Key Takeaways

• Bhutan’s employment rate reached 96.6% in 2025, while unemployment declined to 3.4%, signaling an improving labour market entering 2026.
• Youth unemployment remained a major recruitment challenge at 18.0%, alongside skilled-worker migration and shortages across healthcare, education, construction, tourism and digital roles.
• Bhutan’s hiring outlook is evolving, with Gelephu Mindfulness City targeting 100,000 jobs by 2030 and new opportunities emerging across fintech, wellness tourism and green technology.

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Bhutan’s recruitment market shows strong employment but persistent talent challenges in 2026. The country records a 96.6% employment rate, while youth unemployment remains at 18.0%. Skills shortages, overseas migration, changing salary expectations, and emerging industries are reshaping how employers recruit and retain workers across Bhutan.

Bhutan’s recruitment landscape is entering a period of significant transformation in 2026. While the country recorded a strong 96.6% employment rate in 2025 and unemployment declined to 3.4%, employers continue to face structural hiring challenges ranging from youth unemployment and skills shortages to workforce migration and persistent gender disparities.

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The pressure is particularly visible among younger workers. Youth unemployment stood at 18.0% in 2025, with young people accounting for 45.1% of Bhutan’s unemployed population. At the same time, the country is experiencing substantial brain drain. More than half of Bhutanese migrants hold university degrees, while critical sectors such as healthcare and education have faced shortages caused partly by outward migration and resignations.

Bhutan’s employment structure also presents a distinctive recruitment environment. Agriculture accounted for 43.6% of employment in 2025, followed closely by services at 42.2%, while industry represented 14.2%. Employers face reported labour shortages across construction, tourism, production, agriculture, creative industries, and digital technologies. Foreign workers, particularly from India, remain important to labour-intensive industries such as construction.

Looking ahead, new investment and development initiatives could reshape demand for talent. Gelephu Mindfulness City targets the creation of 100,000 jobs by 2030 across industries including fintech, wellness tourism, and green technology, while Bhutan is also seeking to substantially expand technical and vocational education and training.

These 122 Bhutan recruitment statistics, hiring data points, and employment trends provide a data-driven picture of the country’s labour market in 2026. From unemployment, salaries, workforce participation, and skills gaps to migration, foreign workers, private-sector growth, and emerging employment opportunities, the statistics reveal both the recruitment challenges facing Bhutan and the forces likely to shape its future workforce.

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Top 122 Recruitment Statistics, Data & Trends in Bhutan in 2026

Labour Force Participation & Overall Employment

1. Bhutan’s labour force participation rate stood at 64.9% in 2025, down from 69.1% in 2021, highlighting a notable decline in the share of working-age people participating in the labour market.
2. Bhutan’s male labour force participation rate reached 73.5% in 2025, demonstrating substantially stronger workforce participation among men.
3. Female labour force participation in Bhutan fell from 65.3% in 2021 to 55.6% in 2025, revealing a widening gender challenge for the country’s workforce.
4. Bhutan’s overall employment rate reached 96.6% in 2025, recovering significantly from its 94.1% low in 2022 and indicating stronger labour market conditions.
5. Male employment reached 97.4% in 2025 compared with 95.5% for females, showing a persistent gender difference in Bhutan’s employment outcomes.
6. Bhutan recorded 381,584 employed people in 2025, providing an important benchmark for employers assessing the size of the country’s active workforce.
7. Rural areas accounted for 66.0% of Bhutan’s employed population in 2025, while urban areas represented 34.0%, underscoring the importance of rural employment.
8. Men represented 59.7% of Bhutan’s employed population in 2025, compared with 40.3% for women, highlighting a substantial gender imbalance in employment.
9. Bhutan’s Q4 2025 employment rate stood at 96.2%, while unemployment was 3.8%, indicating relatively high employment entering 2026.
10. Bhutan’s labour force participation rate was 64.6% in Q4 2025, including 72.7% for men and 55.8% for women, demonstrating a sizable gender participation gap.

