ISLAMABAD: As many as 3.41 million people from the Pakistani workforce moved abroad for different jobs during the last five years, data shared by Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment revealed.
During this period, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has remained the most attractive destination for Pakistani workers as data showed that over two million people moved there for various job opportunities.
United Arab Emirates (UAE) followed the KSA with 1.4 million while Oman was the third largest country where Pakistan sent over 0.2 million of its work force.
The emigration of Pakistani labor abroad saw its peak in 2015 when the country exported some 0.95 million of its workforce abroad, the report highlighted.
Since then the emigration trend witnessed a sharp decline due to some economic reforms in the Middle Eastern countries which resulted into the return of huge number of manpower back home, the report added.
According to the official sources here on Friday, gulfisation policy in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries was a major reason behind this decline as these states had adopted a framework to change their status from oil based economy to services based economy.
Sources revealed that the workforce is facing competitiveness issues in the international job markets as it is not equipped with the skills at par with global standards.
They also underlined the need for creating awareness among masses about foreign job opportunities by using social, print and electronic media.
