{"id":5856,"date":"2018-08-30T09:31:32","date_gmt":"2018-08-30T16:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/mongolia\/?p=5856"},"modified":"2018-09-03T08:16:00","modified_gmt":"2018-09-03T15:16:00","slug":"unemployment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/mongolia\/2018\/unemployment\/","title":{"rendered":"Employment"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Julian Dierkes<\/em><\/p>\n

I have been encountering \u201cunemployment\u201d as a political challenge\u00a0in Mongolia for many years. Most recently, in a set of six\u00a0workshops on\u00a0policy-making and political parties organized by the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation\u00a0Mongolia<\/a>\u00a0for the Mongolian\u00a0People\u2019s Party youth organization (\u041d\u0410\u041c\u0417\u0425)\u00a0and the Trade Union Federation (\u041cY\u042d\u0425).<\/p>\n

[This is the first of a number of blog posts that benefited very much from conversations with Niels Hegewisch of the FES office in Mongolia, and with Mendee<\/a> and Gerelt-Od<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

When we asked participants in the workshops to list the most\u00a0pressing policy problems that Mongolia is facing, unemployment is\u00a0inevitably\u00a0named among the top 10 problems.<\/p>\n

Unemployment is also a challenge that has been top-of-mind\u00a0for voters in recent elections as I learned repeatedly in talking to\u00a0campaign\u00a0works for various parties, but as confirmed by surveys (presidential election 2017<\/a>) as well.<\/p>\n

But, What is Employment in a Mongolian Context?<\/h2>\n

When countryside residents or even inhabitants of the\u00a0provincial capitals list unemployment as a challenge, what does that mean?\u00a0Or,\u00a0asked differently, what would employment be?<\/p>\n

The frequency with which unemployment is mentioned as a\u00a0challenge suggests that Mongolians have very high expectations of\u00a0their\u00a0government for providing employment. After all, even the most neoliberal\u00a0perspective will be challenged by countryside\u00a0residents living in a\u00a02,000-person county that is battered by an extreme continental climate and the\u00a0virtual absence of most kinds\u00a0of infrastructure. Any kind of manufacturing or and\u00a0most element of a service industry other than small-scale retail seems almost\u00a0unimaginable in these contexts.<\/p>\n

But, of course, there are many forms of recognizable\u00a0employment. Even the smallest accumulation of houses will have a kiosk and\u00a0some\u00a0kind of basic fast food on offer. Gas stations have also become common at least\u00a0in soum centres. The small retail businesses\u00a0in particular are small private\u00a0businesses with a lot of family involvement. They are supplied by occasional\u00a0deliveries, but surely\u00a0also by local herding\/agricultural activities.<\/p>\n

There are various other services such as repairs of cars,\u00a0motorcycles and machinery.<\/p>\n

Xaan Bank has branches in many small towns, sometimes at least\u00a0a cash machine. More varied retail (clothing, electronics, etc.) is\u00a0typically\u00a0only available in aimag centres.<\/p>\n

As the road network has been expanding, construction is\u00a0clearly also a business that is very present with gravel pits along\u00a0highways,\u00a0construction sites, etc.<\/p>\n

If there is manufacturing, it is well-hidden to me, but\u00a0there must be small workshops for some basic countryside needs that I\u00a0simply do\u00a0not see. I do not think that herders have any retail needs to be herders, as\u00a0they do not buy feed, fencing, or any\u00a0equipment to handle animals.<\/p>\n

That, basically, leaves the public sector, i.e.\u00a0administration, schools, health.<\/p>\n

Given the patronage nature of Mongolian politics, it is\u00a0these jobs that are up for grabs and to be distributed after elections.<\/p>\n

However, the frequent mention of employment suggests that\u00a0Mongolians are either expecting different kind of jobs, or more of the\u00a0kind\u00a0that does exist.<\/p>\n

Herding as Employment<\/h2>\n

In the discussions of (un)employment it is unclear to me\u00a0whether herding is seen as employment. There are anecdotal reports that\u00a0larger\u00a0herds are increasingly managed by herders-for-hire suggesting that employment\u00a0in this sector is becoming more common.<\/p>\n

Traditionally (that is, with privatization of the national\u00a0herd in the early 1990s), herders are seen as self-employed. As herding is\u00a0continuing to change from a subsistence to a cash-crop\/meat\/wool business, the\u00a0nature of that self-employment is also continuing\u00a0to change.<\/p>\n

There seem to be few (political) discussions of herding that\u00a0see this as an employment sector for investment, although there are\u00a0various\u00a0public subsidies for and recognition of herding.<\/p>\n

\n

in Mongolian context, “employment” usually = “security” of the socialist modernist kind. Older herders will tell you all the time that “they used to get paid” but are now “unemployed” (\u0446\u0430\u043b\u0438\u043d\u0433\u04af\u0439 = “salaryless and unbenefited” more than \u0430\u0436\u0438\u043b\u0433\u04af\u0439)<\/p>\n

\u2014 Marissa J. Smith (@marissa_j_smith) September 1, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n