Call to bridge job demand and supply gap

KATHMANDU, April 29:

Undereducation of youths remains a big challenge in the labor market of Nepal while overeducation is also worrisome, according to a finding of recent school-to-work transition survey 2013 conducted by the International Labour Organization (ILO) Work4Youth Project (W4Y).

Presenting the key findings of the survey amid a national workshop held in capital on Tuesday in capital, Sara Elder, coordinator of the W4Y, said that even though education is not a panacea and does not in itself create jobs, having higher level of education or skills base still significantly improves the chance of obtaining stable and satisfactory employment. “The highly educated also have less chance of being unemployed and inactive. But investing in education brings positive returns in terms of wages and access to the better jobs she cautioned,” said Elder.

The survey report has also unveiled the finding that there is a mismatch between the jobs sought by young people and the jobs being created by enterprises. “There is an evident gap in supply and demand for young labor among the higher skilled occupations, which means the more educated youth face long-term unemployment or settling for work for which they are overqualified,” states the report.

The stakeholders present in the workshop have also called for the urgent need to overcome the mismatch between the demand and supply of the jobs between the young people and the enterprises. “There should be more emphasis on providing the vocational training to the young peoples to overcome such mismatch in the labor market,” Umesh Upadhyaya, Secretary General of General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT), said.

The survey has found that very few young Nepali engaged in the vocational training. According to the survey report, only 7 percent youth are participating in vocvational training and only 5 percent youth are involved in vocational training after completing their education.

Similarly, Director of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), Hansa Ram Pandey, said that there should be coordination between the private sector and training provider or educational institutions for bridging such a gap.

The survey was conducted by Center for Economic Development and Administration, Tribhuvan University, with financial and technical support of the ILO.

Source: Republica