Unemployment Rate & Trends

11. Bhutan’s unemployment rate declined from 5.9% in 2022 to 3.4% in 2025, signaling a significant improvement in the country’s labour market.
12. Female unemployment remained higher at 4.5% in 2025 compared with 2.6% for men, highlighting continued gender disparities in access to employment.
13. Bhutan’s urban unemployment rate stood at 6.0% compared with just 2.0% in rural areas, making unemployment predominantly an urban labour market challenge.
14. Thimphu recorded Bhutan’s highest unemployment rate at 6.2%, followed by Sarpang at 5.3%, Chhukha at 4.5%, and Paro at 4.4%.
15. Gasa recorded Bhutan’s lowest unemployment rate at 0.6%, while Trashigang and Tsirang followed at 0.8% each.
16. Bhutan’s annual unemployment rate was 3.5% in 2024, representing a considerable improvement from the 5.9% recorded in 2022.
17. Bhutan’s unemployment rate was estimated at 3.13% in 2023, representing a 2.82 percentage-point decline from the 2022 level.
18. Bhutan’s unemployment rate peaked at approximately 5.95% in 2022, reflecting the labour market disruption associated with the post-pandemic recovery period.
19. COVID-19 pushed Bhutan’s unemployment rate from an average of around 3% during 2015–2019 to approximately 6% in 2022.
20. Urban female unemployment reached 15% during the pandemic, showing that women in Bhutan’s cities were particularly exposed to pandemic-era employment disruption.

Youth Unemployment

21. Bhutan’s youth unemployment rate for people aged 15–24 stood at 18.0% in 2025, down significantly from its 28.6% peak in 2022.
22. Male youth unemployment declined from 24.4% in 2022 to 14.2% in 2025, indicating a substantial improvement in employment prospects for young men.
23. Female youth unemployment remained elevated at 21.9% in 2025, making employment opportunities for young women an important labour market challenge.
24. Young people accounted for 45.1% of Bhutan’s total unemployed population, showing that youth remain disproportionately represented among jobseekers.
25. Urban areas accounted for 57.2% of Bhutan’s unemployed youth, compared with 42.8% in rural areas, highlighting the urban concentration of youth unemployment.
26. Bhutan recorded an estimated 7,591 unemployed young people in 2024, equivalent to a youth unemployment rate of 19.0%.
27. One national estimate placed Bhutan’s youth unemployment rate at 14.981% in 2023, down sharply from 28.625% in 2022.
28. Another estimate placed Bhutan’s 2023 youth unemployment rate at 14.94%, representing a substantial decline from the previous year.
29. Young Bhutanese women aged 15–24 face a 1.5 times higher risk of being outside employment, education, or training, highlighting a significant gender-related NEET challenge.
30. Bhutan’s youth unemployment rate approached 30% in 2022, contributing to large-scale migration as young people sought education and employment opportunities abroad.

Economic Inactivity

31. Bhutan’s economic inactivity rate increased from 30.9% in 2021 to 35.1% in 2025, indicating that a growing share of people were outside the active labour force.
32. Female economic inactivity reached 44.4% in 2025 compared with 26.5% for men, demonstrating a major gender participation gap.
33. Rural residents accounted for 57% of Bhutan’s economically inactive population, while urban residents represented 43%.
34. Bhutan’s economic inactivity rate reached 35.4% in Q4 2025, with female inactivity at 44.2% compared with 27.3% for males.
35. Education and family responsibilities were identified as major reasons Bhutanese people remained outside the labour force, highlighting important barriers to workforce participation.

Employment by Sector

36. Agriculture remained Bhutan’s largest employment sector in 2025, accounting for 43.6% of all employed people.
37. Bhutan’s service sector employed 42.2% of workers in 2025, making it almost as significant for employment as agriculture.
38. Industry accounted for just 14.2% of Bhutan’s employed population in 2025, making it the smallest of the country’s three major employment sectors.
39. Services accounted for 42.0% of employment in 2024, while industry represented 16.3%, demonstrating the importance of service-based employment.
40. Self-employed workers accounted for approximately 71% of Bhutan’s total employment in 2022, reflecting the substantial role of self-employment and informal work.
41. Bhutan’s informal economy represents an estimated 23.8% of GDP, illustrating the significant economic role of activities outside the formal sector.
42. Approximately 63% of Bhutan’s non-public-sector workforce worked more than 48 hours per week, highlighting the prevalence of long working hours.
43. One in three salaried employees in Bhutan had no written employment contract, with the issue affecting more than 11% of all workers and 23% of urban workers.
44. Bhutan’s state-owned enterprises employed 11,194 people as of 2021, while SOE revenues represented approximately 30% of GDP.
45. Bhutanese public-sector employees earned approximately 11% more than comparable private-sector workers, illustrating the compensation advantage associated with government employment.

