The current communist government inaugurated the Prime Minister Employment Programme amid much fanfare. Their stated intention was to reduce the foreign labour migration. Marking the event as an unprecedented achievement in the history of Nepal’s employment and social security policy, the PM also declared Feb 13 as National Employment Day.  While the PM confidently stated that no Nepali will have to remain unemployed now, it will be too early to gauge the effectiveness of such ambitious programs taking into consideration the precedence of the past where similar tall promises were made but rang hollow in the absence of robust implementation.

The major highlights of the program include providing a 100 days equivalent minimum wage allowance to the unemployed population aged 18-59, provision of employment service centres in 753 local units across the nation to facilitate the entry of unemployed people into the employment, particularly in areas of community infrastructure development, reconstruction, large and national pride projects among others. Having said that, no one will be eligible to receive the  allowance in case a single member in his/her family have a job that pays them the government mandated  minimum basic salary. Further exemptions have been made for the family members of pensioners and recipients of any other kind of social security allowances.

It is indeed a welcoming statement on the part of the current labour minister to state that the programme intends to promote the dignity of labours by acknowledging all sorts of work that involves the use of skill. Nonetheless, in a society like ours where a deep hierarchical division already exists in terms of work,  some ground breaking policies in ensuring the self-esteem of all labourers will serve the nation’s cause.

The announcement comes at a time when around 1200-1500 youths  are migrating to foreign countries seeking employment opportunities. However, the government has expressed its commitment to create 100,000 jobs in a year. Given the present context, this seems to be an uphill battle. Creating around even 1,200 jobs per month have remained a challenging task for the government. Inspite of a strong majority, the government has lagged behind in expediting the process of infrastructures development and industrialisation thereby implicating the job availability.  Amid this scenario, the program has drawn criticism from a section of experts for its distributive approach which the labour minister has outrightly rejected. In addition, there is an obvious lack of strategic action points to materialise the idea of job expansion in the country in the days ahead.

Needless to say, unemployment has plagued the Nepali economy since long. According to the World Bank report 2017, the rate of unemployment in Nepal is 2.74 percent. However, another report by the International Labor Organization’s World Employment and Social Outlook Trends 2017 says that  Nepal’s unemployment rate  is 4 percent. Even though there is no uniformity in the statistics pertaining to unemployment, the precarious situation of joblessness in the country becomes evident from both the data.

Worse, the problem of educated people becoming increasingly unemployment is growing. In the absence of a job that matches their qualification, majority of university graduates in Nepal are having a tough time. As nepotism and favoritism has become a feature in every sector, it has become extremely difficult to enter into the job market for even the brightest young talents. This often reflects in the long queue of Public Service exams including other private sector vacancies where some ambitious candidates apply for jobs that are often below their academic qualification.This is a serious issue which the government has overlooked in developing  its much hyped employment programme.

Holding back the labour migrants in the country warrant some  some intensive work on the part of the government. First is to to invest in creating various job platforms for the aspiring migrants. Fostering entrepreneurship particularly local-based enterprises in agriculture and livestock farming in the rural areas will equally be  crucial in encouraging youths to stay back in the country. Furthermore, simple procedures for acquiring loans and credit facilities without any bureaucratic hassles can act as a strong motivating factor.

The success of the program shall hinge on the ability of the government to generate massive employment opportunities in the country in the coming year. By directing all its energy towards the development of the productive sectors in economy like industries, factories and expansion of social services, the government can reach closer to its goal. Collaborating with the private sector and other non-state actors like NGOs and CSOs can be instrumental in adding more jobs in the national economy.

Finally, it is imperative that the government develops a strong monitoring mechanism to ensure that the unemployment allowance will go only into the hands of the right person who qualifies all the criterias to avail the same.

Pokharel is a social science faculty at the Whitehouse Graduate School of Management.