Demand for Nepalese workers rising In Qatar

After a relatively lean patch last year, the demand for Nepalese workers among the country’s employers is growing considerably these days, according to the Himalayan nation’s Ambassador to Qatar Dr Suryanath Mishra.

Speaking to Gulf Times yesterday, the envoy said the response to the workers from Nepal from the employers has been really encouraging in the first four months of the current year. 

Dr Mishra said in the first four months of this year, the average arrivals of workers from Nepal were between 7,500 and 9,000 per month. “This month too, there is encouraging response from the employers for Nepalese labourers,”  the ambassador disclosed.

In recent years, 2008 was said to be the best for Nepal as more than 86,000 of its nationals reached Qatar for taking up employment. There was reportedly a fall in the numbers the following year. The current trend indicates that this year the number could either match the 2008 figures or even overtake that.  

The embassy is receiving an increasing number of requests from employers for visa attestations these days, said the envoy. “This reflects the interest of the companies in recruiting the labour force from Nepal,” he said. 

Answering a query, Dr Mishra said the local firms are also keen to recruit more Nepalese women. “Apart from jobs in the hospitality and travel industry, services of Nepalese women are sought in increasing numbers as security personnel,” said the ambassador. Dr Mishra said said the policy of his government was to encourage women to take up work abroad in the organised sectors.

Qatar, he said, continues to be the largest employer of his nationals after Saudi Arabia, which reportedly houses close to 500,000 Nepalese. In Qatar, Nepalese are estimated to exceed 350,000.     

“However, not all decks are cleared until now for women from our country being employed at the region’s households even though a proposal was forwarded to the government in the middle of last year,” he said.

Talking about the recent ratification of the additional job protocol that Nepal signed with Qatar, the ambassador said the last job protocol was signed between the two countries in 2008. As per the terms of agreement of the protocol, a meeting of the joint commission set up by the two governments should be held at least once in two years. The next meeting is to be held in Kathmandu. “However, the dates for the meeting are still to be decided,” he said.