“The COVID-19 pandemic shook the foundation of employment in the country the way the earthquakes had rattled the ground,” Ganesh Gurung, a labor in Nepal, was quoted as saying by the Kathmandu Post. Gurung rightly described the job situation in the Himalayan country as data suggested the number of job seekers for a government-sponsored scheme doubled in 2020-21. 

Over 700,000 people have applied for temporary jobs under the Prime Minister Employment Program in Nepal this year. It was 3,43,160 applicants in the previous years. Under the scheme, the Nepal government provides 100 days of wage employment to 100,000 each year. 

Economies around the world faced major disruption last year due to the pandemic. And, the Himalayan nation wasn’t immune to that effect. The domestic political instability, further, exacerbated the situation, dashing any hope that a few have had of early economic revival.

Many people had already returned to India and other job markets, Gurung said, adding people, in such a large number, if still applying for temporary jobs it shows how desperate they are for jobs. 

Interestingly, the number of people who have applied for jobs under the scheme is the same as the government aims to generate the total jobs in this fiscal year. “This is the reported number of those who managed to register,” Gurung said, adding, “the number of unemployed could be higher, as many people might not even have heard about the program.”

The Kathmandu Post report says that the Nepal government’s record of providing promised jobs to people wasn't good in the past. The report says last year around 1,05,634 people were provided with jobs only for an average of 15 days, against the promised 100 days, in the year under the scheme.