KARACHI: Pakistanis’ quest for greener pastures have picked the pace over the years. And, better exchange rate, job security, dignity of labour and stability are some of the important contributing factors to jet off abroad.

Around 150,000 people emigrated from Pakistan last year, according to official figures. The Bureau of Immigration and Overseas Employment said that more than 200,000 people registered for foreign employment in 2021, which is over 27.6% of 2020.

At least 575,000 skilled workers have so far emigrated from Pakistan.

Aaj News hosted education and human resource (HR) policies expert Moazzam Shahbaz, HR practitioner Faiza Tariq, and life coach and psychologist Mahvish Saeed to discuss such a trend among the people. They also deliberated on whether it was brain drain or brain gain.

Shahbaz shared a 2018 survey results graduate employability report in which 212 companies’ CEOs and heads participated. “We found out that 78% of employers are not happy with the quality of graduates the universities are producing.”

However, he was of the view that there was a “big disconnection” between economic and educational policies. The HR policies expert supported his argument with the neighbouring country’s information technology policies, which led to the opening of multinational companies and the promotion of Indian-origin CEOs in the top 500 companies.

“They made conscious brain drain,” he said, adding that the country trained it people with IT skills. He further supported the idea to send people abroad, however, in a limited number.

A large number of people started to leave the country in the 1970s when the government made it easy to make have passports.

HR practitioner Faiza agreed with the fact that there were better blue-collar jobs outside as compared to Pakistan as the people have better benefits in terms of insurance, overtime, and security.

The dignity of labour was another factor which Faiza said prompted people to leave the country. She stressed the need for giving respect to every profession as many expatriates were doing odd jobs to make ends meet.

Life coach Mahvish was of the view that the ease in getting a passport and better jobs abroad encouraged people to look out for other options than their home country

“Whoever got a chance they went, skilled and educated got a better chance and the blue-collar were left behind.”

However, she warned that living abroad was not easy

Push and pull factor – political and economic uncertainty

The panellists agreed that uncertainty in Pakistan has encouraged people to apply for jobs in foreign countries

“When our economy is unstable, whatever happiness you have in your lives yet you want to move to other countries for better qualities of life,” Mahvish said.

Shahbaz added that uncertainty over government projects has affected long-term planning.

“There are no links amongst the economic and education policies you don’t know what type of people you require. You are promoting others in the HEC sector but not in the lower sector (TVET sector),” he said.

Many people have acquired technical skills abroad to get adjusted to their foreign job market and IT, elderly care, and cooking skills are some of the sought after.

He called for promoting people to learn new skills to adapt to the changing world. “Today’s time is very competitive.”

They shed light on the work ethics in Pakistan while talking about working hours. The experts added that the corporate sector trains its members when they sent them abroad for jobs.