Employment, transfer and moving with family are some of the major reasons for migration, according to the Labour Force Survey 2012. The survey shows internal migration of the work force has also been increasing in the recent years.
Internal migration means people moving from rural to rural, rural to urban, urban to rural and urban to urban.
Labour officials say increasing internal migration of labour force could be a major factor contributing towards rise in urban unemployment and also urban poverty.
The report says more than 4,000 people of the country’s total population have migrated from rural to urban areas in the last one year. Majority of the people were among the age group of 15 to 24, youth who come to urban areas seeking jobs.
More than 6000 people migrated from urban to urban, about 8,695 people migrated from rural to rural and about 3,100 people migrated from urban to rural in 2012.
The Officiating Chief Statistical Officer of Labor and Human Resource Ministry, Ugyen Tenzin said in 2012, there has been lot of internal migration. “That could be the reason for increasing youth unemployment in urban areas. The overall unemployment rate in the country is 2.1 percent but in figure Bhutan has higher number of unemployment in urban cities.”
The Labour Force Survey findings cite varied reasons for migration. Some move with families, others move in search of jobs and some for education purposes.
In 2012, slightly more than 2,000 people have moved to different places just to seek jobs. Ugyen Tenzin said the ministry has not done an extensive research on migration. However, he said rural to urban migration of the work force aggravates urban unemployment.
