The unemployment scenario February 3, 2014 The labour minister listed the various plans and programs to address the situation NC Q-hour: The People’s Democratic Party government will look beyond the country in its effort to fulfill its pledge on full employment in the next five years.The labour and human resources minister, Ngeema Sangay Tshempo, said they could not create enough jobs locally because of the economic conditions. He informed the Council last Thursday that the overseas employment program would send 6,000 jobseekers abroad each year. However, it is not easy, because the jobseekers’ skills level has to meet the standards of the employers. So, before they are sent abroad, jobseekers need to train to become eligible for those jobs. Samdrupjongkhar NC representative, Jigme Wangchuk, had asked what the government had done to create employment within the country. “There are graduates, who have waited more than four years to find a job,” he said. The ministry, lyonpo Ngeema Sangay Tshempo said, is prioritising skills development and entrepreneurship development in the 11th Plan. The ministry has communicated with 11 countries so far, and approved three of the six proposals, in principle, for employment agents. “A Kuwaiti business firm has agreed to recruit a substantial number of jobseekers, and the government has invited him here,” the minister said. Sending nurses and caregivers to America and Canada is an option the government would explore. To improve the economy, under the entrepreneurship development program, 400 persons would be trained this year. At the end of the 11th Plan, 3,000 individuals would be trained, and they would also receive monetary support to start businesses. “Once they complete the training, they can avail a loan up to Nu 1M without interest,” the minister said. “Sixty percent of the amount is contributed by the government and 40 percent by the banks.” “Last year, 900 people were trained, but only 149 have established businesses. We don’t know about what happened to the rest.” Thus the ministry now has a monitoring and evaluation program following the training. Forty-nine youth completed basic entrepreneurship course and 37 completed the comprehensive version since July last year. A hundred more are currently training. The ministry is also developing a national strategy. To equip jobseekers with experience, the ministry has the university internship program, apprenticeship training, and would soon reinstate national social service program. In the last five years, 32,190 jobs were created, with 3,058 of them in the hydropower sector. However, the minister said scarcity of jobs is not a big problem in Bhutan. “Our youth are choosy,” he said. “When we give them work in Bumthang or somewhere else, they turn them down, because they’re looking for jobs in places of their choice and mainly desk work.” The minister said three under-construction hydropower projects employ not many Bhutanese workers, because only few are interested in manual works. His Majesty the King in his National Day address last December said 20,000 jobs needed to be created each year in the 11th Plan to stem the rising unemployment challenge in the country. “We’re offering them the best of job opportunities but it is now up to them whether they can avail them,” the minister said. Despite the odds, the minister said his ministry is trying. Seven industries in Samdrupjongkhar, Pemagatshel and Zhemgang signed an agreement with the ministry to recruit Bhutanese youth. He said the technical vocational education and training policy is under revision to adapt to changing labour market conditions and to make it more appealing to youth. In 2012, youth unemployment rate was at 7.3 percent, while there were 2,083 young unemployed female against 1,392 male. The overall unemployment rate, however, was only 2.1 percent
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 06:54:58 +0000
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