Summary of Policy:
1. Target population
This law encompasses a wide range of target groups and looks to promote employment amongst the entire working age population. The target groups are job seekers and unemployed individuals, herders, self-employed people, employment service providers and individuals establishing small businesses. The law also aims to assist citizens who have difficulty finding a job, including those who have been discharged from an institution, released from prison, early school leavers and individuals with a disability.
2. Goals/Objectives
This is the basic law governing activities with respect to employment. The law defines the measures to be taken by the government, administers the regulation of the government’s employment promotion fund and clearly defines its management and monitoring systems.
3. Challenges and difficulties
The main obstacle to enforcing the law is that specific characteristics of different age groups have not been considered. For example, there are different approaches needed when promoting the employment of seniors, women with children or youth. It is unclear how to address this problem. The Human Development Report 2016 states that more than half of those aged 25-34 in Mongolia are looking for steady employment and more than 40 per cent have not made the successful transition from school to work.
4. Outcomes and impact
There is no formal assessment to measure the effectiveness of this law. According to the National Statistics Office, there were 87,000 unemployed people in total in 2011 with 57,000 of these being officially registered as unemployed. The unemployment rate was 7.7 per cent. According to data from 2016, there were 127,000 unemployed people with 34,000 of these registered as officially unemployed. The unemployment rate was 10 per cent. This indicates that the unemployment rate has grown and the implementation of the law has proven to be inadequate.
Despite the disappointing results so far, the Employment Promotion Fund is working to finance employment promotion activities as specified in the law, which demonstrates the government’s commitment to addressing these issues. For instance, the budget projection for the 2015-2018 Employment Promotion Fund is approximately MNT 480 billion (USD 195,886,000) which is expected to adequately allocate resources to the issue.
Timeline: This law has been in effect from October 2011.
Strengths:
This regulation is relevant for youth as it provides nationwide employment support services.
Furthermore, some activities in the law are directly relevant to youth. For example, Article 8 details the plan for developing and implementing career guidance services for senior high school students. This provision is of importance to over 700 schools in the country as the school administration will take responsibility for service provision.
The labour preparation activities detailed in Article 10 target groups such as early school leavers and working age youth. Article 11 details a plan for employment skills training.
The arrangements for such training and events to be organized by vocational training organizations, schools, certified enterprises and NGOs, allows parties other than governmental institutions to participate in the project.
Weaknesses:
The law targets the entire unemployed population, and as a result is very broad. The law does not specify a concept of “youth group” and does not define ways to address the problems of young people who are unable to find employment and make the transition from school to the labour market.
The large age group encompassed may result in less budget allocation at the primary level of service, as funds may be spread too thin.
Opportunities for Improvement:
It is encouraging to note that various measures have been taken to fund employment promotion activities, but there is a need to clarify the role of “educational institutions” in regulating issues between schools and employment.
References:
“http://www.legalinfo.mn/law/details/563?lawid=563
https://www.shilendans.gov.mn/org/6326?form=1687417&year=2017&group=0&task=6593
http://www.1212.mn/stat.aspx?LIST_ID=976_L04&year=2016”
Project Details
Date: November 18, 2017