KATHMANDU, July 18 (Xinhua) -- A record high of Nepalis went abroad for jobs during the 2022-23 fiscal year that ended in mid-July, a government official said on Tuesday.
A total of 771,327 workers obtained the permits to work abroad and most of them were aged below 40, said Gurudatta Subedi, spokesman of the Department of Foreign Employment.
"A record high of work permits were issued in the previous fiscal year. The number is 134,214 higher than in 2021-22," Subedi told Xinhua, noting the migrant workers landed mainly in Middle Eastern countries.
In 2014-15 fiscal year, 693,032 Nepalis went overseas for employment, the highest around that time.
Every year around 500,000 Nepalis enter the job market, but the South Asian country generates jobs for only around 80,000 of them, according to Jeevan Baniya, an expert at the Centre for the Study of Labor and Mobility.
"The increase in migrant workers would mean Nepal receiving more remittances, however, we're losing productive human resources which are needed for development," Baniya told Xinhua.
"This will have negative consequences on the country in the long run," he added.
The talent drain is seen as a significant barrier to investment in Nepal, while remittances are the mountainous country's largest source of foreign exchange reserves. ■
