Comment by Riaz Haq on June 4, 2023 at 9:15am

Labour migration in Pakistan

https://www.ilo.org/islamabad/areasofwork/labour-migration/lang--en...


Pakistan is one of the largest labour sending countries in the region. As of December 2019, more than 11 million Pakistanis have proceeded abroad for employment to over 50 countries through official procedures. The migration of Pakistani workers is mostly concentrated to Gulf Cooperation Council countries (96 per cent) with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates hosting the majority. The Remittances by Migrant Workers to Pakistan reached to US$21.84 billion during 2019 financial year, 60-65 per cent of the remittances were from the Arab States.

The ILO works closely with Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, and its affiliate institutions in developing Government’s Emigration Policy and capacity building. Collaborations with the ILO social partners and other stakeholders like Pakistan Overseas Employment Promoters Association (POEPA) have been growing stronger.


The DWCP (2016-22) focuses on enhancing compatibility of TEVT qualifications so that Pakistani migrant workers can compete for and secure skilled jobs in the destination countries. In order to promote safe and fair labour migration, easy and timely access to accurate information for perspective migrant workers is critical.

In Pakistan, the EU-funded ILO Global Action to Improve the Recruitment Framework of Labour Migration (REFRAME) project has been going on. It seeks to work in partnership with ILO constituents in Pakistan to address the challenges related to the
recruitment of migrant workers in line with the ILO’s General Principles and Operational Guidelines for Fair Recruitment and Definition of Recruitment Fees and Related Costs.

The ILO has commissioned a Rapid Assessment to gauge impact of COVID-19 on labour migration governance and relevant stakeholders to inform policy and programmes on how to address the challenges and emerging needs of relevant stakeholders and support labour migration governance.

Comment by Riaz Haq on June 20, 2023 at 3:51pm

Greece shipwreck highlights Pakistan human smuggling woes
Hundreds still missing after migrant vessel capsizes in Mediterranean Sea

https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/Greece-shi...


About 40,000 Pakistanis a year leave the country through unofficial channels. Up to 90% of Pakistani migrants who reached Italy relied on smugglers and other illegal means, according to the Mixed Migration Centre, a Europe-based research group.

Some 34,000 were deported back to Pakistan last year from Europe, but that has not stopped the smugglers, who advertise widely on social media. Known by their slang name "dunkers," the smugglers can be found on Facebook offering to transport migrants overland from Pakistan to Turkey for between 200,000 and 400,000 rupees ($700 and $1,400) each.

Pakistani immigration lawyer Ahmed Jamal told Nikkei that human smugglers ply different routes to reach Europe, depending on how much they are paid. Most of the migrants on the capsized vessel are thought to come from the northern region of Kashmir, with some paying up to 2.3 million rupees to smugglers, local media reported.

"Those who pay high amounts are flown to North Africa legally, and from there transported to Europe on ships," Jamal said. Pakistanis who can't afford the flight to North Africa are often transported by a perilous land route to Greece, via Iran and Turkey.

The suspected smugglers in last week's disaster are expected to face manslaughter charges in Greece, while Pakistan said it has arrested a dozen suspects since the sinking.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for countries to clamp down on human trafficking in the wake of the tragedy, but the smuggling problem in Pakistan is driven by more than economic woes and weak law enforcement.

Corrupt officials willing to look the other way in exchange for bribes is another key issue, according to a former immigration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He told Nikkei that his efforts to crack down on smuggling rackets got him quickly transferred.

The government should step up its monitoring of travel consultants and how passports are issued in districts hit hardest by the migrant exodus, said the immigration lawyer, Jamal, adding that Islamabad must reach out for technical assistance.

"Developed countries will provide all possible help to Pakistan for preventing illegal migration because it's in their national interest," he added.

Comment by Riaz Haq on June 20, 2023 at 3:53pm

Greece boat disaster: A Pakistani father's anguish over his missing son

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/greece-boat-disaster-12-pakist...

KARACHI, Pakistan, June 17 (Reuters) - Shahid Mehmood, a retired Pakistani civil servant, tried his best to persuade his son not to make the trip to Europe in search of a better life.

But 25-year-old Shehryar Sultan was determined to go.

Now, the father fears his son was among those lost in a disastrous boat capsize off Greece on Wednesday in which hundreds of people are thought to have died, among them Pakistanis. The family were praying for him to be recovered alive but by Friday evening had started to lose hope.

Mehmood, 60, said a local travel agent had charged 2.2 million Pakistani rupees ($7,653) for his son's trip, with the promise he would earn well in Europe.

"I tried to stop him; told him to forget the whole thing. But the travel agent had totally brainwashed him, telling him: 'You will only be on the way for two to three days,'" the father said. "My son was gullible, so he went along with them."

