Pakistan experienced a change in its exports of manpower in the first quarter of 2025. There was a significant increases in the number of people emigrating into Saudi Arabia and Qatar, however, labor movement into in the UAE and Oman was in decline.
Based on the most recent information of the Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment (BEOE), 242,337 Pakistani workers relocated into Saudi Arabia between January until July 2025which is an average of 40,389 people per month which is up from the average monthly for the month of 37,713 workers in 2024 (total 452,562 during the whole year).
Qatar as well witnessed an increase in demand for Pakistani workforce. In just six months 26,448 people were deployed, which equates to 4,408 a month which is which is compared to three hundred and forty-one per day in the 2023.
The increased demand for Saudi Arabia and Qatar is mostly due to massive projects in infrastructure as well as economic growth initiatives connected in Vision 2030 and other regional initiatives. Experts believe that Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries will continue to draw large numbers of workers up to 2030, primarily for labor-intensive sectors.
Yet, Pakistan’s manpower exports to the UAE and Oman decreased significantly from 2025. There were 13,865 Pakistanis were able to move into the UAE between January and July, which amounted to 2.310 per month which is a significant reduction from 64,130 people who migrated to the UAE by 2024 (average 5,344 per month).
In the same way, Oman received just 8,467 Pakistani workers during the same period of time and averaging 1,411 workers per month this is a drastic decline from the 81,587 workers by 2024 (monthly average of 6,798). The drop is due to stricter visa regulations, the apex of labor markets as well as policy changes across both nations.
UK and USA Trends
Exports of manpower to the UK fell down to 2 595 by the year 2025 (432 per month on average) as compared the figure of 13695 by 2024 (1,141 monthly). Contrastingly, the USA recorded an increase of just 1% in the first half of 2025, with the number of 584 Pakistani workers shifting in the first quarter of 2025 — an increase by 1 077 in the 2024.
Overall Manpower Export Performance
Manpower exports from Pakistan totaled at 336,442 for the H1 of 2025 which was 56,073 a month as compared with 727,381 by 2024 (monthly average of 60,615). Despite the dip overall however, experts believe that the numbers of exports may increase in the second part of the year particularly if visa policy changes are improved within both the UAE as well as Oman.
In the report of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Pakistan received $38.3 billion in transfer payments during the last year and $30.5 billion of that coming directly from Gulf, UK, and USA which highlights the importance of foreign workers in the country’s economy.
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