Wages, Salaries & Compensation

46. Bhutan’s average monthly salary is estimated at approximately BTN 25,720, or around USD 310, in 2026, providing a benchmark for employers and jobseekers.
47. The dataset reports an average annual salary of approximately BTN 38,920, or around USD 453, in Bhutan in 2026.
48. Bhutan’s median monthly income is estimated at BTN 23,000, or approximately USD 277, providing another benchmark for typical earnings.
49. Monthly earnings in Bhutan range from around BTN 10,000 for lower earners to as much as BTN 83,010 for higher earners.
50. Bhutan’s minimum wage increased to BTN 3,750 per month from January 1, 2025, up from the BTN 3,000 level maintained since 2013.
51. Salaries in Thimphu can be approximately 25% higher than Bhutan’s national average for government, finance, and corporate positions.
52. Executives in Bhutan earn approximately BTN 74,500–83,000 per month, while associate-level employees earn around BTN 20,000.
53. Software developers in Bhutan earn approximately BTN 30,000–35,000 per month, while lawyers earn around BTN 70,000–75,000.
54. Male employees in Bhutan earn an estimated 9% more than female employees across professions, indicating a persistent gender pay gap.
55. Bhutanese employees receive an average annual salary increase of approximately 2%, providing employers with a benchmark for compensation planning.
56. Government and defence employees earn approximately BTN 40,700 per month on average, with salaries ranging from BTN 21,600 to BTN 63,700.
57. Bhutan’s national workforce daily wage was increased to BTN 400–600 depending on skill category in October 2023, up from BTN 215–324.
58. Bhutan’s Labour and Employment Act establishes a 40-hour standard workweek and a maximum of 48 hours including overtime, with overtime compensated at 1.5 times regular pay.

Brain Drain & Outmigration

59. The Bhutanese population in Australia more than doubled between 2020 and 2024 to over 25,000, illustrating the scale of recent overseas migration.
60. Monthly departures from Paro International Airport increased from fewer than 500 before the pandemic to more than 5,000 by early 2023.
61. University graduates represent 53% of Bhutanese migrants despite comprising only around 7% of the working-age population, highlighting the skilled nature of Bhutan’s brain drain.
62. Approximately 49% of Bhutanese migrants were formerly employed in the civil service, demonstrating the impact of migration on public-sector talent retention.
63. Nearly 70% of voluntary civil-service resignations in 2024 came from education and healthcare, placing additional recruitment pressure on essential public services.
64. The education sector accounted for approximately 25% of Bhutanese migrants, illustrating the significant impact of migration on teaching and education talent.
65. More than 13,400 Bhutanese students were enrolled in Australian universities during the first nine months of 2024.
66. Of 2,013 Bhutanese civil-service resignations recorded in 2024, approximately 1,400 were voluntary, with career progression and compensation cited as important factors.
67. Bhutan faced a shortage of 172 doctors and specialists and 824 nurses, highlighting substantial healthcare recruitment and retention challenges.
68. Bhutan announced plans to fill 1,126 teacher vacancies in March 2025 following resignations, demonstrating the scale of recruitment demand in education.
69. By May 2025, 560 Bhutanese had registered for the National Reintegration Program, but only 170 had returned and 28 had secured jobs.
70. A 2024 study found that 61% of Bhutanese nurses had prescribed medicines without doctors present amid healthcare staffing shortages.
71. Nearly one in ten Bhutanese now lives abroad, while approximately 66,000 young people have left the country for work.
72. About 49.5% of aspiring Bhutanese migrants cited the absence of suitable fields of study domestically as a major reason for considering migration.
73. Bhutan’s population aged 60 and above is projected to increase from 9% in 2025 to 19.7% by 2047, with youth emigration contributing to demographic change.

