10.48 mln manpower sent abroad since 1971

ISLAMABAD, Feb 25 (APP):As many as 10.48 million of Pakistani workforce were sent abroad for different job assignments of the International manpower markets during the years of 1971-2018, the data shared by Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment pointed out here Monday.During this period, the bureau had registered some 4.45 million unskilled workers, 4.43 million skilled, 0.95 million semi skilled, 0.41 million highly skilled and 0.20 million highly qualified workers for overseas employment.

Since 2005, the bureau registered over 3.6 million of workforce in different categories and later on the number of exporting manpower showed a gradual upward trend and crossed 500,000 mark in 2012 which was 638,587.

The emigration of Pakistani labour abroad saw its peak in 2015 when the country exported some 0.95 million of its workforce abroad and since then the emigration trend witnessed a sharp decline due to some economic reforms in the middle east which resulted into the return of huge number of manpower back home.

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.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had remained most attractive destination for the Pakistani workers as data showed that 5,136,381 manpower went there. United Arab Emirates followed by the KSA with 3,665,017.
Oman was the third largest country where Pakistan sent over 0.76 million of its labour.

According to the official sources, gulfization policy in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries was a major reason behind a 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 equipping with the skills at par global standards.

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