Remittance cuts poverty but migrant workers face exploitation and abuse.

Many people from Nepal go abroad to work, but they face serious hardships along the way. Researchers studied this issue by reviewing secondary data with content analysis, which means carefully reading written records to identify key patterns. They found that government policies are not very effective, and recruitment agencies regularly ignore official rules. In Nepal, local agents and manpower agencies mislead workers and demand high service charges. Once workers arrive in destination countries, they face low pay, sexual abuse, and dangerous working conditions. Even though scholars argue that money sent back home, called remittance, has helped reduce national poverty over the last two decades, families mostly spend this money on everyday needs like food. The authors argue that stakeholders must intervene to make foreign labor safer and help people use these earnings more sustainably.

Why it matters

Nepal depends on remittances from millions of migrant workers, yet those workers are charged illegal fees, misled by agencies, and face low pay and sexual abuse abroad. Most of the money they send home goes to basic needs like food, not long-term investment. This paper calls on stakeholders to enforce regulations and protect workers, which could lift families out of poverty more effectively.

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