Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb in his Budget 2025-26 speech proposed 1% reduction in the surcharge on those individuals whose income exceed Rs10 million a year, in an effort to halt “brain drain” among skilled and unskilled workers.
The current surcharge is 10% which the government announced to reduce to 9%, recognising the harm to the economy of workers leaving Pakistan.
The Bureau of Emigration & Overseas Employment (BE&OE) and the Overseas Employment Corporation (OEC) registered 727,381 workers for overseas employment in 2024, according to The Economic Survey 2024-25 as unveiled by Aurangzeb on Monday.
According to BE&OE, more than 62 percent (452,562) of Pakistani workers moved to Saudi Arabia for employment, followed by Oman (11 percent), to earn a living. UAE employed 64,130 Pakistani workers (9 percent) while Qatar offered jobs to 40,818 individuals (6 percent). Bahrain and Malaysia hosted 25,198 workers (3 percent) and 5,790 workers (1 percent), respectively.
In 2024, the highest number of workers who moved away from Pakistan for work originated from Punjab (404,345), followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (187,103), Sindh (60,424), and Tribal areas (29,937).
Brain drain is a growing concern for developing countries like Pakistan, as talent from less developed countries is drawn to developed nations due to higher salaries, access to cutting-edge technology, better living standards and more stable political environments.
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