In fact, there’s actually been a recent uptick in the number of departures to key labor markets—Qatar, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia.
The data compiled by the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) shows that the number of workers leaving for different job markets increased to 18,091 individuals during mid-March to mid-April, up from 16,868 individuals for the same period for 2009.
The total number of Nepali overseas jobseekers flying to Qatar rose to 7,297 individuals for the period spanning mid-March to mid-April, compared to 6,424 outbound workers a month ago; and the number of Malaysia-bound Nepalis was 1,680, up from 1,516. Among Nepali workers, Qatar and Malaysia are the most-favored and second- most favored destinations, respectively.
The number of outbound workers for the UAE and Saudi Arabia also saw a similar increase, to 2,424 individuals and 4,888 individuals, during mid-March to mid-April. The figures were 2,398 and 4.493, respectively, a month earlier.
The global financial crisis began to affect the major labor destinations around the beginning of this year, but the number of job opportunities for Nepali youths in these places did not decline, thanks to a continuing demand for Nepali blue-collar workers.
The official data shows that over the last nine months of the current fiscal year, the number of youths getting jobs on foreign soil increased by 3.4 percent over the numbers from last year—to 173,825 individuals. This increase happened despite the fact that during the nine months of the current fiscal year, the major destinations like Malaysia and the UAE—they have both decided to tighten the entry of foreign workers for a few months—saw huge declines in the number of Nepali jobseekers.
The number of job aspirants reaching Malaysia and the UAE nose-dived to 31,918 individuals and 24,665 individuals, respectively, during the last nine months; the figures for the same nine months last year were 38,131 and 33,453.
The increase in the overall numbers happened because Qatar and Saudi Arabia made up for the deficit: the number of workers leaving for Qatar and Saudi Arabia rose to 59,923 individuals and 38,064 individuals during the review period, up from 59,416 individuals and 27,215 individuals for last year, respectively.
Again, the reason that the number of Nepali workers heading for Saudi Arabia and Qatar continued to go up over the nine months was that Nepalis were willing to do all the dirty work that the natives in these countries don’t want to do. “More than 90 percent of the total Nepali overseas workers are blue-collar workers,” says Yuvraj Pandey, secretary at the Ministry of Labor and Transport Management. “Employment opportunities for our workers appear to be unaffected, as the demand for low-end jobseekers is still high in those labor destinations.”
Pandey recently returned from a tour of Malaysia, the Philippines and Bangladesh. He had led a Nepali delegation to assess the problems of Nepali workers, as well as to share the experiences of laborers in labor-exporting countries. With the same objectives, the Minister of Labor and Transport Management Lekhraj Bhatta is currently on a tour of the Gulf countries, leading a six-member Nepali delegation.
Related story
Osaka claims U.S. Open title after Serena meltdown
