Dhanusha district records highest number of people going abroad for foreign employment

Published On: November 4, 2023 02:30 PM NPT By: Sabita Khadka

Jhapa in second, Morang in third positions

KATHMANDU, Nov 4: The latest data shows that the number of people who go abroad for foreign employment is the highest in Dhanusha district. From the beginning of the current fiscal year (FY) 2023/24 till Ashoj (mid-September to mid-October), a total of 7,822 people went to work abroad from Dhanusha.

According to the Department of Foreign Employment, these individuals obtained their labor permits through various manpower companies. Dhanusha held the top position in the previous year as well. Despite the annual increase in the number of people seeking foreign employment, other districts are behind Dhanusha. However, in Ashoj of the current FY, the Department's data shows Jhapa district sent the highest number of people abroad for foreign employment.

Foreign employment has become a reliable means of running the households of the Madhesi youth who are suffering from the growing unemployment and economic situation in the country. Due to the lack of reliable employment in the country, the aim of today's youth is to go abroad. The number of people going abroad for employment is high in Madhesh also because the money earned from foreign labor is not enough. This problem is affecting not only Madhesh but the entire country.

According to the data maintained by the Department, the majority of young people seeking foreign employment are from six districts of Madhesh. Dhanusha leads the list, followed by Mahottari, Siraha, Saptari, Sarlahi, and Rautahat, respectively.

After Dhanusha, Jhapa stands as the second district sending the most youth for foreign labor, with 7,727 individuals migrating from the district until Ashoj of the current FY. Similarly, 6,654 people have moved from Morang, 5,815 from Mahottari, 5,314 from Sunsari, and 5,206 from Rupandehi.

Krishna Prasad Bhusal, information officer of the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security informed Republica that most of the young people who are forced to leave their families and go abroad to improve their economic situation are from Madhesh.

"Young individuals are forced to seek opportunities abroad to resolve family issues, provide education for their children, manage financial hardships, and relieve themselves from debt burdens," he explained.

Bhusal also noted that most Madheshi youths going to Gulf countries for employment lack formal education and often lack specialized skills or work-related knowledge. This leaves some vulnerable to exploitation by brokers and burdened by debt.

Bhusal said that most of the young people from Madhesh go to Gulf countries to work. "They often lack formal education," he said, "They have neither learned specialized skills nor are they knowledgeable about work. In this case, some of them are victims of fraud by brokers and later they are burdened by debt.”

At the beginning of the current FY, it seems that most of the Nepalis have left the country to work as laborers abroad. In the same way, Nepalis go abroad to work in factories and construction areas, to clean. Many Nepalis also go abroad as laborers, domestic workers and security guards. The data shows that there are also those who go abroad as waiters and consultants, not through manpower companies but through their own individual efforts.

For foreign employment, most of the labor permits are taken for the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Malaysia. As the Gulf and Malaysia are becoming the first destination countries for foreign employment, they have also become risky lands for Nepali workers.

The average number of Nepalis who go for foreign employment and the number of Nepalis who die there has not decreased for a long time. As unemployment in the country is increasing, according to the Department of Foreign Employment, 56,235 young people have gone abroad in search of employment in Ashoj in the current FY, including 49,398 men and 6,837 women.

About the same number had left the country in Shrawan (mid-July to mid-August). According to the data of the Department of Foreign Employment, 50,884 young people went abroad in Bhadra (mid-August to mid-September). All of them are new labor approvals.