Brain Drain: No End To Pakistan's Emigration Headache

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Pakistan is witnessing an emigration surge, particularly with millions of unskilled and skilled workers leaving post-Covid due to economic hardships at home. But data shows the surge is short of the record seen earlier in the decade

2024-08-25T20:24:00+05:00 Gibran Ashraf

Consistent poor economic conditions have long prompted Pakistanis to seek better employment abroad. As inflation soared and the economy contracted in recent years, the brain and labour drain has accelerated drastically, especially after the Covid-19 restrictions were lifted. 

Beyond the shock of the high number of Pakistanis who have left the country in search of work abroad in the past couple of years, however, is the marked increase in the percentage of unskilled and highly skilled workers.

An analysis by Pulse Consultants, "An Overview of Pakistani Emigration Patterns (2008-2024)," based on data from the Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment, found that around 10 million Pakistanis have moved abroad in search of work since 2008. These Pakistanis working overseas contributed a significant $30.251 million in remittances in fiscal year 2023-24.

Of these, some 2.389 million moved abroad during the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) era from 2008 to 2013. A whopping 3.54 million moved abroad during the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government from 2013 to 2018. Another 1.75 million Pakistanis left the country under Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) aborted tenure from 2018 to 2022. The incumbent Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government, however, has seen nearly the same figure, 1.67 million, leave in just the past two years, from 2022 to 2024.

Record departures

Over the past two years, the departure of skilled or unskilled workers has caused great concern among those who monitor metrics critical to Pakistan's economy. Critics point to the high departure figures as evidence of an immense brain drain, which is both caused by and handicaps an economy struggling to stay afloat.

However, data gathered by Pulse Consultants shows that migration has been a consistent factor over the past decade and a half.

Further, the data shows that contrary to some claims, departures over the past 16 years peaked in 2015, at the height of the PML-N government led by Nawaz Sharif. Some 946,571 people left Pakistan that year.

In fact, the PML-N government oversaw a period of the highest emigration from the country, with some 3.54 million people moving abroad in search of better work opportunities. This was over a million more than the 2.389 million people who had left Pakistan under the PPP government.

While the overall percentage of skilled and unskilled workers leaving Pakistan saw minor reductions, down from 42% during the PPP era to 40% for skilled workers and from 44% to 40% for unskilled workers, this period saw a 7% increase in the number of semi-skilled workers who moved abroad from 10% to 17%.

The PML-N period, however, was not consistent for departures. From 622,714 in 2013, the year the PML-N took over, until 2016, when some 839,353 people had left Pakistan, the number of Pakistanis leaving annually was consistently above the half-million mark. However, in their final two years, the last of which was overseen by Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as the prime minister, departures shrunk by 60% to a near-decade-low of 382,439 in 2018.

It is also persistent to note that 2015, when departures from Pakistan soared to a 16-year-high, saw the government launch multiple operations against terrorists in the border areas, with terror attacks still a near-daily occurrence. Moreover, the year came after the then-opposition PTI staged a four-month-long protest sit-in in Islamabad. The protest was only brought to an end after one of the worst terror attacks in Pakistan's history when terrorists stormed the Army Public School in Peshawar and massacred 144 students and teachers.

But by 2017, the situation had greatly improved, even if the operations against terrorists had not ceased completely. Terrorism was seeing a marked decline while the economy was improving.

However, the past two years have also seen tremendously high figures. In 2022, some 832,339 people left Pakistan, a number that was exceeded in 2023 by 862,625 people who moved abroad for work. This was the first time in the review period that the number of people leaving in successive years remained over 800,000.

Covid impact

The first full calendar year that Imran Khan's PTI spent in power saw a near 100% increase in departures, with 625,876 people leaving the country. 

However, early next year, in 2020, the global Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic forced the world to shut down. With travel opportunities all but unavailable, the first year of the pandemic saw departures shrink to a low of 225,213. 

As vaccines became available and international travel and work opportunities started gradually opening up, the number of people leaving Pakistan increased, rising to 288,280.

In effect, some 513,493 people managed to leave Pakistan for work during the pandemic. 

However, as soon as travel restrictions were lifted, a massive departure surge was seen, with 832,339 people leaving Pakistan in 2022.

