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Unemployment and manpower shortage

10 July 2009

Close to four percent of the Bhutanese population is seeking jobs, yet 276 posts in the Labour Ministry remain vacant.

The shortage of manpower is seriously hampering the ministry’s work, particularly in employment promotion and facilitation services, states the annual report (2008-2009) of the ministry.

The ministry and its branch offices had proposed the recruitment of 270 staff, excluding drivers, but only 134 posts have been filled. The remaining 136 still remain vacant. Out of 331 posts proposed for the vocational training institutes in the country, only 191 have been filled.

“We have put forth this issue and it is up to the Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC) to solve this problem,” said Labour Minister Dorji Wangdi, adding that human resource had a crucial role to play in supporting the major upcoming programmes of the ministry.

After a long wait for the director of the Department of Employment, the post has been filled.

In view of a prediction of 93,000 job seekers by the end of the 10th plan, the government is targeting to bring down the unemployment rate from more than 3.7 percent in 2007 to 2.5 percent by the end of the plan.

And with unemployment rate for this year predicted to go up to approximately four percent, the ministry needs enough human resource to provide gainful employment to all citizens, in accordance with its slogan.

Labour Minister, however, said, “We should respect the idea of small, compact and efficient government.” Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) also faces a shortage of quality human resource.

“The shortage of manpower is multiple, but shortage in essence is not the real issue. The real issue is quantity and quality,” said the ACC spokesperson, Kezang Jamtsho.

He said ACC’s problem was not simply recruiting people. It was more of getting the right people and to be able to maintain them.

The key persons in ACC were handpicked under the royal command.

“We feel Bhutan has capable and ‘clean’ officials, but they would have a price tag. This seems to be a problem at present as per ACC’s experience,” he added

Royal Audit Authority (RAA) too asks for an independent service rules. According to the spokesperson, Tashi, under the Bhutan Civil Service Rules, civil servants can apply for other jobs within the civil service. This has hampered the human resource in the RAA.

Independent service conditions have two basic advantages – one, to attract and retain professionals with capacity and integrity, and two, to eliminate the conflict of interest, according to ACC spokesperson.

He said, “Without independent service conditions, how will ACC investigate ministries or commissions who control them. This conflict of interest will kill the power to decide based on facts without fear or favour.”

The posts of deans and coordinators at the research centre opened in every college of the Royal University of Bhutan (RUB) are vacant.

Centre for Educational Research and Development under Paro College of Education has not been functioning according to its mandate due to human resource shortage. “So far the research component of the centre has not been utilised by anyone,” said the Director of Paro College of Education, Thubten Gyatsho. This, he pointed out, was because of the shortage of human resource.

The Director of Research and External Relations of the RUB, Phintsho Choeden, said the main reason for the establishment of four research centres in the colleges was to make them hubs of particular subjects for research so that anyone can come and study a particular subject they are interested in.

The Education Ministry has expressed concerns over youth unemployment being a result of poor schooling in its annual report (2008-2009). Only 85 percent of students study up to lower secondary level (classes VII and VIII).

School dropouts add to the number of job seekers, who belong to the bottom of the education pyramid. They form the working youth population with low skills.

The education review commission has estimated that eight to nine percent of the school-going children would drop out of schools. They include children from remote areas, nomadic communities and those with learning disabilities, whose learning needs are not catered to.

The increase in enrollment rate has increased pressure on secondary level schools leading to inadequate facilities and overcrowded classrooms.

By Kuenzang C Choden

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