Factories based in the Butwal Industrial Zone have been hamstrung by labour shortages forcing them to operate at less than their potential capacity.

According to Ganesh Kumar Adhikari, operator of Everest Plastic Factory, they have not been able to hire qualified professionals despite issuing vacancy notices for skilled workers for more than a year. “We are utilizing the available human resources,” said Adhikari. 

“Our production has fallen because of a labour scarcity.” The factory employs around 75 workers and two to three employees quit every month. The high turnover rate has made it difficult to arrange shifts and continue production, he said.

Ram Prasad Bashyal, operator of Kohinoor Metal Factory, relates a similar story. According to Bashyal, it is difficult to find skilled human resources and retain the existing employees. The labour scarcity has made it difficult for factories to fulfil orders for their products.

“On the one hand, there is a scarcity of skilled labourers; and on the other, the youths who come and receive on-the-job training apply for foreign jobs after acquiring the requisite skills,” said Bashyal, “ This has created obstacles in the smooth operation of the factory.”  

The Butwal Industrial Zone contains 67 factories and all of them are running with less than the required number of workers. Metal and plastic factories in particular are facing an acute labour shortage. Factory owners say that the labour shortage has emerged because young people are more interested in working in foreign lands.

According to the operators, many of the newly hired workers have already applied for foreign visas before coming to work. Moreover, the number of workers who quit their jobs after working for three to six months is also high. 

“Nowadays, we cannot find a single skilled labourer even after searching for four months,” said Nawaraj Shrestha, an industrialist.

According to the Industrial Estate Industries Association, around 2,500 labourers are currently employed in the factories running in the zone. 

The labour pool in the zone consists of daily wage workers and contract-bound and permanent workers. Many factories have been paying more than the government set salary to discourage them from leaving. The factories which operate in three shifts have workers who earn up to Rs60,000 per month. Despite the attractive pay and good working conditions, the turnover is still high. Female workers last longer than males.

Women workers have moved into positions left vacant by men. Five years ago, 20 percent of the workers were female, now the figure has swelled to 50 percent. 

“It is difficult to operate night shifts because there are few male workers,” said Ganesh Prasad Adhikari, chairman of the association. “We face problem when operating heavy equipment, repairing and maintaining machinery and loading and unloading goods.”