Advantages and Disadvantages of Foreign Employment in Nepal

Advantages of Foreign Employment in Nepal

The advantages or the role or importance of foreign employment in Nepal are as follows:

a. To solve the unemployment problem: Nepal has a severe unemployment problem. Foreign employment helps to solve the problem of unemployment in the country.

b. Remittance income: Another benefit of foreign employment is that it helps increase the country's remittance income. The amount of remittance income depends on the number of workers going abroad for foreign employment.

c. Skilled and trained human resources: The worker who returns to the home country after some years is the generally skilled and trained workforce. Their knowledge and skill can create new opportunities in the country.

d. Increase standard of living: The standard of living of the members of the family living in the home country increases. This is due to the money the worker receives from a foreign country.

e. Poverty reduction: Remittance income received from foreign employment increases household income, which helps increase the consumption of low-income families. It also increases living standards and reduces poverty. Currently, there is a decrease in poverty in Nepal because of remittance.

f. Development of human resources: The remittance income from foreign employment plays a significant role in developing human resources in Nepal. A large part of remittance income is spent on education, health, and nutrition. This increases literacy rate and life expectancy, which means human resource development.

Disadvantages of Foreign Employment in Nepal

The disadvantages of foreign employment in Nepal are as follows:

a. Shortage of human resources in the country: The increase in foreign employment has brought the problem of a shortage of labour in the agriculture and industrial sector of the country. At present, Nepal is facing this problem.

b. Brain drain: The most severe cost of foreign employment is brain drain. Due to the opportunity for foreign employment, the country's most talented, skilled, and highly educated workforce is migrating to developed countries like the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, etc. Therefore, it harms the economic development of developing countries like Nepal.

c. Mismanaged family: Migration of parents can leave families of young children with inadequate guidance and an additional burden of household responsibilities, which can lead to higher school absences, school dropouts, poor nutrition and health care of children- especially younger children, and substance abuse - mainly older children.

d. Creates dependency: It is argued that remittance receipts from foreign employment can create dependency. It may reduce recipients' incentive to work and thus slow economic growth. This, along with a shortage of skilled workers in the country, may hurt the country's economic growth in the long term.

e. Human costs: Remittance may also have human costs. Migrants make significant scarifies. They have to remain separated from their families and incur risks to find work in another country. They may have to work hard to save enough to send remittances. Many Nepalese workers are suffering hardship in gulf countries. Moreover, some of them die in a foreign land due to their hard work.

f. Increase in trade deficit: In Nepal, imports are very high compared to exports. This is resulting large trade deficit in Nepal. One of the major causes of the trade deficit in Nepal is remittance income received from foreign employment because remittance causes an increase in demand for consumer goods, which is fulfilled by importing goods from other countries.