Over 3.41 mln manpower sent abroad during last five years

March 17, 2019: As many as 3.41 million of Pakistani workforce were sent abroad for different jobs during the last five years, the data shared by Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment revealed.

During this period, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) had remained most attractive destination for the national workers as data showed over two million manpower went there for various job opportunities.

United Arab Emirates followed the KSA with 1.4 million while Oman was the third largest country where Pakistan sent over 0.2 million of its work forces.

The emigration of Pakistani labour abroad saw its peak in 2015 when the country exported some 0.95 million of its workforces abroad, the report highlighted.

Since then the emigration trend witnessed a sharp decline due to some economic reforms in the middle east countries which resulted into the return of huge number of manpower back home, the report added.

In 2016, the number of emigrants went down to 0.84 million while a drastic decline was seen in 2017 when the number again returned to the numbers of 2011 which was dropped to 4,56,893.

According to the official sources here on Friday, gulfization policy in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries was a major reason behind this decline as these states had adopted a framework to change their status from oil-based economy to services-based economy.

The sources said the workforce was also facing the competitiveness issues in the international job markets as the manpower was not equip with the skills at par with global standards.

They also underlined the need for creating awareness among masses about foreign job opportunities by using social, print and electronic media.

(APP)