The Jobs, youth and cost of lifestyle

These days the job providers always claim that there are enough jobs for our unemployed youth and yet, our youth prefer to stay unemployed. It triggered me to kind of defend these youths who are left unemployed and kind of think why there are so many jobs that are rejected by the youth even though most of them are succumbing to the harsh realities of unemployment.

I got myself employed for a job in a consultancy till I decided what to do; whether to appear common civil service exam or start my career in private entrepreneurship. My boss who is an architect tells me on that particular day of my employment that these days the house rents have doubled, food expenditure has also doubled, fuel prices have also doubled, but on the other hand, architects fees have gone half. It struck me right up.

There was a point, in fact a strong one. The rise in the expenditure and the raise in salaries, never go equally. In Thimphu alone, one does not get a house for less than 8000 nu/month. For a simple person who is working in a company that manufactures furniture cannot afford a house of Nu.8000 with his meager salary of Nu.6000. The quality of life to be good and healthy would mean to have a proper space to cover one’s head, proper clothes, proper food and good facilities. Let alone about getting his kids into a proper school, or helping his aged parents with some money at the end of the month or during the annual puja, simple living standard is also beyond his ability. We live in a situation where job qualities do not match the living expenditure. House rents are like touching sky, and even then we have shortages of houses which would mean that the escalation in the rents would be unarguable in near future.

Let’s talk about government jobs. Firstly, whenever we have youth unemployment increasing so much, everyone stares at Labor Ministry, now perhaps more than that we might stare at our government as they promised 100 % employment. Every year thousands of graduates flock to Thimphu in search of jobs. Looking at the number of jobs created by government and private sectors, the job intake would mean that we are way short of the jobs which these graduates would take up proudly and enthusiastically. There are also situations, where students are sent outside to study some courses by RCSE and DAHE only to come back and find that there are no jobs suited for the course which s/he was sent to. Either the course is so hi-tech that government does not find the need of employing a person who has mastered in such a big course or the government has not been able to find the place where the studied education could be placed into use. Where do we blame?

Picture Courtesy- Bhutan Observer.bt

And there are youths who are trained in vocational training institutes, and yet we have foreigners working even in the construction of simple structures. At a glance, we might blame our youth for the pride that one cannot digest, but no one looks at the job quality like better salary, respectful environment. Today, even the most skilled carpenters have lost their jobs, it can be attributed to the change in the construction style, but still, for the required work, and our contractors prefer to get Mr. Kumar from Cooch Behar as he is less costly.

We live in an age where costs of needs are exceedingly higher than what we earn. And it seems like we really don’t have answer for these various implications which are the adverse affects of the development of the city. Today, government has stopped providing loans, and banks would dry up, more problems would follow. The ever tiring farming job which is not lucrative as working in a road side would be forced upon. We live in a ever changing age, and the ripple effect of the change is so strong to bear.