Foreign employment exodus continues

Official statistics show that 418,191 Nepalese people had left the country for foreign employment by the first six-month of the current fiscal year.

According to the Nepal Rastra Bank’s six-month macroeconomic and financial data, the number of Nepali workers (institutional and individual-new) taking approval for foreign employment increased by 64.6% and reached 275,643 in the review period.

The number of Nepali workers (Renew entry) taking approval for foreign employment increased by 9.5% and reached 142,548 in the review period.

It had increased by 298.1% in the same period of the previous year.

At this rate, the country may see around one million Nepalis leaving for foreign employment by the end of the fiscal year.

According to the Nepal Labour Migration Report, 2022 unveiled last December which captures migration statistics for 2021/22, Madhesh and Province 1 account for the largest share of migrant workers, with each being home to more than a fifth of the total labour approvals issued in 2021/22, increasing the probability of labour shortages in the farm and industrial region.

In contrast, Bagmati accounts for the largest share of women migrant workers in foreign employment.

Another issue of concern is migrants’ safety.

In 2021/22, 1,395 Nepali migrant workers (including 39 women) were reported to have died, with most deaths certified as having occurred due to ‘natural causes.’

More than 150 cases of deaths of Nepali migrant workers have each been reported annually in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE from 2019/20 to 2021/22.

On the other hand, remittance inflow has jumped by 24.3% in Nepali currency and by 13.9% in US dollars, says the NRB’s latest macroeconomic data.

Remittance inflows reached Rs 585.08 billion in the first half of the ongoing fiscal year ending last mid-January, which had earlier decreased by 5% in the last fiscal year review period.

In US dollar terms, remittance inflows reached $4.50 billion this fiscal year which had declined by 5.7% last year.