Apr 04 , 2016
News
OEC has sent 139,578 persons abroad for employment since its inception
APP
ISLAMABAD: Overseas Employment Corporation (OEC) has sent 139578 persons to different countries for employment in different fields of life since its inception in the year 1976 till to date.
This was revealed by Managing Director, OEC Khalid Mahmood during an interview with APP on Sunday. He said the corporation was established in the year 1976 considering the rising demand from Middle East and other countries for Pakistani skilled and unskilled labour and it sent 16 persons to UAE in the first year of its establishment.
Khalid Mahmood said during that period only the private sector was sending the people to foreign countries for employment purpose after charging exceptional rates.
Considering the problems being faced by the people due to their high charges and vague process, OEC was established as the only recruiting agency of the public sector with an aim to send the people to foreign countries for employment at lower cost. The private agents or operators were actually charging such huge amounts from the people that they have to borrow loans from people and have to pay after jobs for many years.
The corporation sent persons including, professional doctors, nurses, technicians and labourers to Iran, UAE, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Syria, Yemen, Nigeria, Algeria, Libya, Sudan, Malaysia, Maldives, Guinea, South Korea, Brunei, Somalia and other countries.
OEC is charging one-third of the amount being charged by the private operators and agents for sending the persons abroad for employment and provide proper guidance to them before their departure from the country.
OEC has its regional offices at Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta where tests are conducted for the aspiring people after selection through advertisement.
About the selection process, Khalid Mahmood said that the delegation or representatives of the respective countries themselves conduct interviews of the selected candidates and finalise so there is no chance of any favouritism or discrimination. The number of persons sent abroad was 477 in the year 1977-78, 2147 in 1978-79, 10456 in 1979-80, 14310 in 1980-81, 10315 in 1981-82, 8305 in 1982-83, 7298 in 1983-84, 6102 in 1984-85 and 5786 in 1985-86.
The number was 2654 in the years 1986-87,4244 in 1987-88, 2866 in 1988-89, 2169 in 1989-90, 2260 in 1990-1991, 5962 in 1991-1992, 3378 in 1992-1993, 2690 in 1993-94, 5544 in 1994-95, 5758 in 1995-96, 6403 in 1996-97, 4226 in 1997-98, 2861 in 1998-99, 2223 in 1999-2000, 2086 in 2000-01,1861 in 2001-02 and 1933 in the year 2002-03.
A total of 1030 persons were sent abroad in the year 2003-04, 1072 in 2004-05, 1100 in 2005-06, 1012 in 2006-07, 945 in 2007-08, 1450 in 2008-09, 1460 in 2009-10, 1918 in 2010-11, 715 in 2011-12, 1308 in 2012-13, 1615 in 2013-14 and 870 in 2014-15 and 753 in 2015-16.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk