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NepalLABOR, NEPAL
Workers' rights and organized labor were in transition
in mid1991 . During the late 1940s and early 1950s, some labor
disputes
led to strikes and lockouts and labor unions sprang up in
various
factories. In 1957 the government announced the Industrial
Policy
of Nepal, under which it undertook the responsibility of
promoting,
assisting, and regulating industries.
The Factories and Factory Workers' Act of 1959
established
rules and regulations to govern labor-management
relationships and
working conditions in factories. The 1977 amended version
of the
act provided for a six-day, forty-eight-hour work week,
thirty days
annually for holidays and fifteen days annually for sick
leave, and
some health and safety standards and benefits.
Implementation of
the act, a responsibility of the Ministry of Labor and
Social
Services, was not always forthcoming, however, and was
only
somewhat affected by the success of the prodemocracy
movement.
A revision of the body of labor laws was pending in
mid-1991;
it was to include a code that defined and regulated
workers'
rights. Labor unions, restricted prior to the July 1991
repeal of
the Organization and Control Act of 1963, still were
limited.
Estimates suggested that only approximately 3 percent of
the
economically active population, or 30 percent of
nonagricultural
workers, were union members.
Because of limited industrialization, unemployment and
particularly underemployment were quite high. In 1977 the
National
Planning Commission undertook a survey, which determined
unemployment to be 5.6 percent in rural areas and almost 6
percent
in urban areas. Underemployment was estimated to be about
63
percent in rural areas and about 45 percent in urban
areas. In 1981
the Asian Regional Team for Employment Production
estimated the
unemployment and underemployment rates to range from 21 to
28
percent in the Tarai Region and from 37 to 47 percent in
the Hill
Region. The availability of nonagricultural employment
opportunities in the labor force was reported at
approximately
600,000 positions in 1981. Underemployment for all of
Nepal was
reported to range from 25 to 40 percent in 1987;
unemployment
nationally stood at 5 percent.
Data as of September 1991
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