Lankan workers should target ME market

SANJEEVI JAYASURIYA

We need to concentrate on the Middle East market as foreign workers are being thrown out from their jobs in most European countries, an official from the Association of Licensed Foreign Employment Agencies said. He said that there will be a steady growth in the number of outbound employees in the future.

The official said that there was a slight drop in the number of migrating employees due to the insurance scheme that was in place for Kuwait bound employees. However, after a lapse of three to four months the situation was back to normal, he said.

With the recession that we are experiencing the world economy outlook of the future of migrant workers is not as bad as it seems, an official of the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau said.

“There was no drastic drop in the number of migrant workers as predicted, but a delay in sending employees to Kuwait due to an insurance scheme that was introduced resulted in a drop in migrant workers,” he said.

The insurance scheme introduced required Kuwait bound female employees to pay 50 KD. “This was too much for them and there was a delay in sending them,” he said. After a court case the scheme is no more in operation, he said.

Sri Lankan workers are preferred by Middle East job agencies and there are openings in Libya and also in Iraq in the near future, the official said.

The jobs mostly in demand are for the domestic sector and for skilled labourers such as masons, carpenters, electricians, plumbers and welders. They are recruited on a salary scale of $250 upwards. “There will be employment opportunities in Afghanistan too,” he said.