He did not name the agent.

Pakistan's economy is suffering record high inflation and an economic slowdown compounded by devastating floods last year.

Mehmood said his son did not have any travel document, or an identity card or passport, but the people who organised the trip flew him off from central city of Faisalabad.

Mehmood said his son stayed two days in Dubai, then six days in Egypt, before boarding a plane to Libya that was so crammed it had people sitting on the floor.

Sultan spent roughly four months in Tripoli before setting out to sea, living in what the father said were squalid conditions. Mehmood said he tried to get the agent to send his son home when he heard about the conditions in Libya, but nothing came of it.

He said he last heard from his son when Sultan got on a boat, which he believes was the doomed vessel.

"He sent a (text) message saying that he was sitting in a boat with around 400- 500 people. And they were expected to be at sea for five or six days," recalled Mehmood.

On Friday, the family was able to confirm that a companion of Sultan was among the dead, said Sultan's cousin, Adnan Iftikhar.

'VERY WRONG'

The death toll from Wednesday's disaster could run to many hundreds as witness accounts suggested that between 400 and 750 people had packed the fishing boat that sank about 50 miles (80 km) from the southern Greek town of Pylos.

Greek authorities have said 104 survivors and 78 bodies of the dead were brought ashore in the immediate aftermath. Hopes were fading of finding any more people alive.

Twelve Pakistanis were among survivors of the boat capsize, the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Saturday, but it did not have numbers for how many Pakistanis died, or their identities.

"My thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved families who lost their loved ones in the unfortunate ferry disaster in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Greece," Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said in a tweet on Saturday.

Most of the people on board the capsized boat were from Egypt, Syria and Pakistan, Greek government officials have said.

"All this is very wrong. The government needs to crack down on all these types of (travel) agents," said Mehmood. "This is cruelty. Sheer cruelty that gives heartache to parents which they will never get over all their lives."

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 5, 2023 at 8:50pm

Migrant workers in Asia approach pre-pandemic levels
Remittances to home countries in Asia-Pacific region hit record high in 2022

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Work/Migrant-workers-in-Asia-appr...

In 2022, Saudi Arabia accepted a record 1.5 million workers from Asian countries and regions, according to the ADBI. This included more than 600,000 and 500,000 from Bangladesh and Pakistan, respectively. The UAE and Oman also accepted many workers from the two countries.


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For emerging and developing countries, remittances from migrant workers are now valuable sources of foreign currency apart from foreign direct investment and official development assistance. The remittances shore up personal consumption and capital spending.

India received the largest amount of remittances, followed by China and the Philippines. Tonga and Samoa in the South Pacific and Kyrgyz and Tajikistan in Central Asia received remittances equal to more than 30% of each country's gross domestic product. As Central Asian diaspora often work in Russia, they may continue to be affected by developments in the war between Russia and Ukraine.


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Bangladesh surpassed the Philippines as Asia's biggest supply of migrant workers in 2022 at 1.13 million. The number of laborers from the Philippines exceeded 1.6 million in 2016 and 2019 but declined in 2020. Despite a recovery to 820,000 in 2022, the Philippines fell behind Bangladesh.

Of Asian migrant workers who went to the U.S. and Europe, Indians outnumber others. U.S. work visas -- such as the H1B issued to IT workers and other professionals -- were obtained by 200,000 Indians in 2022, up 34% from 2019. In contrast, there were only 8,000 Chinese workers who headed to the U.S., reflecting U.S.-China tensions.

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TOKYO/MANILA -- Cross-border traffic of migrant workers in Asia is on the rise as the effect of the pandemic fades. In 2022, the number of new migrant workers totaled 4.6 million, close to the figure before the COVID-19 outbreak, after countries eased or eliminated restrictions imposed to stop the spread of infections.

While Bangladesh became the biggest origin of migrant laborers, remittances by overseas workers in general hit an all-time high, helping the economies of home countries.

In late June, the Philippines' Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) in Manila was crowded with people looking for jobs overseas. "I easily found a high-paying job," said Juviline Llenado, who will work as a domestic helper in Saudi Arabia. To support her family, she plans to leave for the oil-rich kingdom in July.

Merchant sailors, who are treated as migrant workers in the Philippines, are also swelling the ranks. There were around 500,000 Filipino merchant sailors in 2019 but this number plunged during the COVID crisis. However, in the first three months of this year, the number stood at around 150,000. Susan Ople, secretary of the DMW, said, "You can see that the road to recovery is very clear".

