The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The latest records with the Ministry of Labour and Human Resources (MoLHR) show that 512 Bhutanese workers have found jobs in India, Qatar, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The Bhutanese workers were able to find the jobs through the Bhutanese Overseas Employment Agents (BOEAs) and the government. Out of 512, the employment agents have managed to send 24 Bhutanese workers whereas the government sent 488 workers.
The program officer, Employment Service Division, MoLHR, Tshewang Rinchen, said there are challenges with the overseas employment program due to difficulties in collaborating with overseas employment agents in terms of securing gainful employment. He also said finding employment avenues get complicated as Bhutan is not enlisted as a source of migrant workers in companies abroad.
Tshewang Rinchen said one of the biggest challenges is the mismatch between demand and supply of labour. He said there is a demand for skilled workers for overseas employment, but Bhutan can only supply unskilled jobseekers at the moment.
He said the ministry is putting in efforts to meet its target of sending 30,000 jobseekers abroad within five years.
“Many of the Bhutanese Overseas Employment Agents have shared challenges regarding the processing of visas which takes a longer time,”Tshewang Rinchen said.
There are 5 Bhutanese overseas employment agents registered with MoLHR. 20 jobseekers (11 males and 9 females) were sent to Doha, Qatar by Global Recruitment to work in the hospitality sector, 2 females were sent to Thailand to work as teachers by TUSK and EmployBhutan also managed to send 2 Bhutanese workers to UAE.
The government sent 73 Bhutanese to Thailand as teachers. 40 jobseekers have been selected to undergo a nine-month internship program in Israel in the coming month after having completed the six-month training in certificate course in agriculture at the Rural Development Training Centre in Zhemgang. 198 Bhutanese workers were sent to India for beauty, hair and spa training, out of which 177 are employed in India.
The employment providers in Thailand require the language proficiency test, IELTS, scores from Bhutanese workers seeking to work as teachers in Thailand.
The latest records with MoLHR show that 177 male jobseekers and 355 female jobseekers were sent through the Overseas Employment Program. The workers were sent to the countries that have diplomatic relations with Bhutan.
The other factors taken into consideration for the overseas employment program are the possibilityof earning high remittances, the transfer of technological knowledge and for workers to gain experience which will eventually help in nation building.
