Unemployment crisis: masses abroad as joblessness skyrockets
According to the 2078 census published on the 20th Chaitra 2079, around 21,90592 are working abroad. Tribhuwan International Airport always teems with people willing to go abroad either for studies or for work. Some people go abroad to study, as our former article on choice or compulsion described ( Choice or Compulsion). At the same time, some go to work abroad. But why are these people going abroad? Is it just a fad?
Recently, the picture of a man praying the US President Joe Biden for the DV lottery flooded social media. Different people had different viewpoints but let us consider the intensity of DV for now. DV which also stands for diversity immigrant visa, is completely free and allows Nepali citizens to immigrate to the US. According to whisker, 3808 Nepalese were selected for DV 2023. It allows you to live as well as work in the US. It gives you an opportunity to become a permanent resident and get a green card. Thousands of people here in Nepal apply for the DV lottery in the hope that they can shape their future after going to the US. People consider this a life-changing opportunity and they put their blood and sweat just to be selected. In search of a better life, they go to all extents possible which simply can’t be justified as a fad. “BUT WHY?”
-(Picture extracted from Routine of Nepal Banda)
The above graph extracted from the world bank, answers it partially. Since 2010, we can observe that the unemployment rate is increasing. People are unable to find a suitable job, and even if they find a job they are not satisfied with the pay they receive. Nepal lacks to provide appropriate opportunities for people. People have the skill set but they don’t have an opportunity. To land a proper job, all they will need is a “source”. You need to know someone from a higher position who can refer you for the job. This cuts the chances of a qualified employee from landing a job. And going abroad to work becomes the ultimate panacea and brain drain escalates.
We can see a spike in the unemployment rate from 2020. The unemployment rate which was around 3.0% before 2020, rose to around 5.0% after 2020 (from the graph above). According to the macro trends unemployment rate for 2021 was 5.05%. This was an all-time high rate. And recently more than 8 lakh people have registered for the prime minister’s employment program. This rise is wholesome. Many people lost their jobs and were unemployed after covid-19. Regardless, they need to sustain their life, so the family's breadwinner often decides to go abroad and earn money.
But why do people with jobs also prefer to go abroad? It is because of the better pay. For the same work that they do here, they receive better pay there. An average nurse in Nepal earns Rs,216000 per year (acc to payscale) and the same nurse in Australia earns an average of $79,500 per year which when converted to Nepalese rupees is 10,441,876.19. This concludes that a nurse in Australia earns around 48.34 times more than a nurse in Nepal. In such a scenario who would want to settle for less? Such lucrative earning attracts many Nepalis to go abroad, in search of a better lifestyle.
And the second most important thing is the dignity of the job. From the very beginning, we are taught that no job is small or big, but it doesn’t effectuate. A person who hesitates to wash his/her dishes here in Nepal is willing to go abroad just to wash dishes. A person working as Dishwasher in Nepal typically earns around Rs. 20,400 (Rs. 10,600 NPR (lowest) to Rs. 31,200 (highest), monthly. But the same person in Australia earns AUD $19.60, so even if he/she works 5 hours a day for 25 days he/she will earn NRS 215,096.17, which is 6.8 times the highest pay for a dishwasher in Nepal. And when you say to someone in Nepal that you are a dishwasher, after frowning their ultimate reply would be “You can do better.” On the other hand, these same people are willing to go themselves or in some cases send their children to wash the very same dishes abroad. As people receive better pay with respect.
This is just one aspect of working abroad. According to the national economics survey, to date (2079) there are 55 lakhs 26 thousand 704 people with labor permits. And 3/4th of people having a labor permit go to Gulf countries for foreign employment. But their stories simply don’t end here. Stay tuned for the second part of this article!
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