About 70,469 jobseekers are projected to be in the market in the next five years according to the labour ministry’s jobseekers’ guide 2018.

The jobseeker’s guide was developed since 2016 to aid jobseekers find gainful employment. The 12th Plan Human Resource Development (HRD) master plan projected about 66,000 jobseekers in the labour market.

As much as about 19,000 graduates are going to hit the job market in the next five years alongside 31,000 Class XII graduates and 15,260 Class X graduates.

Although there is no age limit to register as a jobseeker online, employment schemes were only made available to those between the ages of 18 and 26 years.

According to the guide, the labour force participation rate remained the same at about 62 percent while the female labour force participation rate decreased from 59.5 percent in 2013 to 54.5 percent in 2016.

The guide stated, “About 5,000 jobseekers will be skilled under the programme in the 12thPlan in which the areas of training will be guided by the HRD master plan for economic sector.”

To address unemployment, the ministry established Guaranteed Employment Programme (GEP), under which three programmes such as direct employment scheme, employment skills scheme, and overseas employment scheme were introduced.

It stated that school to work transition (STWT) programmes were provided to entrants and jobseekers to provide a sense of readiness for work and to take better decisions related to career.

These programmes were funded through cost sharing and some were fully funded programmes in government, corporate and private sector based on the qualification of the jobseekers and work nature.

According to the guide, the labour ministry is expected to monitor the progress of the participant at least once in six months.

Overseas employment scheme was adopted to address unemployment, provide gainful employment to youth, and to contribute towards foreign currency reserves and remittances, among others.

Labour ministry’s director general, Sherab Tenzin said that for optimal capitalisation of opportunities, job seekers were advised to visit the ministry’s website frequently, attend job fairs, be attentive to advertisements, and announcements in the various media.

Staff Reporter