1971-2014: Roughly 7.8m proceeded abroad for employment

Bureau of Emigration reveals Middle East the most attractive destination.

ISLAMABAD: The Bureau of Emigration has facilitated around 7.8 million Pakistanis to proceed abroad for employment during 1971-2014 with the majority of the workers concentrated in the Middle Eastern region.

Around 49% manpower was in Middle East with Europe having 28.2% and United States of America 16%.

More than 2,000 licensed Overseas Employment Promoters are perpetually working to procure more and more manpower demands from labour importing countries. As a result, manpower export has increased from 0.622 million in 2013 to 0.752 million in 2014.

A data issued by the Bureau on Tuesday revealed that the first six months of 2014-15 were more productive in enhancing manpower abroad.  Saudi Arabia has been an attractive place to work for millions of Pakistani job seekers aiming for employment abroad.

The number of workers registered for Saudi Arabia has increased from 0.2 million in 2013 to 0.3 million in 2014.

Similarly, in 2014, UAE and Malaysia hired more people as compared to last year. The data further showed that UAE and Saudi Arabia are the top most markets for Pakistani manpower as about 50% manpower export is towards UAE while more than 37% of total manpower export is towards Saudi Arabia.

The majority of workers proceeded abroad are unskilled and semi-skilled. When contacted, an official at the Bureau said international migration is witnessing several waves of migrant flows, resulting from economic development.

The officials said at present, almost half of the worldwide migrants are economically active in the global economy. Presently, Pakistan has a huge and diverse diaspora sprinkled all over the world.

The official said globalisation has created a vast opportunity for qualified, trained and technical workers as they are in great demand in almost every continent. Therefore, Pakistani doctors, engineers, pharmacists, nurses, construction workers, urban planners and environmentalists are needed by every country.

The official said Pakistan is one of the largest labour exporting country in the region and huge remittances from the overseas workforce is one of major sources of income not only  for their families but also for the national exchequer. 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 29^th, 2015.

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