There were 4.6 million new migrant workers in Asia in 2022, marking a sharp rebound from 1.8 million in 2020 and 2.2 million in 2021, according to the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the International Labor Organization. With China having ended its zero-COVID policy, the number is forecast to continue growing this year and could hit the pre-pandemic level of 5 million workers.

Demand for foreign workers has rebounded sharply because of the global economic recovery spurred by the easing of border controls. In particular, oil-producing countries in the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are accepting large numbers of workers from Bangladesh and other South Asian countries.

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 10, 2023 at 8:01am

Remittances sent home by Pakistanis working abroad fell to $27bn for the fiscal year 2023, compared with $31.3bn a year earlier, the country’s central bank said on Monday.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/10/pakistans-flailing-economy...

Remittances for June slumped to $2.2bn from $2.8bn a year earlier, central bank data showed. The remittances were mainly sourced from Saudi Arabia ($515.1m), the United Kingdom ($343m), the United Arab Emirates ($324.7m) and the United States ($272.3m).

According to the World Bank last year, Pakistan was the world’s sixth top recipient of remittances in 2022, behind India, Mexico, China, the Philippines and Egypt, although Tonga, Lebanon and Samoa are most dependent on money sent home from abroad as a percentage of GDP.

Pakistan’s economic crisis
The drop signals another blow to Pakistan’s economy which is facing its worst crisis since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.

Years of financial mismanagement, a global energy crisis and severe flooding have battered the economy, resulting in a slew of strict economic measures imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as Pakistan’s central bank looks to secure a bailout.

The $3bn short-term financial package from the IMF is subject to approval by its board on July 12.

Comment by Riaz Haq on August 10, 2023 at 5:41pm

Dependency ratio is the ratio of children (under 15) and retirees (65 and above)) to working age (15-64 years) people in a population. Countries with high dependency ratios tend to perform poorly relative to countries with low dependency ratios in terms of economic growth.

A recent NY Times article by Lauren Leatherby titled "How a Vast Demographic Shift Will Reshape the World" uses charts and graphics to show how the world economic landscape will change during the rest of the century.

It shows that Pakistan will join the top 10 countries with highest share of working age population and lowest dependency ratios.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/07/16/world/world-demograp...

Pakistan will join top 10 countries in working age population in 2050

Bangladesh is already in the top 10 working age population countries today.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/07/16/world/world-demograp...


Countries are categorized as having large working-age populations if people between the ages of 15 and 64, an age group commonly used by demographers, make up at least 65 percent of the total population.

Countries where at least a quarter of the population is under age 15 and where less than 65 percent of the population is working age are categorized as having a large young population. Countries are categorized as having a large old population if those age 65 and older make up more than a quarter of the population.

Unless noted otherwise, graphics include all countries with a population of at least 50,000 people.

The world’s demographics have already been transformed. Europe is shrinking. China is shrinking, with India, a much younger country, overtaking it this year as the world’s most populous nation.

But what we’ve seen so far is just the beginning.

The projections are reliable, and stark: By 2050, people age 65 and older will make up nearly 40 percent of the population in some parts of East Asia and Europe. That’s almost twice the share of older adults in Florida, America’s retirement capital. Extraordinary numbers of retirees will be dependent on a shrinking number of working-age people to support them.

In all of recorded history, no country has ever been as old as these nations are expected to get.

As a result, experts predict, things many wealthier countries take for granted — like pensions, retirement ages and strict immigration policies — will need overhauls to be sustainable. And today’s wealthier countries will almost inevitably make up a smaller share of global G.D.P., economists say.

This is a sea change for Europe, the United States, China and other top economies, which have had some of the most working-age people in the world, adjusted for their populations. Their large work forces have helped to drive their economic growth.

Those countries are already aging off the list. Soon, the best-balanced work forces will mostly be in South and Southeast Asia, Africa and the Middle East, according to U.N. projections. The shift could reshape economic growth and geopolitical power balances, experts say.

Comment by Riaz Haq on August 12, 2023 at 6:59pm

Pakistan recorded an inflow of $2 billion as part of remittances sent by Pakistanis working abroad

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2353346/pakistan


“Remittances inflows during July 23 were mainly sourced from Saudi Arabia ($486.7 million), United Arab Emirates ($315.1 million), United Kingdom ($305.7 million) and United States of America ($238.1) million respectively,” the SBP said in a statement.


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Pakistan’s remittance flow declined by more than 7 percent in July on a month-on-month basis, the Pakistani central bank said on Thursday, with Saudi Arabia being the largest contributor.

The South Asian country recorded an inflow of $2 billion as part of remittances sent by Pakistanis working abroad, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

However, the inflows recorded a huge drop of 19 percent on a year-on-year basis.

