Manpower export to Saudi Arabia goes up by 191 % in 2019.

ISLAMABAD -- Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development (OP and HRD) has facilitated some 294,156 Pakistanis to precede Saudi Arabia this year for prospective job opportunities in various sectors.

According to the data shared by the Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment (BEOE) here on Monday, manpower export to Saudi Arabia registered a marked growth of 191 per cent in 2019 as compared to the last year when only 100,910 Pakistanis went there.

In 2019, the overseas employment of Pakistanis witnessed a massive increase of 47 per cent as some 563,018 Pakistanis found jobs overseas while only 382,439 went abroad for different employment opportunities in 2018.

Moreover, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, Qatar, Malaysia and Bahrain also imported a whooping number of Pakistanis in 2019. The UAE employed 195,241 Pakistani workforce, Oman 26,062, Qatar 17,413, Malaysia 10,390 and Bahrain 6,988 during the said year.

Brushing aside the news circulating in some media sections that a large number of qualified youth left Pakistan due to unemployment, an official source in the OP and HRD ministry said the total number of emigrants who got foreign employment in 2019 included 45.5 per cent skilled, 39.72 per cent unskilled, 10.64 per cent semi skilled, 2.53 per cent highly qualified and 1.56 per cent highly skilled workforce.

Talking to reporter, he said 217,499 laborers and 161,226 drivers went abroad for different job assignments in 2019.

The official said Special Assistant to the...