As many as 946,571 workers from all over the country had been registered abroad for seeking different jobs during last year (2015). About 752,466 workers immigrated to different countries during the year 2014 and 622,714 during 2013, said an official of Planning Commission of Pakistan. Talking to APP here on Tuesday, he said during last 3 years a significant increase has been seen in overseas employment as about 2.3 million Pakistani workers went abroad for seeking jobs.
In the year 2012-13, about 622,714 workers went abroad while in 2014-15, about 946,571 workers immigrated for employment, he added. Meanwhile, about 105,741 workers went to Saudi-Arabia, 135,375 to Oman, 950,742 to United Arab Emirates, 27,855 to Bahrain and 42,824 to Malaysia, he added.
He said during the period under review, about 30,902 workers went to Qatar, adding that if these workers had not gone abroad, the unemployment rate would have been 7.4 per cent instead of 5.94 per cent. He informed during 2015-16, an amount of Rs 431 million was allocated to the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training for its ongoing skill development projects. Out of which, Rs 330 million is expected to be utilised by the end of June 2016.
Further, on the directions of the Prime Minister, Youth Skill Development Programme (Phase-I & II) was launched for the unemployed and less-educated youth, he added. Under this Programme, he said almost 50,000 individuals were equipped with hand-on skills in 195 demand-driven trades. Its Phase-III has been recently launched to train further 50,000 persons.
In addition, he said the NAVTTC has trained almost 158,000 unemployed youth under the Prime Minister's Hunarmand Pakistan Programme. During 2016-17, an amount of Rs 315 million was proposed for the skill development projects and programmes. Under National Internship Programme 2015-18, at an estimated cost of Rs 23 billion about 150,000 unemployed educated youth will be trained as on job internees in 100 demand-driven trades and courses, he added. He said under Prime Minister Youth Skill Development Programme (phase III), estimated cost of Rs 2,630 million, envisages to train 50,000 young aspirants in 75 demand-driven market oriented trades and courses in various TVET institutions in collaboration with private sector all over the country.