Foreign employment agents have attributed the decline to the ongoing Ramadan festival in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries and the end of fast track visa approvals by the Malaysian government.[break]
Records maintained by Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) shows that a total of 29,354 male and 331 female workers left for overseas jobs in the review period. Of the total departures, 23,988 workers arranged jobs through institutional channel and the remaining through individual channels.
The number of workers leaving for Malaysia -- the most popular destination among Nepali jobseekers - declined from 15,473 to 12,795 during the review period. Of the total workers who left for the booming East Asian economy, 205 were female and most of them had managed to get jobs through the institutional channel.
Similarly, the number of workers leaving for Saudi Arabia - second popular destination among Nepali workers for the last couple of years - has also dropped to 6,389 from 7,350 recorded a month ago. Of the total workers, 6,187 left through institutional channel while the remaining arranged jobs through personal contacts.
Foreign employment agents said number of workers declined in the first month of 2010/11 because of drop in issuance of visa in Saudi Arabia due to the Ramadan festival of Muslim community and slow demand from Malaysian companies.
“Malaysian companies that had recruited more workers to speed up production following last year´s economic downturn have been placing low demands in recent months,” Gyan Prasad Gaire, vice president of Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA), told Republica. Saudi Arabia has slowed approvals of visas due to month-long Ramadan festival in Saudi Arabia,” he added.
Gaire also said closure of calling visa, which can be issued on arrivals, and end of fast track approval of visas by the Malaysian government also dragged down the number of workers leaving for Malaysia in the review period.
However, the number of workers leaving for Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) increased to 5,726 and 3,155 during the period, up from 4,515 and 2,725 recorded a month earlier. A total of 5,725 workers managed to land a job in Qatar through institutional channel. Similarly, 1,956 workers left for UAE through institutional channels, according to DoFE.
Though the number of workers leaving for overseas jobs declined in the first month of the 2010/11, the departure figure is 52.29 percent higher than the number of workers that left for overseas jobs during the first month of 2009/10. According to DoFE, a total of 19,492 workers had left the country for greener pastures abroad during the period.
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