The expatriate work force in the Maldives keeps on growing day by day. According to employment ministry’s website, by the end of November 2006, the total has reached 53329(1). This means that around a sixth of the population are foreigners. The question is whether this is a problem or not.
It can be said that the expatriate work force is essential for the country’s economy given the scarcity. The economy woudn’t definitely be growing in its current pace if this labour force is not available. We cannot keep on complaining that the number of foreign workers are increasing. It is obvious these workers fuel the growth of our economy. Inaddition the income received by the government in terms of work permit fee, provides a substantial part of the government spending. If the government starts to charge the amount it proposed in 2007 the work permit fee will contribute more than 2% of the government budget.
Labour can be seen a scarce resource in the Maldives even though the ‘unemployed’ are increasing. But this unemployed group can rather be seen as voluntarily unemployed.
One can argue that these people volunteer to be unemployed because of the availability of cheap labour from neighbour countries. Well, it’s true that many young school leavers refuse to work as unskilled labour at low pay. This is particularly true in the capital. The youngsters in Male’ refuse to work in blue-collar jobs which most of them consider gross. The picture in the islands is different. There are few job opportunities available in offices and administrative area, but many school leavers set off for fishing right after leaving the school. The problem of unemployment is less for male-school leavers in the island.
Apart from this, the employers tend to employee foreigners too for some reasons. One can be that the labour turn over is low when foreigners are employed. Maldivians in the private sector tend to change their jobs quickly some times as soon as two weeks. When a better opportunity is infront the custom is to leave the job to go for the better job. That’s fair enough. Everyone wants to go for the better one. Since the private sector does not offer much if not any benefits for the workers. So the main motivation for the people who changes jobs is money.
So what can be done to change the trend. Even though the foreign labour force helps in the economic growth, they withdraw a substantial amount from it. There need to be more ways of motivating the voluntarily unemployed group to get employed. The private sector needs to introduce a system which provides work benefits for its work force.
1. http://http://www.employment.gov.mv/Resources/Statistics/2006/Occupation/november%202006.pdf
It can be said that the expatriate work force is essential for the country’s economy given the scarcity. The economy woudn’t definitely be growing in its current pace if this labour force is not available. We cannot keep on complaining that the number of foreign workers are increasing. It is obvious these workers fuel the growth of our economy. Inaddition the income received by the government in terms of work permit fee, provides a substantial part of the government spending. If the government starts to charge the amount it proposed in 2007 the work permit fee will contribute more than 2% of the government budget.
Labour can be seen a scarce resource in the Maldives even though the ‘unemployed’ are increasing. But this unemployed group can rather be seen as voluntarily unemployed.
One can argue that these people volunteer to be unemployed because of the availability of cheap labour from neighbour countries. Well, it’s true that many young school leavers refuse to work as unskilled labour at low pay. This is particularly true in the capital. The youngsters in Male’ refuse to work in blue-collar jobs which most of them consider gross. The picture in the islands is different. There are few job opportunities available in offices and administrative area, but many school leavers set off for fishing right after leaving the school. The problem of unemployment is less for male-school leavers in the island.
Apart from this, the employers tend to employee foreigners too for some reasons. One can be that the labour turn over is low when foreigners are employed. Maldivians in the private sector tend to change their jobs quickly some times as soon as two weeks. When a better opportunity is infront the custom is to leave the job to go for the better job. That’s fair enough. Everyone wants to go for the better one. Since the private sector does not offer much if not any benefits for the workers. So the main motivation for the people who changes jobs is money.
So what can be done to change the trend. Even though the foreign labour force helps in the economic growth, they withdraw a substantial amount from it. There need to be more ways of motivating the voluntarily unemployed group to get employed. The private sector needs to introduce a system which provides work benefits for its work force.
1. http://http://www.employment.gov.mv/Resources/Statistics/2006/Occupation/november%202006.pdf
1 comment:
Increase in expatriates is not much of a problem if their collective effort contributes to the economy more than they take away. In simple sense, benefit greater than cost. Maldivian authorities need to do research on how well expatirates contribute to the economy and how their presence affects our culture, religion etc.
The 'uncertainty' of the maldivian labour market could only be solved when there are labour market regulations and by increasing awareness of business ethics.
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