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Economy |
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Economy |
Foreign Exahange Rate
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Source : Information published by Nepal Rastra Bank
Bullion
Prices (Kathmandu) In Rupees
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Source : Nepal Bullion Traders Association
Revelation in Employment Status At the end of January, the Central Bureau of Statistics published the results of Nepal Labor Force Survey (NLFS), conducted with the technical and financial assistance of ILO and UNDP. Based on a sample of more than 14,000 households, the survey contains valuable information on various aspects of labor force in Nepal. Being a first study of its kind in Nepal, the information contained in the report could also be used as a base line information for future studies and comparison. Highlights of some of the important and interesting findings of the survey : Unemployment Obviously, the first piece of information that every one likes to have is the rate of unemployment prevailing in the country. This is also of prime interest to the government since the main agenda of the current Ninth Plan is to alleviate poverty and unemployment. To the surprise of many, the survey puts unemployment rate at 1.8 percent. The figure is pretty low compared to 4.9 percent rate found by Nepal Living Standard Survey. However, the survey warns that the low figure is due to changes in the definition of work and employment in Nepal. The survey has expanded the definition of work and employment to include those house-hold activities that were, traditionally, excluded from the purview of employment definition. The study has also warned that where there is no provision of social security, very few people in Nepal can afford to remain unemployed. In order to make the rate of unemployment comparable to the Nepal Living Standard Survey, a separate adjustment has been made in the report. The adjusted rate of unemployment is found to be 5.2 percent. Keeping aside this debate on national average unemployment rate, other interesting finds are: (1) The urban unemployment rate of 7.4 percent is pretty high compared to the national average of 1.8 percent. (2) The female urban unemployment rate is still higher at 9.4 percent. (3) The female rural unemployment is substantially lower than the male unemployment rate. It is less than one percent. (4) By ecological belts, the highest rate of unemployment is found in urban parts of eastern Terai - 12.6 percent. Who Works How Long By Occupation
Underemployment Taking 40 hours per week as a cut- off rate, it is found in the survey that nearly 27 percent of those employed are in fact underemployed i.e. they work less than 40 hours per week. Out of this, only four percent is found to be involuntarily underemployed. That is, people want to work more hours but they cannot or could not find work. The survey also presents interesting finds on the reasons for underemployment, duration of underemployment and the methods used to find work. Quantum and Quality About 54 percent of Nepal’s population constitute labor force (age group 15-64 years). Sex-wise, there is more female labor force (56 percent) than male labor force (53 percent). And this is due to more female population of 15-45 age group in the country. The absence of male population (out migration) might be one factor for increased female population in this category. With the labor force of 54 percent, the dependency ratio is 0.83, meaning that 100 working people have to support 83 persons. This is comparatively a high dependency ratio. In the survey it is found that about 60 percent of the population have never attended school while 12 percent have attended primary level. The literacy rate is found to be about 45 percent. But there is marked difference between the literacy rates of males (62%) and females (28%). The survey also reveals that about 400,000 people have received some form of vocational training. Interestingly, with 29,000 people, computer training is ranked to be the fourth popular training activities in Nepal. Economically Active Population The proportion of people mentioned above as labor force need not be economically active. About 86 percent of the population over 15 years are found to be active. Similarly, about 41 percent of the children of age group 5-14 years are found to be economically active. One indicator to measure the economically active population is to see the labor force participation rate. That is, the number of working age people who are economically active. The labor force participation rate for all ages is found to be slightly over 72 percent. However, it is interesting to note that labor force participation for girl child (5-14 years) is more than for the boys and this is pronounced more in rural areas. The labor force participation of children (5-14 years) is found to be around 41 percent. Significant number of children are found to be economically active even though they continue their studies. Therefore, child labor is still a prominent issue in Nepal. Employment The survey provides lots of information on employment. The survey includes information on economic activities, occupation, industry, institutions, hours of work, earning and secondary jobs. Agriculture is still the predominant sector of employment for Nepalis either by economic activity (54.7%), occupation (67.3%) or industry-wise (76%) classification. Another feature of employment is that only 16 percent work as paid employees, the large majority still work as self-employed with or without family members. By institutional sector of employment, government provides job to 16 percent, public corporations to 5 percent, and INGOs and NGOs to 2 percent of the total institutional employment. A large portion of jobs comes from the registered or unregistered private sector firms which is around 25 percent. The survey also reports that more than half of the total institutional sector employment is recorded as "other" which may have to do with unregistered private business carried on a self employment basis. Where They Work How Long By Industry
On an average, Nepalis work for around 40 hours per week, men working more than women - 43 hours vs 36 hours. However, it is interesting to see that people working in hotels and restaurants, transport, storage and communication, wholesale and retail trade, work extremely long hours, beyond 48 hours per week specified under our Labor Act. Another piece of information is that legislatures and senior officials work 51 hours per week. This is the only hopeful sign of development in Nepal! How about giving a raise to the salaries and allowances of legislatures and our senior officials? By the way they also receive highest, on an average, monthly earning of Rs 8000 per month. On the other hand, on an average, Nepalis receive monthly payment of slightly over Rs 2100. There is gross difference between the monthly earnings of males and females. Females receives nearly half of that of males. Informal Sector Outside agriculture sector informal sector, from provide the largest source of employment to Nepalis. This is about 73 percent of the jobs outside agriculture. Most of such informal sector jobs are skill-oriented jobs. It is also interesting to note that females are more involved in the informal jobs than the males with percentage record of 67 percent vs. 87 percent. Non-economic Activities Apart from economic activities, the survey also provides information on non-economic activities. Cooking, cleaning, repair works and child minding activities are still the domain of female work. Shopping and volunteering are domain of male’s. Summing Up Someone who does not have enough time to gleam through the 148 pages of the report with lots of tables and information may be interested in knowing the gist of the survey. If so, what could be the summary? The information can be summarized in the following terms. Nepali labor market is still dominated by traditional agriculture sector with lots of unskilled labor supply, which is influenced by the seasonal variations in the agriculture. Nepali labors work long hours with little payment, child labor is still a problematic issue, there is male-female disparity and discrimination in job arrangements, work hours and payments made. With low unemployment figure, this justifies that poverty and employment (not unemployment) are intricately tied up in Nepal. - By Business Age Reporter |
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