Nepal's foreign employment up by 25 pct

Foreign employment continues to be the big charm for Nepali youth, as the number of people leaving the country for jobs abroad increased by over 25 percent in the first two months of the current fiscal year starting in mid-July.

The new statistics from the Department of Labor and Employment Promotion (DoLEP) Thursday showed that approximately 557 people left Nepal every day in search of greener pastures in foreign lands during the period.

According to DoLEP, 33,445 people left the country for foreign employment, up from 26,600 people during the same period last year.

Nepali workers mostly leave for 13 different destinations with 48 percent opting for Malaysia as their working destination.

The report stated that workers mainly left for 13 different labor destinations during the review period, including Malaysia, Gulf countries, Israel, South Korea, Kuwait, China's Hong Kong, the United States and Russia.

The number of people leaving the country rose by over 2,000 during the month of Bhadra (August-September) to 17,887 against 15, 558 people in Shrawan (July-August), the first month of Nepali fiscal year.

The government report showed that a total of 16,507 workers left for Malaysia in the first two months of the current fiscal year, compared to 12,196 during the same period last year.

In other words, a total of 275 workers are currently leaving for Malaysia for employment every day.

Although the total of number of laborers has declined by 16.5 percent during the review period, Qatar still stands to be the second largest importer of Nepali workers.

The number of Nepali workers leaving for Qatar dropped to 7,437 in the first two months, compared to 8,922 of the corresponding period last year.

Similarly, the number of workers leaving for Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE) also went up by a hefty 123 percent and six percent, respectively.

According to the statistics, a total of 6,119 persons left for Saudi Arabia and 3,483 persons for UAE in the review period.

Source: Xinhua