Ulaanbaatar
New Youth Employment Project will improve prospects for young job-seekers
SocietyUlaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) has informed that its new Youth Employment Project (YEP) will help to improve employment opportunities for young job-seekers in a Mongolian job market characterized by a shortage of skilled labor and a high rate of unemployment.
The YEP, launched on 25 May, is a continuing phase of SDC’s Vocational Education and Training (VET) Project, which in the past four years has provided much-needed support for the supply side of the labor market through vocational training schools.
Complementing the VET Project, the YEP will focus on the demand side of the labor market through mediation between jobs-seekers and employers, and support for youth self-employment, with emphasis placed on the development of a conducive policy environment for youth employment, effective employment support services and innovative start-ups that have growth potential.
According to the National Statistics Office, in 2015 unemployment reached 6.3 percent. Reaching almost 17 percent, unemployment is especially high between youths aged from 15 to 24 years.
“I am confident that the new project will help many young people find a job or they will create a job for themselves to stop being unemployed,” said Minister of Labor G.Bayarsaikhan at the project’s inauguration.
The Minister highlighted the significant contribution of SDC’s VET Project to Mongolia’s vocational training centers through the development of competency-based training curricula that provided practice-oriented trainings for VET students.
The YEP will help strengthen labor policies and effective employment support services for young people, and will improve staff capacities in delivering employment services to Mongolia’s youth.
The project will continue to partner with the Ministry of Labor and other stakeholders to address persistent unemployment among youth.
In order to ensure a consistent approach across its interventions, SDC will continue to harness good collaboration with its other projects and partners in the sector including the Vocational Skills Development Project, VET Partnership NGO and other development partners for better harmonization and coordination.
