According to the Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment, up from the pre-pandemic, 625,876 Pakistani professionals left in 2019 and 382,439 the year before that. Those who left or are planning to leave their homeland believe they need a strong passport and also want to escape Pakistan’s aggravating socio-politico-economic situation.
So far, more than 800,000 Professionals from Pakistan have left abroad in search of a better future or perhaps to live safely and honourably. Some of them leave on education ground and some go to different countries for getting employment. The recent flood in Sind and Punjab has aggravated the already alarming economic condition of the country.
Now is the challenge to avoid default as Pakistan is left with a severe shortage of foreign exchange. As per the report of the Central Bank of the country, the official foreign exchange reserve with it is $3.09 billion. It is reported that more 2than 50,000 people only in the automobile sector have lost their jobs, and it is likely that more than 7 million workforces will be removed if the issue of foreign exchange is not resolved.
The industrial sector, particularly the textile, automobile and pharmaceutical industries, are facing a shortage of raw materials and spare parts, but LCs are not being opened as per requirements. The fear of unemployment and ‘not getting jobs’ is mainly causing the brain drain from the country. Ahsan Iqbal, the Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiative, said, “The huge exodus of educated youth is of great concern. Our responsibility is to provide them with an enabling environment to stem the emigration.”
The blame cannot be given to the current crushing economic situation. Rather, before it, a maximum workforce of Pakistan was willing to leave the country as the purchasing power has been on the decline for the last many years. It is estimated that one in three Pakistanis aged under 30 is willing to leave their motherland to meet their families’ day-to-day requirements.