Nepal's per capita growth stagnates

Nepal's per capita growth has stagnated over last two decades years, according to a World Bank report. “Growth has varied within the region, not only in Nepal,” it said, adding that improvements in the regulatory framework and governance of the sector are equally critical.
Like South Asia, Nepal also needs to address the top three constraints electricity, corruption and political instability to expand business, the report said, adding that since the demand for labour is derived from businesses, it is important to address constraints of electricity shortages, corruption and political instability in some parts of the region.
The country is reeling over long hours of load shedding that has not only increased the cost of production but also blocked the expansion of the business.
The report 'More and Better Jobs in South Asia' attributed lack of electricity the key hurdle and outlined the electricity reform agenda to tackle the issue.
It said that the reform agenda is not only about investment.
South Asian countries do significantly worse than comparators on electricity and power cuts and on labor legislation. They for the most part do not report corruption as being a more severe constraint than countries at similar income levels, although some do pay significantly higher in bribes.
The majority of workers in the region are still engaged in agriculture. Self-employment is the predominant type of employment and a high share of wage employment is casual labour. Regular wage or salaried workers have the highest wages and lowest poverty rates; the self employed have higher poverty rates; and casual labour, especially agricultural casual labour is associated with the lowest wages and the highest poverty rates, it added.
Total employment in South Asia — excluding Afghanistan and Bhutan — has grown from 473 million in 2000 to 568 million in 2010, creating an average of just under 800,000 new jobs per month.
The quality of jobs — measured by growth in real wages or falling poverty—has improved for all segments in the labor force, but at a rate substantially less than that seen in East Asia during its years of 'miracle' growth.
Labour regulations rank high in Nepal, India and Sri Lanka, the report said.
The picture of relatively low employment rates in South Asia reflects persistently low female employment rates in all countries, except Bhutan and Nepal. "Except for Nepal and to a lesser extent Bhutan, South Asian countries have among the lowest female labour participation rates in the world," the report said, adding that the lowest female participation rates are in the largest countries like Pakistan (22 per cent), Bangladesh (31 per cent), and India (30 per cent).
The demographic window of opportunity is expected to close around 2040 for all countries except Sri Lanka where it closed in 2005 and Afghanistan where it will stay open beyond 2040. The majority of workers in the region are still engaged in agriculture.