KOCHI: Malayali women still continue to have a penchant for housemaid and nursing jobs in Middle East countries as there has been a hundred per cent rise in migration of women from Kerala to countries that require emigration check required (ECR) for employment in 2019.As per the MEA data, 289 women from Kerala migrated to ECR countries for housemaid jobs in 2019 (upto December 10) while the figures stood at 145 in 2018 and 201 in 2017. Similarly, the number of nurses from Kerala who migrated to ECR countries in 2019 was 7,713 compared to 5,685 in 2018 and 3,278 in 2017.
Experts say the trend is going to remain the same in 2020 as Middle East countries continue to attract women from Kerala for jobs in ECR category. “Malayali women still prefer Middle East countries for housemaid jobs. Though salaries are not that attractive these days in Gulf countries, Malayali women prefer to work in the Gulf because they can save a lot of money.
Usually, the housemaids get a salary ranging between Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000,” said S Irudaya Rajan, Chair Professor, Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs Research Unit on International Migration at Centre for Development Studies (CDS). It was in January 2019 that the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) came out with an advisory saying that no Indian emigrant holding Non-ECR passport would be allowed to go to 18 ECR countries for employment without prior registration in e-Migrate.
The 18 ECR countries are Afghanistan, Bahrain, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
Usually, it was from Kerala that the maximum number of women used to migrate to ECR countries for housemaid jobs till 2018, but in 2019 Andhra Pradesh surpassed Kerala with 876 of its women migrating to ECR countries for housemaid jobs. A district-wise analysis of the 2019 data revealed that it was from Thiruvananthapuram that the highest number of 53 women migrated to ECR countries for housemaid jobs followed by Pathanamthitta (33) and Kottayam (31). When it comes to migration of nurses from Kerala, Kottayam stood on top with 1918 nurses followed by Pathanamthitta (1,224) and Ernakulam (1,016).