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| There is a growing demand for a young, professional workforce. |
The period when demographic structure of the population becomes younger and the able-bodied number of the population reaches its height is called the ‘Demographic Window’. In Mongolia, the 1980s were the years when the birthrate for the population was very high, the children born in the 1980s are now able-bodied and in the reproductive age category.
In 2008, 28.1 percent of the population was made-up of children of 0 to 14 years and 65.8 percent the people were aged 15 to 59 years, marking a significant change in the age structure, when a favorable period in the ‘Demographic Window’ opened. From the point of view of prospective plans, the share of able-bodied population from now to 2025 is not expected to reduce from 66.5 percent, showing that the demographic window in Mongolia is expected to continue until 2025–2030.
The opening of the ‘Window’ warns us to speed up the country’s economic progress, improve the population’s profit and subsistence level to support the population growth.
A National Consultative Meeting, under the government’s targetoriented framework, was called to increase employment and create new workplaces with the goal to effectively utilize the ‘Demographic Window’ and issue recommendations for legislators and decision-makers to reflect and implement this question in development policy.
On June 9 The National Consultative Meeting was held with the standing committee of Parliament, the UN Population Fund and the Demographic Education and Research Center of the MSU.
If the period of the ‘Demographuc Window’ is successfully utilized, labor productivity will improve, economic growth will speed-up, and the GDP per capita will create a condition for every citizen to save and accumulate money. After a certain span of time, when the ‘Demographic Window’ closes, demographic changes begin with a decline in the population’s aging. In this stage, the budget will experience a greater burden of spending on health and social protection for elders. This was stressed at the opening of the consultative meeting by Ms Arjentina Matawel, UN Population Fund representative. She advised to carefully consider policy and planning of demographic policy; otherwise she said, this might negatively affect the development programs, and scarce budget reserves. Family savings will grow and national investments increase if the burden to feed others is reduced.
Nevertheless, in order to successfully take advantage of the demographic transition period, the government must invest in citizens and enable every person to become a knowledgeable, educated and able-bodied workforce.
In her reports, Minister of Social Welfare and Labor, T.Gandi stressed that in this period, when the number of women of the reproductive age grows, it is important to maintain this rate. She emphasized the need to improve the correlation of relevant branches and sub-branches, to increase production capacity where more people can be employed, and train and retrain professional and skilled workers in branches where they are in great need. In order to be ready for the next demographic generation that will come after 20 years, it is imperative to improve the social insurance structure, develop health and social services favorable to elders, unite programs designed for population growth, improve population research and investigation, and set-up a national committee responsible for population and family development.
A new and big program is being implemented in Mongolia, said Ch.Khashchuluun, chief of National Development and Innovation Committee, this requires a new professional workforce. As of today, more than 47 thousand people are employed in industrial processing branches, but in the coming 5 years the workplace is expected to grow by 10,000 or more to reach 60,000, he said.
In the next 5 years the mining and the processing spheres will be commissioned and according to calculations, more than 20 thousand workplaces will be needed. Some 6800 engineers and technical workers and 33 thousand skilled employees will be required for mining, processing and infrastructure branches where 83 percent of the workforce needs to be skilled and qualified personnel. Ch. Khashchuluun said that population resettlement might influence preparation and employment of the skilled workers and that this problem must be carefully studied.Roughly 115 thousand people are expected to be involved in this migration movement, most of whom are expected to resettle in Umnugobi Aimag.
Over 150 representatives participated in the national forum including Parliament and government officials, aimag and city governors, government agencies, and NGOs who exchanged views and issued policy recommendations.
source : The Mongol Messenger
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