According to the Labour Force Survey 2019, the youth unemployment rate is estimated at 11.9 per cent in 2019, which is down from 15.7 per cent in 2018. Youth unemployment rate is defined as the percentage of unemployed persons in the age group of 15-24 years.
The youth unemployment rate in the year 2019 has decreased by 3.8 per cent from the year 2018. In terms of absolute numbers, there are 3,626 unemployed youths who are without work, actively seeking and are available for work during the reference period. Although the National Statistics Bureau (NSB) claims to have not done research on why the rate decreased but they have possible reasons to explain why.
“As per the population projection 2017, the youth population is declining and in 2019 labour force, the youth population has declined which led to a decline in the youth labour force. The second reason could be because the enrolment rate for class eleven has increased in 2019 compared to 2018 and it is also shown in the education statistics of Ministry of Education and it is also shown in our statistics,” said Phuentsho Yuden, the Deputy Chief Statistical Officer at the NSB.
With this, she added that unemployed youth who have completed class ten declined to 11.5 per cent in 2019 compared to 24.4 per cent in 2018. Currently, there are over 11,700 students in class 11 compared to over 8800 in 2018.
The youth unemployment rate estimated for the male at 9.7 per cent is lower than the female which is at 13.8 per cent. Similarly, there is a difference in the youth unemployment rate among males and females both in urban and rural areas. The youth unemployment rate in urban areas is double than that of rural areas.
Paro has the highest youth unemployment rate followed by Trongsa, Thimphu, Pema Gatshel, Sarpang, Chhukha and Dagana. Punakha and Lhuentse Dzongkhags has the lowest youth unemployment rate.
The youth unemployment rate for the female population has been fluctuating over time and the highest is reported in the year 2018 at 16.1 per cent. The highest reported youth unemployment for male was in the year 2016 with 16.4 per cent.
A lower unemployment rate indicates a growing economy, while a higher rate indicates a declining economy and its inability to absorb people of working age.
Samten Dolkar
