Labour minister explains where 16,346 youth are employed

Member of Parliament of Kengkhar Weringla, Rinzin Jamtsho, during the question- hour session in the National Assembly, questioned the Minister of Labour and Human Resources on the authenticity of employment status as claimed by the government.
MP Rinzin Jamtsho also highlighted that in the last question-hour, the Labour Minister had mentioned that employment has been provided to 16,000 youth. He said that the figures are doubtful as many youth are found without jobs and the reality of unemployment is bitter.
Following the question, Lyonpo Ngeema Sangay Tshempo said that the present government, since coming to power in 2013, has worked on resolving four major issues; poverty, INR shortage, National Debt and unemployment.  Lyonpo said that among the major issues, the unemployment problem is the most important and challenging.
Citing the various reasons for unemployment, Lyonpo said that most of the youth come to urban areas in search of jobs and remain unemployed for a long period of time. Almost 52 percent of the unemployed youth live with their relatives or stay in shared apartments with friends.
However, he said that there is nothing to be doubtful on the employment figures as the ministry has been coming up with various measures to tackle the unemployment issues
For instance, Lyonpo said that from a total of 16,346 youth who are already employed, about 2,074 are employed in government sectors, 2,009 in corporations, 5, 773 in private sectors and 103 in NGOs, which sums up to 9,939 people.
Lyonpo said that the ministry has sent 801 Bhutanese workers to India, 73 to Qatar, 121 to Dubai, 136 to Kuwait, 127 to Thailand, 9 to Japan, 30 to Israel and 13 to Malaysia for work so far, which adds up to 1,310 youth being  employed in  overseas employment program .
He said another 4,281 are employed under the Guaranteed Employment Program, which include technical training, tourism, temporary jobs and retail training. Further, Lyonpo said that more youth are being engaged in capacity building, such as in electronics, enhancing entrepreneurial  skills and agricultural businesses.
In an effort towards reducing the unemployment problem, the ministry has memorandum of understanding signed between the governments of Thailand, Bangladesh and India in recruiting teachers.
“We are also creating jobs for those who have lost their jobs after a company was closed down,” Lyonpo said, adding that the ministry has various plans in the pipeline to solve unemployment issues in the country. So far, Lyonpo said that 121 teachers have been sent to teach in Thailand, 7 in India and a many teachers were recruited by private schools in the country.
Therefore, Lyonpo said the employment figures and data is authentic and verifiable.