Labour minister, Ngeema Sangay Tshempo says unemployment allowance has many negative impacts. He was speaking at the National Assembly, yesterday.
Lyonpo said even though the government had pledged to give unemployment allowance, his research shows it will have an adverse impact on the country’s economy, in a long run.
“Our jobseekers will also not take a keen interest to find jobs and that will lead to temporary idleness,” said the minister.
Lyonpo’s statement was part of his answer to a question posed by Nganglam MP, Choida Jamtsho. MP Choida Jamtsho had asked the minister about the current status of the government’s election promise of 100 percent employment and also unemployment allowance.
Lyonpo Ngeema Sangay Tshempo said the labour ministry has initiated various programmes, such as Guaranteed Employment Programme to reduce the unemployment rate in the country. Lyonpo added the ministry has employed 16,344 job seekers in last two years, through the programme.
“In our country, the employment rate is at 97.5 percent while 2.5 percent is considered as the unemployment rate.”
Lyonpo said since those unemployed are class 10, 12 and college graduates, they do not fall under unemployed category. “Instead, they are undergoing trainings and waiting to be recruited.”
According to the National Labour Force Survey, 2014 the National Unemployment Rate is 2.6 percent while youth unemployment rate stands at 9.4 percent.
