Job creation

The promise of employment is elusive for thousands of daily wage workers.

Dawood is one of them. From Bamyan province, he came to Kabul in search of work. But he has not found anything. In order to support his family of six he has turned to selling socks in the bazaar.

The promise of employment is elusive for thousands of daily wage workers.

Dawood is one of them. From Bamyan province, he came to Kabul in search of work. But he has not found anything. In order to support his family of six he has turned to selling socks in the bazaar.

Ahmad Zia who is from Maidan Wardak province has been searching for work for a week. “I have not been able to earn even 100 Afs (roughly 1.5 USD),” he says. There are times when I’m jobless for 10 days,” he adds.

Shukrullah thinks unemployment has increased because of worsening security. He says earlier he could hope to earn 1,000 Afs (15 USD) within a week but now he rarely makes more than 200 Afs (3 USD).

Joblessness is not just a problem of unskilled workers. University graduates are also having a tough time landing jobs.

Ehsanulla Royesh is one of them. He says he graduated from the Faculty of Literature, Kabul University, two years ago but he is still looking for work. It is not for the lack of trying. He says he has sent his CV to tens of government and non-governmental institutions and also successfully cleared all the exams.

Ahmad Naweed, a graduate from the Faculty of Economy in Kabul University is in a similar situation. He graduated last year and has not found a job. He says those who get jobs in Afghanistan have “waseta” (contacts).

The high unemployment rate is one of the reasons for the exodus of young people from the country. Afghans constitute the second highest refugee population in the world, second only to conflict-wracked Syria.

High hopes

Following daily public criticism and protests for not generating jobs, President Ashraf Ghani announced the launch of a national programme on Nov 17 last year. Nearly six months later, there is no discernible change on the ground although officials are optimistic.

Akbar Rustami, spokesperson for the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, says that the first phase of the programme for job creation has been implemented in 12 provinces and 200,000 people have been provided jobs. He says that under phase two of the programme 375,000 people, both urban and rural, would be provided with job opportunities.

The third phase would considerably scale up opportunities of employment, according to Rustami. The programme will be implemented nation-wide with some 35,000 villages expected to benefit. It would give one million people long-term jobs.

Previous reports by Killid on the unemployment crisis in the country revealed there were 27,000 vacant posts in government offices. Nothing has been done to fill up the vacancies.

By the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs’ estimate there are 14 million people of employable age in the country; 7 million have some kind of work, but not all of them have enough to make ends meet. An estimated 39 percent of the work force barely survives.

Interestingly, authorities in the national union of labour say that 85 percent of working women do not receive wages. Habiba Fakhri, the head of women at the union says, “The weak participation of women in the work place is a concern for civil society and women’s rights groups.”

Dr Alema, a civil society activist, thinks the lack of safety and failure to ensure equal pay between women and men are among reasons for women’s absence in the labour market.

Nabila who has to work for a living says she cannot afford to educate her children since she earns only “some 4,000 Afs (nearly 60 USD) per month and prices keep going up”.