The Labor Office says 22% of the registered unemployed
are highly educated while 68% have no professional training. This lack of
qualification is why many working places cannot be filled. Offices and
organizations do not have skilled professionals, health organizations look in
vain for nursing sisters, the transportation sector does not have enough
mechanics, and apartment owners fail to find locksmiths. The end result has
been that most high-paying jobs that need skills are grabbed by foreign workers
while unemployed citizens roam the streets, drunk or begging. This is the
tragedy of Mongolia.

There are 1.1 million people in the capital city, a 3.1%
increase over last year. The Ulaanbaatar-2010 primary conference of labor said
that 60.9% of the city population are in the working age. Of them 57.5% have
some work, 14.8% are unemployed, 22% are studying, and 3.1% are disabled.

More and more working age people are migrating to
Ulaanbaatar from the countryside. In the last five years the population has
increased by 38,200 of whom 18,300 are working age. Demand is also likely to
increase. The Ministry of Social Welfare and Labor estimates are that there
will be 22.5% more jobs in agriculture next year, 6.5% in construction, 9.4% in
trade, 7.8% in hotels and restaurants, 3.6% in industry and 6.6% in mining.
The Millennium Challenge Fund lists heavy weight mining vehicle drivers and
operators, road construction workers, all types of mechanics and repairmen and
agricultural workers among those to be most in demand. However, there have not
been too many jobs as yet for excavation equipment operators and heavy weight
vehicle drivers.

There appears to be a failure in policy. If the interests of the employer and
the unemployed cannot converge, society stares a bleak future in the face.