March 16: Job placement companies say that the problem of unemployment in the country is getting worse in recent months. Such companies, which collect the demand for employees from various organizations and companies and provide jobs to the aspirants, informed that the demand for new human resources has decreased significantly due to the economic crisis.

Kumari Job, which has been working in this field for a long time, claimed that the demand has decreased by 40 to 60 percent compared to the past. Kumari Job’s Managing Director Sandesh Bhandari said that due to the financial problems faced by the employers, the demand for employees is very low.

Managing Director Bhandari told New Business Age that their regular customers say there is no need to add new employees when their business has slowed down.

In order to reduce the financial burden, some employers are also reducing their staff.

According to Bhandari, 500 to 800 people apply every day through Kumari Job's website, but only 15 to 20 people get jobs.

Foxjob, another company which is active in the field of job placement, says that the demand for new employees has reduced. According to Bimal Kandel, managing director of Foxjob, the lowest demand is currently in the automobile sector.

"The demand for steel, cement and paint industries has also decreased," he said. He says that there was a sudden surge in demand for employees after the coronavirus pandemic but it has been continuously declining now.

According to the job placement companies, although the employers are demanding low-level workers and employees, the demand for middle and high-level employees is negligible.

Contrary to this scenario, companies looking for employees in the information technology (IT) sector say that they are facing shortage of manpower. Jaidev Kalouni, managing director of Neko Job, said that it is difficult to get human resources as per their requirement.

“There is a high demand for manpower in the IT sector in Nepal. After the lockdown aimed at stopping the coronavirus, this demand has increased at a rapid rate. However, we lack skilled manpower," he said.

According to Kalouni, skilled IT personnel in Nepal either go abroad or stay here and work for foreign companies. He says that even though most of those who apply for employment in Nepal have a university degree, they lack practical knowledge.

According to government data, about 500,000 people enter Nepal's labor market every year. However, neither the private sector nor the government agencies have the data on how many jobs the private sector creates annually.

The National Planning Commissions member Ram Kumar Phuyal said that although such data is necessary, the government has not prepared it yet.

Some of the people who are looking for employment lack higher education, while some have theoretical knowledge but do not have the ability to work when they enter the field.

Many have lost their jobs after the coronavirus pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine tension. The development of industry in the country is taking place at a snail’s and even those that exist are shutting down due to high interest rates and liquidity problem. In this situation, the aspiring job seekers have to either go to India or abroad for jobs.

The number of people going abroad for employment also indicates that it is difficult to find employment in the country. It is mentioned in the latest report of Nepal Rastra Bank that more than 314,000 youth went abroad with work permit from last July to January in the current fiscal year. This means that around 1,500 labour force is going abroad for the first time with a labor permit. During this period, more than 167,000 Nepalese have renewed their labour permits.