Remittance through labor migration contributes 20 percent of National GDP in average. But at what cost ? Data shows at the cost of more than thousand lives a year. Labor Migration data table below shows a hard to believe truth. Every year millions of youth migrate in search of labor and good living.
‘Labour migration has become one of the defining characteristics of Nepal’s socio-economic landscape. The size and fluctuation in migratory outflows are a result of a combination of economic and non-economic factors.13 Commonly cited push factors include insufficient access of the working-age population to productive economic opportunities and cultural factors like the societal pressure to migrate. Pull factors, on the other hand, include jobs with wage differentials and better amenities, social networks and opportunities for upward social and career mobility. Furthermore, as posited by the New Economics of Labour Migration,14 labour migration is also a household strategy for families to diversify their income sources to mitigate the impact of income volatility from agriculture and other informal sectors. As will be further expanded in this Chapter, labour migration is also shaped by migration-related policy interventions of both the labour sending and destination countries.’ (Nepal Labor Migration Report 2020)
Labor Migration an Outlook
| Fiscal year | Male | Female | Total | Remmitance (in billion NRs.) | Percentage of GDP | Deaths | Disability/Injury |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 065/066 | 211371 | 8594 | 219965 | 209.7 | 21.2 | 78 | 8 |
| 066/067 | 284038 | 10056 | 294094 | 231.7 | 19.4 | 421 | 10 |
| 067/068 | 344300 | 10416 | 354716 | 253.6 | 18.5 | 564 | 31 |
| 068/069 | 361707 | 22958 | 384665 | 359.6 | 20.5 | 647 | 57 |
| 069/070 | 423122 | 27767 | 450889 | 434.6 | 22.3 | 772 | 90 |
| 070/071 | 498848 | 28966 | 527814 | 543 | 24.3 | 877 | 116 |
| 071/072 | 477690 | 21412 | 499102 | 617 | 25.5 | 1006 | 184 |
| 072/073 | 384797 | 18377 | 403174 | 665 | 25.5 | 826 | 117 |
| 073/074 | 363304 | 20189 | 383493 | 695 | 22.6 | 758 | 204 |
| 074/075 | 331665 | 22417 | 354082 | 755 | 21.9 | 826 | 361 |
| 075/076 | 215630 | 20578 | 236208 | 879.3 | 22.8 | 763 | 354 |
| 076/077 | 172247 | 18206 | 190453 | 875 | 22.4 | 672 | 205 |
| 077/078 | 64903 | 7178 | 72081 | 961.1 | 22.5 | 1243 | 143 |
| 078/079 | 580969 | 49128 | 630097 | 986 | - | 1479 | 245 |
| Total | 4714591 | 286242 | 5000833 | 8465.6 | 10932 | 2125 |