Rise of blue-collar worker departures

The overview said that in the past two years, the majority of those leaving the country have been blue-collar workers and the labour class. However, the trends indicate a significant increase in unskilled emigration alongside a drop in skilled worker migration.

Of these, 37% were skilled workers (down from 44% during the Imran Khan era). Moreover, 46% were unskilled labourers (up from 41% during the Imran Khan era).

It is important to note that the trend of unskilled workers moving abroad for the decade prior to that was an average of 42%.

The percentage of highly skilled individuals leaving Pakistan between 2022 and 2024 was 5%, a 150% rise from the 2% on average for the 14 years prior.

While people have been bemoaning the departure of Pakistan's highly qualified and educated resource in larger numbers, the analysis showed that the percentage of highly educated emigrants has remained steady at pre-Covid levels of 3%. However, this is fractionally up from the average of 2% for the decade leading up to 2018.

Shift in migration destinations

When analysing economic migration trends across the two periods—pre—Covid (2017-2019) and post-Covid (2022-2024)—noticeable changes emerged, especially regarding destination countries and employment opportunities.

Pre-Covid, Gulf countries were among the top 15 destinations, led by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia. From 2017 to 2019, some 693,341 Pakistanis found work in the UAE, while 577,037 moved to Saudi Arabia. Another 97,968 moved to neighbouring Oman and 51,956 to Qatar, which took in Pakistani workers to build its stadiums for the FIFA World Cup.

Other countries in the Middle East where Pakistanis found work in large numbers included Bahrain, where 21,853 went; Iraq, where 3,661 went; Kuwait, where 1,392 went; and Jordan, where 660 went.

Among other countries, Malaysia was a top five destination for Pakistanis, welcoming some 28,382 people with Green passports.

Pakistanis also found work in Cyprus, with some 4,343 people moving there. 

While China heavily invested in Pakistan under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), some 2,563 Pakistanis found work in China.

The UK and the USA were also among the choice destinations, with 1,830 people and 1,073 people moving there, respectively.

Post Covid, however, there was a dramatic change in destinations. Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, and Qatar, traditionally the top destinations for Pakistani job seekers, saw a shift with UAE witnessing a sharp decline in Pakistani workers post-Covid, falling some 42% to 406,632 workers.

Saudi Arabia, which announced massive economic and development projects during the pandemic, saw substantial growth in Pakistani job seekers arriving, with up to 1,168,232 Pakistanis moving there. This means that every second individual among the 1,668,914 Pakistanis who moved abroad for work from 2022-2024, had moved to Saudi Arabia.

The number of Pakistanis finding work in Oman nearly doubled from 97,968 pre-Covid to 180,807 people post-Covid.

Similarly, with the FIFA World Cup being held in Qatar in the winter of 2022, the number of Pakistanis who moved to the Gulf country nearly tripled from pre-Covid numbers to 133,321.

Pakistanis finding work in Bahrain nearly doubled as well, growing from 21,853 pre-Covid to 39,793 post-Covid.

In Kuwait, the number of Pakistanis finding work increased 347% from 1,392 pre-Covid to 6,225 people post-Covid.

There was also a marginal increase in workers moving to Malaysia, up from 28,382 pre-Covid to 31,821 post-Covid.

Additionally, the UK and Iraq have gained prominence as attractive destinations for Pakistani emigrants during the post-Covid period.

The UK saw the biggest increase in Pakistanis seeking work abroad, rising 1534% from 1,830 people pre-Covid to 29,898 people post-Covid.

Similarly, there was a 210% increase in Pakistanis moving to Iraq, rising from 3,661 people pre-Covid to 11,331.

There was also a rise of new destinations amongst the top 15 countries where Pakistanis moved for work. 

This included South Korea, which witnessed a 698% increase after 4,309 people moved there. Neighbouring Japan, which had announced a programme to provide jobs to semi-skilled and skilled Pakistanis during Covid-19, saw a 268% increase in Pakistanis arriving to 2,953 people.

Romania saw 9,087 Pakistanis moving there, while Greece, also saw 4,047 Pakistani job seekers arrive.

China, arguably Pakistan's biggest financial benefactor and trading partner, saw only a marginal rise in the number of people moving to and finding work there, to 3,526.

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