nutritious midday meals to school children must also be seen as the positive contributions of remittance. 

 

However, eulogizing the inflow of remittance and its extravagant use should be problematic. The other side of the story is also equally compelling, as a large number of youths, the active population of the country, departs at great social, political, cultural, demographic and economic costs.

 

Everyone is Leaving-Who Will Sow Our Fields? The Effects of Migration from Khotang District to the Gulf and Malaysia, a recent research book by acclaimed researchers Dr. Jagannath Adhikari and Dr. Mary Hobley sheds light on these issues.

 

The many costs of migration as pointed out by Adhikari and Hobley are namely: decline in cropping, dependence on foodstuffs, rise in absentee landlordism, a sharp decline in livestock numbers, increase in wage labor rates led by lack of semi-skilled and skilled labor force in the villages, family disintegration and rise in women’s workload as a consequence of their husbands and other male family members’ migration. 

 

As a large number of males head out for Gulf countries and Malaysia, the crisis of male workers is severe in almost all districts in the country. The lands are barren, while a few plant crops to mark the land ownership, particularly the absentee landlords.

 

 

It is for sure that no poor country can stop labor migration until and unless there is parity in wages between the countries of origin and destination countries. Now, the question is how long the country can sustain itself by keeping its land barren and exporting the youth to the alien lands. 

 

It is high time the government seriously thought about and retained the youth at home by providing them with the means to develop entrepreneurship skills. Likewise, instead of sending its young people for foreign jobs, the state needs to create job opportunities at home, considering the youth as catalysts to national development. For this, the government should inject a big chunk of the gender-responsive budget into infrastructure so that a large portion of the new labor force, both men and women, will be employed at home, directly contributing to GDP growth. 

 

Likewise, the government should also unveil convincing programs to lure remittance into productive sectors in the long run. Only prioritizing foreign labor migration would backfire for the nation’s overall demographic, social and cultural development, as remittance, which has become a necessary evil for our feeble economy, is not a reliable and long-term income source.

 

The author is a researcher with the Nepal Institute of Development Studies