In the 1980s,  there used to be  a motto  in  the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA)  ‘Able Hands in Foreign Lands’  considered a pioneer among Asian governmental structures that promote foreign labor.  The Philippines indeed has been promoting   foreign labor in quite  a  few ways that  other Asian countries  can well emulate, particularly in making sure the workers  fit the job profile, are skilled,  and put to the test  before they leave, so that they can speak the foreign language of the destination country where they arrive in haste. 

In 2008,  the Nepal Government report on overseas employment promotion that  the number of  countries  seeking Nepali able hands has doubled, while the  quality of workers remains stagnant. That is , education  and skills-wise.  We got to be honest with ourselves.  Nepal cannot continue generating a pool of unskilled workers at lower end jobs for foreign countries; that market will soon be  oversaturated with too many poor  Nepali souls  eking out  a ‘just-so’ quality of  life! This would be in stark contrast to the QOL, for instance, what a Pakistani, Indian or  Filipino worker enjoys because these countries have worked towards steady and systematic  promotion of   foreign overseas employment abroad for many generations.  

The  Department of Labor and Employment Promotion of  the Nepal Government states, workers leaving for Qatar, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia made  up more than 93 percent of the total departures during the first 11 months of the current fiscal year 2007-08.   Of the total 215,639 workers–which is a record number to date,    most were unskilled.   The Nepal Government  recorded 201,507  workers  headed to the four countries  to fill in for blue-collar  jobs in construction, manufacturing and service sectors.  On the other hand, there are also governments in Qatar, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia  that have tested Nepali workers for their hard work,  honesty and ability to  do the dirty and dangerous jobs, but these days they are equally convinced that  Nepali workers  can work  higher  skilled assignments purposefully.  One should also note,   Nepali labor attaches are posted in only a handful of  Nepali embassies in the Middle East, mostly trained by the ILO, though doing a  valiant job  in listening to the woes of  mostly unskilled workers. It is a bad Nepali  precedent to only come calling  for help when one needs assistance badly, and usually the poor  attaché has little in his hands to try anything new or innovative.

There is a strategic dimension to Nepali foreign employment as well. It is just  more than a coincidence that Nepali workers  mostly work in countries where the U.S and India have a  major strategic  hold or major  foreign policy stake.  Nepali workers are in fact, considered by most of the host countries as a secondary stream of  the Indian labor force which has been  in these countries for decades sending nearly US$ 19 billion  a year back to India! 

One should therefore note,   a  major workshop on Labor  Migration Poverty Alleviation and  Foreign Employment conducted in  August, 2007  in Kathmandu by one of Nepal’s most well known, persuasive and foresighted intellectual thinkers, Professor Sridhar Kumar  Khatri,  who stated that Nepal’s economy had good prospects and enough reasons to survive if it  promoted foreign labor through systematic  export, which would have to be tailored  to host country requirements. Thereby, the labor export ‘returns’ would be seen through  direct  foreign migrant remittance earnings channeled back to Nepal in a  couple of  years.  This is precisely the end game scenario now! It is equally well known that  Nepali economic growth and stability, despite the civil conflict that took place between 1996-2006, was largely sustained through the migrant remittances which are known to total between US$2 billion to US$ 3 billion annually  if the unofficial ‘hundi’ system is also accounted for.   Minister of Finance Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat, in fact,  congratulated Professor Khatri for his insight but also stated that the liberal passport and immigration policy and migration to countries other than India was basically a phenomenon after  the democracy of 1990 which still needs to  be properly  cultivated. 

Nevertheless,  as a good government gesture, Dr Mahat promised that the Nepal Government would do all that it could to  fill in with quality service and extend all necessary infrastructure requirement to promote foreign employment and assist Nepali migrant workers abroad.   Dr.  Mahat’s promise, like Dr.Khatri’s    is  slowly being fulfilled,  with an enhancement of  Nepali skilled labor flows abroad, although the current political deadlock seems to affect  everything, including sending foreign workers abroad.  

By way of  emigration for work, neighboring  Malaysia is still the second largest destination for Nepali workers which has been considered less attractive due to falling dollar prices,  meager salaries, government levies and stricter labor policies adopted by the Malaysian government according to those who have returned back. In the last 11 months of this  fiscal year, the number of Nepali  workers going there decreased by  30 percent to 45,680 persons compared to the same period last year. On the other hand,  the number of countries hiring Nepali workers on a regular basis has shot up to 64 from only 38  hiring last year.

What about the future? It might be wholesome if Nepali universities also ran courses on foreign employment, made it compulsory to teach  a  second foreign language and  also ran training courses on various labor skills required  from  nursing to restaurant  hygiene and  crane operation (which kills more than two dozen Nepalis each year!)   Today,  Nepal permits its citizens to work in 107 countries around the world except Iraq, that is  quite impressive! 

According to Tilak  Ranabhat who heads  the Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agents (NAFEA),  “We have to look for better destinations in the years ahead as the existing labor market for Nepali workers is becoming more competitive due to an influx of labor from other poor countries.”  Ranabhat adds that  Nepalis have to compete with  foreign workers  who are more endowed skill-wise such as from Vietnam, Indonesia and Myanmar.  Dr. Sarad Adhikari, executive director of Skill Training Directorate, a government-run skill training center,  asserts that  nearly 14, 300 Nepalis got training last year in various subjects such as masonry, automobile repair, plumbing, house wiring and other occupations, but the fact I,s this is a meager  sum to contend with  given that thousands of Nepali able hands  are still wishing to join foreign lands for  a  safe income and  the promise of  a better quality of life for their families back home through sustained remittance inputs. 

Nepal’s GDP stood at  $7.7 billion this year,  with a growth of 2.38% projected for this year.  But Nepali per capita income still stands at only  US$ 322 while inflation has hit above 12% according to Nepali academics.  Therefore, what better boon could there be than foreign labor and  a well resourced pool of  Nepalis ready to fill in the quickly building quota abroad?  It would  make Nepal’s  name  more well known internationally and probably help generate even better remittance flows!  It would be highly suggestible, therefore,  that organizations such as ILO, IOM, USAID, EU, World Bank and the ADB, which have contributed generously to Nepali growth in the past decades,  look into this aspect of  Nepali economic development as well in the future, so as  to promote a  desired Nepali national skills bank to match the honesty, hard work and diligence of  Nepali workers abroad.  It is time Nepali labor experts  and different associations had a serious  brainstorming in the original spirit of  Dr. Khatri’s  proposal on proper and skilled foreign employment promotion for Nepal, which indeed is benefitting the national economy.

(Surya B. Prasai is a global strategic communications, media and international development  resource consultant based in Maryland, whose views regularly appear in some eminent  global media on a regular basis, including Google and Yahoo Global News Networks on international affairs.)

(Note from the Nepal Horizons Editorial Team: The views and opinion expressed in this article are that of the author and not of NHC. We request individuals with interest in Nepal to submit their views on contemporary Nepalese issues to the following e-mail address: editor@nepalhorizons.com.  Pictures of contributors or images that relate to submissions are welcome)