Despite global slowdown, Nepali workers leaving for overseas on rise

KATHMANDU. February 23 . KAZINFORM The number of Nepali laborers leaving for overseas has seen a rise of 8 percent during the period of mid-January to mid-February 2009 compared to the previous month, local news website Nepal news reported on Monday.

The data has recorded high in contrast with the hundreds of Nepali migrant workers being returning back at home due to the global recession. However, the growing trend of job-seeking through personal initiative has been attributed to the rise in Nepali people going abroad for employment. According to the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE), a total number of workers leaving for different job destinations between mid-January and mid-February this year stood at 18,715 against 17,300 recorded in the previous month. The number of Nepalis finding overseas work through individual initiative increased to 28 percent of the total outbound workforce during the month while it was only around 15 percent in past months. The number of Nepali workers going to United Arab Emirates (UAE) witnessed a very nominal rise between mid-January and mid-February as some 2,550 such workers left for the country during the period; Kazinform refers to Xinhua. According to data of the DoFE, 6,413 Nepalis left for Qatar and an additional 5,140 flew to Saudi Arabia during the month. Data of DoFE shows that, the number of workers leaving for Malaysia, however, declined to 1,553 during the month, compared to 2,873 registered a month earlier.