Understanding the Labor Market Decisions and Outcomes of Nepal's Young Adults

World Bank

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: LABOR MARKET;    YOUTH EMPLOYMENT;    LABOR MIGRATION;    LABOR SKILLS;    SKILLS DEVELOPMENT;   

RP-ID  :  ACS20664

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Promoting early labor market success ofworkers has increasingly become an important economic andsocial development aim internationally, as exemplified bythe 2030 United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goalsrelated to youth employment. Many low-income countries,including Nepal, are in the middle of a youth bulge in theirdemographic structure. In addition, today’s youth in Nepalare, on average, more educated than past generations. Thesedevelopments present real opportunities for the country.Nepal also faces risks from failing to provide sufficient,appropriate employment which is productive and remunerativeto youth. International evidence suggests that the labormarket challenges and behaviors of youth differ in importantways from those of the overall adult population. Forexample, the youth labor market outcomes are more likely tobe hurt or youth are more likely to migrate out when localeconomic conditions are weak or deteriorate. Youth faceadditional barriers to labor market integration due to theirrelative lack of labor market experience and access tosocial, financial, and physical capital to establish and runtheir own income generating activities. Youth’s exposure toweak labor market conditions, even if the conditions areshort lived, can lead to long-lasting, adverse labor marketand economic outcomes over their working lives. Systematic,policy-oriented empirical research on labor and livelihoodsin Nepal is limited, however. Dedicated examinations of thelabor market behavior of young adults are rarer still. Theliterature tends to be composed of sociological studies ofNepal’s labor history, intertwined with the country’s socialand political history; labor market statistical profiles andsurvey reports; and qualitative and empirical studies ofexternal labor migration by Nepalese, its determinants, andits effects. These studies suggest the relatively distinctnature and evolution of Nepal’s labor market.However, apartfrom a few exceptions, existing studies are largelynon-empirical, weak in statistical rigor, and/or biased interms of data representativeness and coverage of labormarket aspects and issues.