No Will to Work

Ever since we were children, we were told to study well in school and find a good-paying job when we're older so that we can lead a decent life. With a job, we're supposed to be able to do everything - pay the bills, fulfill our desires, lead a successful career, and occasionally go on vacations - but it seems that fewer and fewer people are willing to work nowadays.

The Mongolian population has exceeded 3.2 million and 25,000 of them are registered as unemployed, according to the latest labor market data published earlier this year. There are over 2.1 million people old enough to work, or between the ages of 15 and 60, and approximately 1.3 million of them are healthy and capable of being economically active. Despite this, eight percent of the economically active population remains unemployed, according to the National Statistics Office.

In terms of employment, almost half of the employed have stable income and pay all social insurances, whereas 26.8 percent are engaged in agriculture, 19.6 percent are self-employed and another 19.6 percent are household producers. However, labor analysts strongly denied their contribution to the society and economy.

They explained that the incomes of household producers are often seasonal and herders have unstable income. Due to this, they are unable to increase their household income, create savings or improve their livelihood.

The latest labor force survey reported a 1.9 percent decline in registered unemployment from 2017 to 2018. However, the number of unemployed reached 25,000 by the end of December last year, which is 782 more than in November. It also showed that the majority of the unemployed, specifically 13,200 out of 25,000 registered job seekers, are women.

While there are people eager to find a job, there are those who get tired of looking for a job and become too comfortable staying at home as they get sheltered by their parents or cohabiters.

The 1.9 percent decline in registered unemployment is partially connected to this too. This decline doesn't necessarily mean more people found jobs. It's partially connected to the growing number of job seekers who have become inactive. Over the last 12 months, 68,400 people were unregistered from labor agencies due to lack of effort to find employment.

'To get a realistic figure for unemployment, we must count the number of people who scrape a living by working as an independent taxi driver, cleaning people's homes, doing small trades, and other...

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