August 8: The number of Nepali migrant workers going for foreign employment has declined by 55 percent in the last Fiscal Year (FY) 2077/78.

In the previous FY 2076/77, the number of workers going for foreign employment had also declined by 28 percent.

According to the annual report made public by the Department of Foreign Employment last year, only 166, 698 Nepali workers have gone for foreign employment in the last fiscal year.

In the previous fiscal year 2076/77,   a total of 368, 433 Nepali workers had one for foreign employment. The data of the department shows that 508, 828 Nepalis went for foreign employment in FY 2075/76.

By renewing the labor permit, 72,081 new workers (those who got new labor permits) went to foreign employment last year. In the previous fiscal year 190,453 new workers had gone for foreign employment.

Last year, Nepalis went to 116 countries including the UAE, Japan, Romania, Malaysia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, South Korea, and Cyprus for foreign employment.

Most of the workers have gone to Qatar. A total of 54,915 workers went to Qatar last year. Likewise, 46,960 workers have gone to Saudi Arabia. Similarly, the data of the department shows that 40,477 workers have gone to the UAE.

Under normal circumstances, 400,000 to 500,000 workers from Nepal go for foreign employment every year. However, according to the department, the number of workers going for foreign employment has declined sharply in the last two years due to the impact of Covid-19 pandemic.

Stating that the number of workers going for foreign employment has decreased due to the pandemic, Mahendra Nath Bhattarai, information officer of the department said, “Most of the countries in the world including Nepal have imposed lockdown to control the global spread of the pandemic.”

“As a result, an economic crisis has been seen in the labor destination countries. Employer companies have been shut down, and workers have been laid off,” he added, “These are the reasons for the declining number of workers going for foreign employment.” Meanwhile, the demand for workers has also declined sharply.

The number of workers going for foreign employment had decreased in the fiscal year 2076/77 BS due to the postponement of the work permit and the extended lockdown from March 24, 2020.

The government had postponed the approval of work permits for foreign employment on March 11, 2020 and started giving permission from June 28, 2020. Likewise, the government started giving new work permits from September 2. Since then, Nepalis have started going for foreign employment.

According to the department, the number of workers going for foreign employment has been increasing recently.

"The demand for workers has been increasing lately. As a result, the number of workers for foreign employment has been increasing in recent times,” said Bhattarai.