Nepal's commitment to formalize the informal labor market

Addressing the 112th International Labor Conference held in Geneva, Labor Minister Aryal said that Nepal has made progress in changing the labor market in the informal sector to a formal one by holding a 'Shramadhan Employment Fair' in all seven provinces to bring together workers and employers. Governments, employers and trade unions of 187 countries are participating in the conference.

'We are implementing the National Action Plan to move the informal labor market to the formal sector with tripartite (government, employer and trade union) agreement in accordance with ILO Recommendation No. 204 and the support of the ILO Nepal Office,' he said at the conference, 'This initiative is part of Nepal's first national strategy to formalize. turns into We will comprehensively integrate social security, labor rights, enterprise development, skills and other necessary issues to bring it to the formal economy.' According to the latest labor survey-2075, out of 7 million 86 thousand people employed in the labor market, 44 lakh 11 thousand are in the informal sector. Social security, labor rights and minimum wages are not guaranteed for these workers.

The largest share of informality is in agriculture, forestry and fisheries sector at 21.5 percent, construction sector at 13.8 percent, retail trade sector at 17.5 percent and transportation sector at 4.5 percent.

According to the five-year strategic plan of the Ministry of Labour, diagnosing formalization in agriculture, construction and transport sectors as well as focusing on women, identifying the priorities, capabilities and needs of domestic workers, to fully participate in social security programs for workers in informal employment/self-employment, their priorities, needs and An action plan including conducting a national survey on capacity has been made. "This action plan will be implemented with tripartite agreement," Labor Minister Aryal said. An agreement has already been reached with Nepal that ILO will provide technical assistance to implement the

action plan at the union, state and local levels. Minister Aryal said that in order to make the labor administration effective, Nepal has reached a plan to pass the nine conventions of the ILO through tripartite agreement. "Now we are focused on ratifying Convention No. 87 on Freedom of Association, Convention No. 81 on Labor Inspection and Protocol No. 2014 of the Convention on Forced Labor," he said.

If the government approves these three conventions, trade unions are of the opinion that labor rights will be further ensured.

Minister of Labor Aryal has made it clear that as mentioned in the ILO Director General's report, Nepal's objective is to implement the recognition of all kinds of basic fundamental conventions and related social agreements. "As a member of the ILO, we are committed to fulfilling the commitment made by the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Rights of Labor (1998)," he said -break Minister of Labor Aryal said that the government has announced the Domestic Employment Promotion Decade to promote domestic employment for the labor force of Nepal. "With this initiative, we will integrate various aspects to make the delivery system of public employment services more effective, from the policy process to the security of the jobs available at the present time," he said.

He said that he started the Shram Adhan project to provide employment to the human resources easily. "In order to complete this effort, the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security has launched the Shramadhan project, ensuring comprehensive reforms to resolve labor issues through a single door," he said at the conference, "addressing every issue related to labor through 'Sramadhan'." will be done. This project is the only platform to solve the labor question that every Nepali citizen faces in his labor journey.'