Exodus economy

Despite escalating hostilities across the Gulf region, more than 300,000 Pakistanis sought employment in Middle Eastern countries during the first five months of 2026 alone. Saudi Arabia absorbed over 143,000 workers, even as reports emerged of Iranian strikes targeting American facilities on its territory. Thousands more continued to queue outside the Dubai consulate in Karachi. For many, the danger was simply less frightening than the economic reality at home.

On the other hand, the state takes comfort in these numbers. Remittances reached a record $4.2 billion in May, and total inflows for FY26 are expected to exceed $40 billion. These figures are routinely celebrated as signs of economic resilience. Yet behind them are millions of workers who only left because they had few alternatives. Their families live with constant uncertainty, their children spend months or years separated from them, and their safety in foreign lands can never be taken for granted.

For decades, Pakistan has relied on exporting its surplus labour as a pressure-release valve, postponing the more difficult task of creating enough productive opportunities at home. The mass migration to the Gulf therefore is not evidence of a success story but rather of an economy that has failed to absorb its own workforce. No country can indefinitely outsource the livelihoods of its citizens to volatile foreign markets and call it sound economic policy.

Record remittances deserve appreciation, but they should also provoke reflection. The true measure of economic success is not how many people leave, nor how much money they send back. It is whether citizens can build secure and prosperous lives in their own country. Pakistan's goal should be an economy in which migration is a choice, not a necessity, and where its people stay because opportunity exists at home.