Pakistan’s latest Economic Survey has disclosed that millions of Pakistani workers are heading abroad in search of employment opportunities — with Punjab leading the charge in this massive labor migration trend.
According to the report, overseas job migration from Pakistan has seen a significant spike during the current fiscal year. In just one year, 404,345 individuals from Punjab alone left the country to work abroad, marking the highest number from any province.
Second was Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with 187,000 individuals departing abroad for work. Sindh also observed a similar trend as 60,424 people travelled abroad in quest of more job opportunities.
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The survey also indicates that 29,937 laborers from the tribal belts and 29,591 from Azad Kashmir also chose to work overseas. Even the capital Islamabad was not immune as 8,621 of its residents moved abroad for work.
Overseas job migration from Pakistan also became a trend in Balochistan as 5,668 employees moved out, followed by 1,692 people from Gilgit-Baltistan as well.
This general movement of the workforce is a telling picture — Pakistanis are going international in search of employment in growing numbers despite economic problems within the country. Although the remittances earned by them are a substantial boost to the national economy, the increased dependence on overseas jobs also indicates underlying problems in the domestic labor market.
