Over 100,000 unemployed people are likely to get paid works this fiscal year as part of the Prime Minister Employment Programme (PMEP), the national wage-employment scheme that aims to provide minimum days of work for unemployed citizens.

With the additional budget for Rs 2.36 billion – distributed among all the 753 local units – for implementation of the scheme, the government had estimated that a minimum 30 days of work can be given to registered citizens.

After the budget reached each local unit after calculating three factors—number of households with poverty, the total population of the local unit, and its remoteness – the programme has calculated that a minimum 30 days of work can be ensured to a total of 106,872 people this fiscal year.

After delayed implementation of the employment scheme, which was launched last February to provide minimum 100 days of work for unemployed citizens of the working age (18 to 59 years), the government had said the scheme would not be able to guarantee the pledged number of days of work this year because of the time constraint.

According to Gokarna Bista, the labour, employment and social security minister, the programme will provide job opportunities for workers so as to ensure their right to employment and also supply workers for various projects at the local level.

“On the one hand, every year nearly 500,000 workers enter the job market and end up jobless in the country. As the last resort for jobs, these youths have no option but to migrate abroad after investing huge amounts,” said labour minister Bista.

“On the other hand, the country is also facing a shortage of workers for development projects and workers from neighbouring countries are working here. This programme will provide jobs for those who can neither go abroad nor move to urban areas looking for jobs.”

Meanwhile, local, provincial and federal governments have started signing the tripartite agreement for implementation of the Prime Minister Employment Programme. A similar agreement was signed between the federal government, Province 3 government and 109 local units of the Province 3 on Friday in Kathmandu.

Speaking at the event, the labour minister said coordination among the three levels of government is crucial for effective implementation of the scheme to provide jobs for the poor and unemployed sections of the society. Similar contracts have been signed with the local units of provinces 1, 2 and 5.

Loknath Bhushal, under-secretary at the Labour Ministry, said the programme was ready for implementation as all the required works like formulating directives, working procedures, and appointment of Employment Coordinators in all the local units have been completed.

“Everything is all set for providing works to registered people at their respective places. Now, the local units should play an important role for implementation and success of the programme,” added Bhushal.