The country’s unemployment rate reached an all-time high at five per cent last year. It is almost double the rate of unemployment recorded in 2019. More than 16,000 out of over 300,000 economically active people actively seeking and available for work remained without work in 2020. This is as per the Labour Force Survey report released by the National Statistics Bureau (NSB) today.
According to the survey report, the unemployment rate was highest in the urban areas- it is four times higher than that of rural areas.
Thimphu recorded the highest number of unemployed persons at close to 7,000 which is followed by Paro, Chhukha and Sarpang. Paro has close to 2,000, Chhukha has more than 1,500 and Sarpang has around 1,000 unemployed people in 2020.
The youth unemployment rate stands at almost 23 per cent- double an increase from 11 per cent in 2019. It is the highest to date. Youth unemployment refers to the unemployed persons in the age group of 15-24 years. And youth unemployment in the urban areas is double the rate in rural areas and it is higher among female compared to male. Thimphu, Paro, Pema Gatshel, are among the districts that recorded the highest youth unemployment while Monggar recorded the lowest at 5 per cent.
Of the total unemployed youth, around 46 per cent are high school graduate and 23 per cent are university graduate.
The survey found COVID-19 pandemic, recently completed studies and lack of adequate qualification and lack of experience as some of the major reasons for unemployment. 19 per cent of the total unemployed people were laid off from work amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“If you compare with the findings of the previous labour force survey, you will see that total number of unemployed persons have gone up by almost 100 per cent. It means that there are an impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the business and service sector and the overseas returnees have added pressure to the existing labour market. This could be the reason why the unemployment rate has gone up,” said Leki Wangdi, a Senior Statistical Officer at the NSB.
He added that the unemployment rate would have been much higher had it not been for the timely interventions amid the pandemic.
“Although the administrative data shows that there is a high number of unemployed persons, they have also shown that there are many laid off from the service sector and allied sector. But during our survey, through the COVID response undertaken by the government under the leadership of His Majesty The King, many of the unemployed people are somehow re-deployed through the contingency plan which is included as employed during our survey. This could be one reason why the unemployed is high but not as high as what we have expected,” he added.
Meanwhile, the country’s employment rate for 2020 is estimated at 95 per cent. It is a decrease from 97 per cent in 2019. The majority of the employed persons are in the rural areas and 50 per cent of employed in the agriculture sector and lowest in the industry sector at 14 per cent.
Phub Gyem
