Results of Nepal Labour Force Survey (NLFS III)

Nepal Labour Force Survey (NLFS III) was conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics in 2017/18. The major findings from the survey are as follows :  

• Nepal had a population of 29 million of which 53.5 percent were females. The majority of the population, 63 percent (18.3 million) resided in urban areas while the remaining 37 percent (10.7 million) were rural dwellers. 
• The working age population (15 + years ) had a share of 71.5 percent (20.7 million) of the total population of which 55.6 percent were females. 
• There were approximately 20.7 million people of the working age and approximately 7.1 million were employed while 908 thousand were unemployed. This translated into unemployment rate of 11.4 percent. 
• Females have a higher unemployment rate of 13.1 percent, which is 2.8 percentage points higher compared to males.
• There are huge disparities in other labour market indicators between females and males.and  geographical disparities. Province 3 reported the lowest unemployment rate of (7 percent) while Province 2 reported the highest unemployment rate (20.1 percent) which was 8.7 percentage points higher than the national average. Although the gap between urban and rural unemployment rate is minimal, i.e 10.9 percent vs 11.6 percent, the disparity in the employment to population ratio was pronounced, i.e 36.9 percent for urban versus 29.3 percent. 
• One in every five people who had jobs in Nepal, were employed in agriculture, the biggest employing industry. Trade industry had the second largest share of employment (17.5 percent), followed by construction (13.8 percent). The informal sector had a bigger share of 62.2 percent. Close to a quarter of all employed people (23.8 percent) were employed in service and sales occupations, followed by elementary occupations with just over 20 percent.
• Nepalese usually worked 44 hours on average per week and those in transport and storage industry usually worked the longest hours (55 hours per week). Other industries where people worked excessive hours (i.e more than 48 hours) included, accommodation and food services and construction. 
• Males usually worked more hours (48) on average compared to females (39 hours). 
• Education does matter, in that individuals with high level of education had better labour market outcomes. Employment-to-population ratio and labour force participation rate increased with the level of education for both male and female. However the gap between male and female remained irrespective of education with exception of the unemployment rate where the gap between male and female narrowed among those with tertiary education to a percentage point.
• The unemployment rate is highest among young people aged 15-24 and 25-34 years. The employment to-population ratio and labour force participation rate increased with age and peaked at age 35-44. 
• Nepalese employees earned an average (mean) of Rs.17,809 per month. However, gender disparities were obvious in the mean monthly earnings gap between males and females of Rs. 5,834 in favour of males. 
• Unemployment Survey reports that, there were approximately 908 thousand Nepalese who were actively looking for work (unemployed). 38.1 percent of job seekers were young people aged from 15–24 years. This was the biggest group of unemployed and was followed by that of those aged between 25 and 34 years, at 31.1 percent. 

Full report can be read here.