Faraz Saeed

LAHORE: Pakistan registered 727,381 workers for overseas employment last year through the Bureau of Emigration &amp; Overseas Employment (BE&amp;OE) and the Overseas Employment Corporation (OEC), according to the Economic Survey 2024-25. Such figures often fuel warnings of an accelerating &ldquo;brain drain.&rdquo; Analysts argue that talent is fleeing and the country is &ldquo;bleeding its brightest minds.&rdquo; Those concerns reflect real pressures at home: stubborn unemployment, particularly among educated youth, and what many describe as an entrenched culture of nepotism, corruption, and favoritism. For young Pakistanis, the gap between achievement and opportunity has widened. A 2023 Gallup Pakistan survey reported that 62% of young professionals would prefer to work abroad if given the chance. Yet migration is also one of the country&rsquo;s strongest economic pillars. Overseas Pakistanis sent home $38.5 billion in remittances last year, the single largest source of foreign exchange. These inflows support households, stabilize reserves, and sustain businesses. Economists say many expatriates now work as &ldquo;investors, founders, and connectors,&rdquo; linking Pakistan to global markets. Data also challenges the conventional narrative. Research by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) shows that more than 765,000 Pakistanis migrated in 2022-23, but only 2% were highly qualified, while the rest were skilled or semi-skilled. &ldquo;This isn&rsquo;t brains fleeing,&rdquo; one researcher noted. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a workforce on the move.&rdquo; Global trends reinforce that view. India, which received $123 billion in remittances last year, frames migration as a strategic advantage. Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar has dismissed &ldquo;brain drain&rdquo; as &ldquo;a term from the last century.&rdquo; Academic studies echo this shift. A landmark review in science finds that high-skilled mobility often results in &ldquo;brain gain.&rdquo; University of Michigan economist Dean Yang said, &ldquo;Migration creates positive feedback loops; people study more when they see pathways abroad; remittances fund education; diaspora networks bring back technology and trade.&rdquo; International examples show similar effects. When 27,000 Filipino nurses moved to the United States, more than 80,000 new nurses were trained at home. India&rsquo;s surge in IT graduates followed easier tech visa policies abroad. Managed mobility, researchers argue, expands the talent pool rather than depletes it. With a diaspora of nine million, Pakistan stands at a similar turning point. Overseas Pakistanis send back billions, launch companies, and represent the country across boardrooms, universities, and political institutions worldwide. The challenge, experts say, is not to restrict mobility but to build conditions that encourage return. That requires predictable policy, fair taxation, and a governance climate where &ldquo;ideas, not influence, are currency.&rdquo; Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir summed up the shift, calling overseas Pakistanis an example of &ldquo;brain gain, not brain drain.&rdquo; Global success stories reinforce the point. India celebrated when Satya Nadella became Microsoft&rsquo;s CEO and Kamala Harris became US vice president. Pakistanis felt similar pride when Syeda Warsi entered the British cabinet or Sadiq Khan, the son of a Pakistani bus driver, became London&rsquo;s mayor. Analysts argue Pakistan must adopt the same mindset. Each dollar sent home, each business link forged abroad, and each professional succeeding globally, they say, &ldquo;is not a drain; it&rsquo;s a dividend.&rdquo;

Economy

Foreign Affairs

 Pakistan registered 727,381 workers for overseas employment last year through the Bureau of Emigration & Overseas Employment (BE&OE) and the Overseas Employment Corporation (OEC)

Pakistan recasts migration as economic dividend, not brain drain

Gaitty Ara Anis

WASHINGTON: Nearly 950,000 workers have been laid off across the United States (US) this year, the highest total since the pandemic era, according to a recent report by the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray &amp; Christmas. The firm warned that the total is on track to reach one million job cuts before the end of 2025, intensifying uncertainty for new graduates, especially foreign students whose stay in the US depends on employment authorization. The steepest losses are in the technology sector. Major firms, including Amazon, Microsoft, and Intel, have collectively eliminated more than 170,000 jobs this year, the report said. &ldquo;The often-used term &lsquo;learn to code&rsquo; is a crueler reminder of a career choice than a phrase of encouragement,&rdquo; Syed Murtaza Hussain, a recent computer science graduate from the University of Texas at Austin, told Pakistan TV Digital. Hussain, who is originally from Lahore and holds an F-1 student visa, said the collapse in hiring has altered expectations dramatically. &ldquo;Everything has changed, especially how the foreign students envisioned their future,&rdquo; he said. His visa expires in three months. Despite offering some of the highest starting salaries in the US labor market, about $80,000 a year for new graduates, tech has become increasingly inaccessible to entry-level workers. Companies are relying more heavily on generative AI systems to perform work once assigned to junior programmers. &ldquo;I had to restructure my company,&rdquo; said Dale Steen, CEO of a tech firm based in the Bay Area. &ldquo;Why should I pay anyone for the services I am getting at a much cheaper rate?&rdquo; Steen said that sponsoring work visas for new graduates is &ldquo;almost out of the question.&rdquo; Recent labor data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows that computer science graduates now face a 6.1% unemployment rate, more than double the rate for students who majored in philosophy. Enrollment, however, continues to surge. More than 680,000 students were enrolled in computer science programs across the US. last year, including approximately 278,000 international students. Pakistan sent nearly 11,000 students to US universities during the same period, and more than half pursued science and technology degrees, according to the US State Department. Hussain said he spent more than $130,000 completing his degree. &ldquo;I thought it was worth it, that I would earn it back in a year&rsquo;s time. But I have failed to land a decent entry-level job so far,&rdquo; he said. He now works at a fast-food restaurant while applying for positions and trying to expand his professional network. Industry hiring has also shifted. &ldquo;Fresh graduates lack the expertise that is now required by the industry,&rdquo; said Mansoor Qureshi, head of a staffing firm in Virginia. &ldquo;Companies are replacing basic roles with automated systems, and that gap is expanding.&rdquo; Steen said that while companies no longer need entry-level workers, they desperately need senior engineers and decision-makers. &ldquo;Who will replace them when the current professionals retire?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;We have cut off the ladder that leads to expertise.&rdquo; To address that gap, Qureshi has launched an internship and certification program backed by the state of Virginia, designed to help new graduates gain hands-on experience. But he acknowledged that foreign students may not have enough time under their visas to benefit. &ldquo;I find it disheartening, but I am still trying,&rdquo; Hussain said.

Business

Massive US tech layoffs exceeding 950,000 jobs have devastated opportunities for foreign graduates. Automation and visa hurdles worsen unemployment, leaving international computer science students struggling to find entry-level roles and secure their futures

Articles tagged with "unemployment"

Pakistan recasts migration as economic dividend, not brain drain

Tech layoffs worsen US job market for foreign students, jeopardize futures