The country saw an improvement in its unemployment rate last year. It dropped to 4.8 per cent from the all-time high of 5 per cent recorded in 2020. It is estimated that there are still more than 16,000 eligible people willing to work but without a job in the country in 2021. This is as per the Labour Force Survey report released by the National Statistics Bureau (NSB) today.
The improvement in the unemployment rate reported last year is far from the pre-COVID years. Out of more than 300,000 economically active people, more than 16,000 people were without work in 2021. The unemployment rate was higher among females at 6.1 per cent. Unemployment was also three times higher in the urban areas at 8.9 per cent.
Thimphu has the highest unemployment rate at 10.1 per cent and Samdrup Jongkhar has the lowest unemployment rate at one per cent. This means that in Thimphu, more than 6,000 people were without work.
Meanwhile, the improvement in the youth unemployment rate is quite remarkable. From 22.6 per cent in 2020, the youth unemployment rate dropped to 20.9 per cent last year. Only about 6,500 youth were reported to be unemployed with 61.4 per cent being female.
Thimphu again has the highest youth unemployment rate at 32.6 per cent followed by Haa at 29.1 per cent. Gasa has the lowest unemployment rate at 1.6 per cent. Of the unemployed youth, the majority have completed higher secondary education at over 47 per cent followed by bachelor’s degree at nearly 28 per cent.
As per the NSB report, the decrease in unemployment rates last year was due to strategic interventions and programmes initiated by His Majesty’s secretariat. Last year, many employment opportunities were created in the major economic activity like construction, agriculture, forestry and fishing and human health and social work activities.
Kinley Dem
