The Department of Labour, which has been overseeing the programme, said with the National Planning Commission (NPC)’s recent approval to the job placement programme, it will promptly jump into implementation. “As NPC approved the programme, we will begin job placement to unemployed youths holding consultations with the private sector,” said Man Bahadur BK, director general at the department.

 

The labour department has also converted EICs in Kathmandu and Biratnagar into Employment Exchange Centre (EEC)s. “Previously we only used to gather information of unemployed youths, but from this year, we are preparing to recommend their names to various business organisations to help them get employment on the basis of job mapping,” said BK.

 

The department has been collecting information of unemployed youths through EICs at Labour Offices in all 14 zones across the country since 2009. According to the department, more than 40,000 youths have already registered their applications with personal details.Officials at the department said it has already initiated mediating between applicants and prospective employers. However, the department will begin job placement only for the youths of Kathmandu and Biratnagar in the first phase. “As these two places have the highest number of applicants so far, and also high concentration of industrial enterprises, we are beginning the job placement from these places,” said Barun Kumar Jha, director at the department.

 

Pashupati Murarka, chairman of Employers’ Council at the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) hailed the step taken by the department. “At a time when there is high demand for freshers in the labour market, we will cooperate with the government project,” he said, adding that the private sector will offer employment to the registered youths as per the requirement of the industrial sector.

 

According to the department, 2,332 youths from Kathmandu and 2,000 from Biratnagar have applied for the employment scheme so far. Murarka said the job placement process will also be gradually expanded to other 12 EICs from the next fiscal year.

 

Through the budget for the fiscal year 2011-12, the government has announced developing National Skill Record to ensure effective information flow between employers and aspiring youths. DG BK said the department is preparing to develop electronic software for the systematic data keeping of unemployed youths. “We have arranged everything so as to introduce the software within next three months,’ he said.