Overseas labour migration from Pakistan is concentrated in Punjab, Kashmir and K-P, and remittance flows largely mirror this pattern. Access to overseas employment is influenced by access to information, recruitment channels, social networks, skills, documentation, and financial resources. For many young people in lower-income neighbourhoods, overseas employment appears as the only realistic route to upward mobility. Overseas employment could have become a third income stream for thousands of households. The Philippines transformed overseas employment into a deliberate national strategy backed by specialised institutions, skills programmes and bilateral labour agreements.