Employment

The sights and sounds of the job market remain the same. The number of jobs available is increasing. The number of job seekers is increasing faster. And the level of frustration is rising.We are now talking about 3.7 percent unemployment, meaning more than 10,500 youth looking for jobs. This is just the known estimate; there are many more, along with the related problems.
The essence of the problem has not changed since employment was first recognised as a problem. Most people talk about a mismatch. The jobs available are not what job seekers are looking for. The job seekers are not what employers are looking for.
As the job fair last weekend showed, and as job fairs of the past years revealed, employers want skills and experience. Job seekers are fresh out of educational institutions. If they had skills and experience they would already have jobs.
This is a gap that needs to be closed and, apart from vocational institutions, the first options have to be apprenticeships and internships. Such a “trial” period has proved to be of great value for both employers and job seekers around the world. In Bhutan, however, given that private employers are struggling to launch their businesses, they cannot afford to pay interns. Youth cannot afford to work for free. The government needs to share some of the costs. Internships in critical employment areas could be subsidized.
More than internships youth need trainings. The industry is poised to expand and is already looking for a wide range of trained people. The 10th Plan has projected 90,000 jobs and the immediate need is quality training in this vibrant service sector.
At this stage, a central employment agency may help provide the perspective and focus needed to tackle the problem.
This trend is emerging at a time when our agricultural fields are becoming fallow at an alarming rate. It is extremely unlikely that youth, particularly, will think of returning to the farms. The new government is looking at vocations in rural areas, more businesses than outright farming.
Such an initiative would need to be dramatically creative. It would need to be accompanied by facilities and comforts like power and telephone lines and, these days, good Internet connections. Most people will move out of the large cities only if there is a semblance of urban living that includes shops and entertainment centres.
For a start, however, the government needs to clamp down on unwanted practices today. There are a number of industries and services, like the printing industry, that have not taken off only because they have remained briefcase businesses and nothing has been done about it.
These are industries where the government is the main, and sometimes the only, client. They turn over millions of ngultrums and can employ thousands of people. If these are not controlled and nurtured, starting new ventures will be far more difficult.