Islamabad continues to rid government ranks of corruption as it dismissed over 30 officers for collaborating with human traffickers. According to Dawn, these government officers were part of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and were aiding traffickers to send Pakistanis abroad illegally.

 

This crackdown against illegal emigration picked up pace after a boat carrying illegal emigrants sank near Greek shores last month. However, Pakistani businesses will likely benefit from the measures being implemented to prevent a similar tragedy.

 

Islamabad’s crackdown against illegal emigration could result in a reduction of brain drain, allowing Pakistan to retain highly skilled and educated individuals. Businesses can utilise these skillsets, allowing for a greater level of innovation and development in Pakistan.

 

In light of the high level of collusion between government officials and human traffickers, foreign nations might require stricter measures to be in place for Pakistan’s planning to emigrate to these countries.

 

With experts expecting stricter checks to be implemented to monitor legal and curb illegal emigration, the supply of labour is likely to rise in the economy. This is because fewer Pakistani workers will be allowed to leave the country in search of a better future abroad.

 

 For businesses, this translates into lower operational costs as workers will attempt to underbid each other in an attempt to secure jobs despite being paid a lower wage. Businesses can also hire workers with the highest skills. Both of these factors will result in lower costs and higher productivity for businesses, allowing business owners to attain higher profit margins.

 

However, the crusade against human traffickers and their protectors in the government comes a little too late. Aside from the immense loss of human life over the years, Pakistan’s passport ratings have tanked too, sinking just as low as the makeshift ships that carry Pakistani emigrants to Europe.

 

The Global Organized Crime Index, sponsored by the United States and European Union, has already highlighted how ‘tens of thousands of Pakistanis attempt to illegally migrate to the west’. This shows the negative image of Pakistan in the eyes of the West.

 

Pakistan already has the third weakest passport in the world, ahead only of the war-torn countries of Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia. The stricter checks on emigration might benefit businesses, but they will only serve to metaphorically strangle the average worker.

 

This is because it is still beneficial for Pakistanis to emigrate abroad. As per the National Initiative against Organized Crime (NIOC), labour force growth has historically outpaced the job creation rate by around 0.3 percent. This could explain why the labour force participation rate grows so sluggishly in Pakistan, lurking around 52-53 percent, as there are not enough jobs to go around.

 

Thus, the benefits of retaining workers may not outweigh the costs. This is especially true for professions in high demand across the world, such as healthcare and IT.

 

As per the Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, over 50,000 professionals have left Pakistan from 1971-2022, and the number has grown rapidly in the past two years as well. The average salary for an MBBS doctor in the United States is around $226,831, while in Pakistan, the self-reported salaries stand at $4,204, as per Glassdoor.

 

In an interview with The Current, a medical school student who preferred to remain anonymous expressed great pessimism regarding working in Pakistan after the completion of their MBBS program and preferred to “work abroad instead for the higher pays” instead.

 

The crackdown may also temporarily hurt the growth of remittance levels in the near future, as illegal migration will stagnate. For Islamabad, which relies heavily on remittance inflows to stay afloat, this will undoubtedly sting.