“Remittances inflows during July 23 were mainly sourced from Saudi Arabia ($486.7 million), United Arab Emirates ($315.1 million), United Kingdom ($305.7 million) and United States of America ($238.1) million respectively,” the SBP said in a statement.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have deep cultural, defense and economic ties, deeply rooted in history and religion. The Kingdom is home to over two million Pakistanis, making it the largest contributor to remittance inflows into the South Asian country.

The decline in remittances comes at a time when Pakistan is about to witness the transition of power to a caretaker government in August that would run the South Asian country for at least three months until a general election, due in November.

Embroiled in economic and political crises for more than a month, Pakistan secured a crucial $3 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in late June after months of delay, with economists blaming the delay in signing the IMF deal for the economic turmoil.

Dr. Vaqar Ahmed, Joint Executive Director at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), said the government’s inability to sign a timely deal with the IMF had been damaging to the economy.

“During [Finance Minister Ishaq] Dar’s tenure, particularly three areas, energy prices, exchange rate, tax exemptions and also tax rates remained under the observations of IMF and conditions related to these areas became more stringent,” Ahmed told Arab News.

Comment by Riaz Haq on September 12, 2023 at 1:32pm

Top Source Countries of Immigrant STEM Workers in US in 2019

1. India (720,000) 2. China (273,000) 3. Mexico (119,000), 4. Vietnam (100,000), 5. Philippines (87,000), 6. South Korea (84,000), 7. Canada (56,000), 8. Taiwan (53,000), 9. Russia (45,000), 10. Pakistan (35,000).

https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/foreign-born-st...

Since 2000, the share of foreign-born workers in the STEM workforce has increased by more than 40 percent.

The share of foreign-born workers in STEM occupations has grown significantly in recent years. As shown in Table 2, the number of foreign-born STEM workers increased from 1.2 million (16.4 percent of the STEM workforce) in 2000 to 2.5 million (23.1 percent of the STEM workforce) in 2019.

Because immigrant STEM workers tend to possess skills that complement those of their U.S.-born co-workers, the presence of immigrants in the workplace increases the productivity (and therefore the wages) of all workers. Moreover, innovation by immigrant workers increases the revenue of the firms in which they work, which enables employers to hire more workers. The overall share of workers who are foreign-born and hold advanced degrees from either a U.S. or a foreign university is also associated with higher levels of employment among U.S.-born workers. A 10 percent increase in the share of foreign-born workers with advanced degrees working in STEM occupations boosted the U.S.-born employment rate by 0.03 percent. This means that every additional 100 foreign-born workers with an advanced degree working in a STEM occupation creates roughly 86 jobs for U.S. workers.

August 18, 2023 at 9:48 PM

 

 Riaz Haq said...

72,000 non immigrant visas issued in year 2022 to Pakistanis for USA.

In 2019 the number was 59,000

2020 and 2021 Covid time was 34 and 20k

So 2020 2021 2022 average is still around 40k which is lower than 2019 avg

I can sympathize with ppl who see lots of ppl leaving and feeling every one is leaving as number of ppl leaving is 3 times more than 2021 and twice as much as 2020 .

However fact is ppl are going as they have always done. In fact we haven't returned to pre Covid levels of Emigration and tourism outside Pakistan

Even in 1997 close to 50,000 ppl were issued non immigrant visa by US from Pakistan!

https://twitter.com/bilalgilani/status/1701139777494651226?s=20


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Who’s Getting U.S. Immigrant Visas?
Last year, more than 285,000 U.S. immigrant visas were issued. Here’s a look how that is distributed across every country worldwide:

Search:
Rank Country Immigrant Visas Issued (2021)
#1 🇲🇽 Mexico 40,597
#2 🇨🇳 China 18,501
#3 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic 17,941
#4 🇵🇭 Philippines 15,862
#5 🇦🇫 Afghanistan 10,784
#6 🇻🇳 Vietnam 10,458
#7 🇮🇳 India 9,275
#8 🇸🇻 El Salvador 7,813
#9 🇵🇰 Pakistan 7,213
#10 🇧🇩 Bangladesh 5,503
Total 285,069

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/countries-receiving-most-us-immigr...

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H1 B visa from Pak to US

What is the H-1B Visa Category? The H-1B is a temporary (nonimmigrant) visa category that allows employers to petition for highly educated foreign professionals to work in “specialty occupations” that require at least a bachelor's degree or the equivalent.

In year 2022 , 1100 from Pakistan

166,000 from India !

If the exodus is 1100 ppl then we have nothing to fear

If 1100 is exodus than what is 166k

Why the one with 166k is rising India and one with 1100 failing Pakistan

https://x.com/bilalgilani/status/1701143387145945294?s=20

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