The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Member of Parliament (MP) Bartsham Shongphu raised questions on the government’s pledge to secure 100 percent employment during the Question Hour session of National Assembly. He stated that at the end of the third year, achieving the target is nowhere close. He asked about how the government plans to address the status of employment by the end of the government’s tenure.
In response, Labour and Human Resources (MoLHR) Minister, Ngeema Sangay Tshempo said that one of the greatest concerns for the government is the unemployment issues, since the beginning of the 11th Five Year Plan.
He said that in order to curb the unemployment problem, the government has planned several projects after much research and study. 5 new projects, like overseas employment, employment through Guaranteed Skills Program (GSP), and various entrepreneurship courses were introduced.
He said, “Since 2013 till date, about 22,797 are employed, so far, in various sectors.”
As per the report announced by MoLHR minister, 2,149 jobseekers were employed through overseas employment program including the very recent one, 2,572 in government sector, 2,449 in corporate sector and 9,998 in private sector, 129 in NGO sector and 7,015 were given vocational training as per the requirement in the job market.
Lyonpo said that meetings were held with various sectors regarding the development of entrepreneurs, on small and medium business, and on ideas to create employment opportunities.
He said, “The main opportunities are in tourism sector and technical sites where about 31,000 numbers are required.” He added that the government is trying its best to create employment opportunities in other sectors too.
He also said that after study and research, it was learned that in total, about 44,883 can be employed in country, thereby ultimately achieving the employment target by the end of the government’s tenure, adding that the government has concentrated mainly on the overseas employment.
Lyonpo also emphasized that before implementing the plans, budget is the main factor, for which the government has adequately reviewed the budget to an increasing amount every year as per the demand of situation. The budget for this year is Nu 281.7 million.
