According to Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE), the number of workers leaving for Saudi Arabia, home to more than 500,000 Nepali migrant workers, shot up by over 34 percent to 15,921 during the review period ending mid-October, compared to 11,833 recorded last year.
Manpower agencies said booming construction sector as well as agriculture farms are the major absorbers of Nepali blue-collar workers in Saudi Arabia. “
"Saudi Arabia´s economy remained comparatively more insulated that other economies and has been able to continue providing employment opportunities to migrant workers in its fast-growing construction and agriculture sectors despite the global economic gloom," said Gyanu Gaire, general secretary of Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA).
However, the number of workers leaving for other key destinations such as Qatar, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) declined in the first quarter.
The DoFE said number of job seekers heading to Qatar and Malaysia dropped to 12,536 and 14,082 during the period from 22,173 and 16,993 respectively recorded last year. UAE, one of the countries hit hard by the global gloom, also saw a drop in the arrivals of Nepali workers to 8,009 from 9,914 recorded last year.
The total number of workers leaving for different overseas destinations dropped by over 18 percent to 56,282 in first three months of this fiscal year from 68,675 recorded during the same period last year.
According to DoFE, a total of 14,249 workers left for overseas jobs during mid-September to mid-October this year, a sharp decline from 22,636 recorded a month earlier.
Uma Shankar Joshi, director of DoFE, said number of Nepali overseas workers declined during the month as Nepali youths were busy celebrating major festivals like Dashain and Tihar. "We expect the number to go down this month also as recently concluded Chhath festival also affected the departure of Nepali workers, mainly from Tarai," Joshi added.
During the month, Malaysia became the most favorite destination for Nepali workers with 4,872 departures, followed by Qatar and the UAE, which received 2,991 and 2,406 workers respectively. Departures to Saudi Arabia, the fourth largest recipient during the month with 2,207 workers, also saw decline due to Ramadan - a month long Muslim festival.
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