A recent report released by the Department of Foreign Employment shows that around half a million Nepalis leave the country for foreign employment every year. The number is definitely higher than the comparable figure the previous years. This trend is a serious concern since the migrant workers are mostly high-potential youths. A developing country, Nepal faces big challenges. And youths are highly dissatisfied and frustrated with the situation as the nation is in transition and politics is still unstable. Inflation is growing by the day. These factors have compelled the youths to leave the country. 

Unemployment is a serious problem for national development. Several factors make the increasing unemployment a major concern: nation’s politics, poor economic growth, lack of big infrastructure, high birth rate and relatively young population. This means that many new graduates and school leavers enter labor force with poor prospects of work as economic activity is concentrated in sectors with low job creation capacities. 

Lack of information and awareness initiatives in villages make it difficult for them to identify opportunities in their community. Similarly, lack of technical and vocational education, along with the distaste for manual labor among our youth, only adds to our problems. Many of our villages are already without any youths. Most youths and capable men are abroad, leaving women and elderly behind. 

Even if the youths can earn good salary here, they find the foreign pastures more charming and are ready to work in 50 degree heat abroad. They hesitate to work in their own fields. Nepali workers mostly prefer Gulf countries since they have higher employment opportunities, good pay scale and minimal expenses. 

A recruitment agency at Basundhara, Kathmandu informs that it sends approximately 200 people for foreign employment every month. Most of those people are youths from villages; they are under-educated and prefer factory work with low pay scale. But even those from small cities who have post-secondary or graduation degrees are willing to work in Gulf countries. They feel safe and secure staying abroad for few years to earn sustainable livelihood. Even educated youths are excited to work overseas in small paying jobs, even though they earn similar salary here. 

It is true that foreign employment has brought in good remittance. It is the backbone of the national economy. Also, overseas returnees bring skill, knowledge and money. But do they utilize their skills acquired abroad? Most of the returnees remain inactive, and few return back again in search of opportunities. 

Foreign employment has also created labor shortage in the country. Lands have become barren without working manpower. Villages lack youths for any new initiative or development work. Similarly, many families have been destroyed as a result of moral degradation of family values. Extra-marital affairs are on the rise.

It’s important to discourage the trend of our youths migrating by generating employment opportunities in Nepal for the uplift of the nation. Capable youths should be used in development works in a developing country like Nepal, not in arid deserts abroad. Encouraging entrepreneurship can help discourage youths for seeking opportunities abroad. Nepal is full of natural resources and possibilities, and there are many examples of creative, skillful and hardworking hands, utilizing their own resources.

Strawberry farming in Nuwakot, goat-cheese production in Makawanpur, herb plantation in Tanahun, village tourism in Syangja, rhododendron and ginger squash production in Palpa, mushroom plantation in Lalitpur and many more across the nation are instances of local employment. The self-employed locals in these districts are not only sustaining their livelihood but also creating jobs in their neighborhood. 

Mass promotion of such entrepreneurship should be conducted to persuade the youths lining up to attain machine readable passports from early morning or leaving villages everyday in search of good manpower agency in the capital. The state must encourage youths to stay back and use their skills and potential for the better of Nepal. 

Published on: 14 June 2014 | Republica