CARGA Y DESCARGA DE CISTERNAS PORTÁTILES A BORDO

Migration from Nepal is mainly motivated by poverty and lack of economic opportunities at home. Out of the 400,000 youths that enter the labor market every year, more than 200,000 go overseas (Kharel, 2011). In 2008, though the official unemployment rate was only 2.1 percent, youth unemployment (age 15 to 29) was

28 _{Manju Gurung is one of the founding members of Pourakhi – a non-government}

organization for female migrant workers in Nepal.

19.2 percent and the rate of labor underutilization was 30 percent (NLFS, 2008).29

Additionally, the political environment, characterized by repeated strikes, closures and an investment-unfriendly setting, has driven the youth out of the country. The outflow of migrants was especially high during the war years, as many left the country to avoid being recruited into the war and to be able to find stable income source to support their families (DoFE, 2015). Given the poor economic and political conditions at home, many Nepalese households have been relying increasingly on migration to maintain their livelihoods.

The oil industry boom of the 1970s in the Middle East along with the East Asian industrialization have made destinations such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Brunei, Japan and South Korea attractive to Nepalese workers (Sharma et al, 2014). Also, the expectation of relatively higher wages in these destinations (compared to Nepal or India) may have encouraged migration from Nepal to these destinations.30 _{It is important to note,}

however, that in many cases Nepalese migrants do not get what they expect when they get to the destination; many workers have their passports withheld by employers and are exploited working long hours, receiving low wages and working 29 _{Nepal Labor Force Survey (NLFS) 2008 defines labor underutilization as} population who has labor slack, low earnings and skills mismatch. Labor underutilization is a better indicator of labor market conditions than unemployment rate. 30 _{Clewett (2015) reports that indicative month wage for workers in Kathmandu is} USD 85 (source: Refugee and Migratory Movement Research Unit) compared to wages being USD 140 in India (source: Government of Delhi, Labor Department minimum wage) and $250 in Malaysia (source: Malaysian minimum wage for migrant worker).

under harsh conditions with minimum job security (Gurung, 2000; Pattisson, 2013). Often, imperfect information about expenses at the destination leads to misconceptions about how much money households may receive or be able to save when a member migrates.31 _{Sometimes returnees contribute to optimistic}

expectations about the earning potential at the destination by painting a rosier picture of their experience as migrants to feel more successful than those who haven’t migrated (Levitt, 2001; Prasai, 2005). Hence, migrants often find themselves overestimating their ability to send remittances, and end up extending their stay or migrating repeatedly (Castaneda, 2013).

In addition to these push and pull factors, other aspects such as government regulations, migrant networks and social pressures to migrate also affect decisions to migrate. The Nepalese government has been focusing on promoting foreign employment by identifying potential foreign markets, establishing temporary working programs and training and exporting Nepalese workers in order to address domestic unemployment (Chapagain, 2003). In addition, over 900 private agencies have obtained licenses from the Department of Foreign Employment to negotiate labor contracts between migrants and their employers at destination. These private agencies along with several government, non-government and international

31 _{During my fieldwork, many women mentioned that there was not much} difference in the income their husbands earned at home and what they sent from abroad since their husbands are not able to save much due to the higher than expected expenses at the destination.

organizations also facilitate the process of migration by providing prospective migrants with training and information about the destination.32

Migration is a self-perpetuating process. As connections to migrants settled in destination countries increase and knowledge about foreign employment increases, more people rely on community-based networks to get to their destinations (Koc and Onan, 2004; Cohen et al., 2008; Casteneda, 2013). Such networks have been central to encouraging migration from Nepal, as previous and current migrants pave way for prospective migrants by sharing their knowledge and experiences about the destination, strengthening migrant networks and increasing familiarity with the process and prospects of foreign migration (DoFE, 2015). Sometimes, status-enhancing changes in migrant families such as building a new house or display of goods brought from abroad motivates further migration and migration decisions may be driven by the need to maintain social standing (Adhikari and Hobley, 2015; Castaneda, 2013). In fact, accounts of migration being motivated by seeing other migrants building new houses and sending their children to better schools were evident in many of my fieldwork conversations. After the April 2015 earthquake, the outflow of migrants fell sharply as many migrants returned home or cancelled their plans to migrate to be with their families. However, preliminary reports on the impacts of the earthquake on migration rates from Nepal suggest that migration is likely to increase in the medium-run and current migrants are likely to prolong their stay, as young men seek additional

32 _{Examples of such organizations include Pourakhi, Pravasi Nepali Coordination}

resources to rebuild their homes and recover from the crisis (see Bellman, 2015; Orozco, 2015). Though the destruction left by the quake has created an increase in demand for construction jobs and development projects within the country, the inability of the government to use development funds efficiently and initiate the process of reconstruction has pushed workers towards foreign migration (Sijapati et al., 2015).