Remittances from Overseas Workers

74. Bhutan received USD 210 million in overseas remittances between August 2023 and October 2024, demonstrating the growing economic importance of migrant workers.
75. Australia contributed USD 132 million of Bhutan’s remittances during this period, making it an especially important source of overseas income.
76. Remittances from Australia surged from less than USD 2 million in August 2023 to nearly USD 20 million just four months later.
77. Monthly remittances from Australia stabilized at approximately USD 12 million by late 2024, highlighting the sustained financial impact of Bhutanese migration.
78. Bhutan received USD 36 million in remittances during the first two months of 2025, up from USD 30 million during the same period in 2024.
79. Major sources of remittances to Bhutan include Australia, the United States, Kuwait, Canada, the UK, Qatar, UAE, Singapore, Italy, and Bahrain.

Foreign Workers in Bhutan

80. Bhutan approved 137,324 foreign-worker applications in 2023, primarily supporting construction, public administration, and manufacturing.
81. Indian nationals represented approximately 99.1% of Bhutan’s foreign workforce, demonstrating the country’s strong dependence on workers from neighbouring India.
82. Construction receives the largest share of foreign-worker approvals in Bhutan, particularly for occupations such as masons, carpenters, and concrete workers.
83. Thimphu hosts Bhutan’s largest concentration of foreign workers, reflecting the capital’s high level of construction and economic activity.
84. During FY 2024–2025, Bhutan verified 74 work permits with multiple-entry visas for FDI companies recruiting expatriate professionals.
85. Major Bhutanese development projects, including road construction, rely significantly on Indian migrant labour to meet workforce requirements.

Civil Service & Public Sector Hiring

86. Bhutan’s Royal Civil Service Commission expanded its recruitment pool and allowed unlimited candidates for the Bhutan Civil Service Examination in response to workforce departures.
87. The Royal Civil Service Commission introduced multiple annual recruitment windows for Supervisory, Support, and Operational positions to improve public-sector hiring.
88. Bhutan’s civil-service reforms seek to align government employment with national goals while reducing redundancy and improving workforce effectiveness.
89. Bhutan sold USD 100 million in cryptocurrency by 2023 to help double civil-servant salaries, which was followed by a temporary reduction in resignations.
90. Bhutan announced the final reprioritized BCSE 2025 vacancies in December 2025 as part of its continuing civil-service recruitment efforts.

Private Sector, FDI & Skills Gaps

91. Bhutan approved 17 foreign direct investment projects worth more than USD 183 million in 2024, potentially supporting new business activity and employment.
92. Since 2002, Bhutan has attracted 121 FDI projects valued at more than USD 692 million, with investment concentrated particularly in hotels, resorts, and IT.
93. Bhutan faces critical labour shortages across construction, tourism, production, agriculture, creative industries, and digital technologies.
94. Bhutan aims to increase technical and vocational education and training coverage to 50% of its workforce by 2029 and 80% by 2033.
95. Bhutan had 24,463 active service-sector business licences in 2025, up from 23,954 in 2024 but below the 25,670 recorded in 2023.
96. Production and manufacturing business licences increased from 3,712 in 2023 to 4,351 in 2025, indicating expanding activity in the sector.
97. Bhutan’s construction business licences declined from 2,325 in 2023 to 2,026 in 2024 and 1,852 in 2025.
98. Bhutan’s private sector is dominated by low-productivity microenterprises that struggle to scale, limiting the creation of higher-quality employment opportunities.
99. Bhutan’s De-suung Skilling Programme provides short-term vocational training to help young Bhutanese develop skills for the labour market.
100. The Gyalsung project provides more than 13,000 Bhutanese youth with one year of training consisting of three months of military training and nine months of skills development.

Gelephu Mindfulness City & Employment

101. Gelephu Mindfulness City targets the creation of 100,000 jobs by 2030 across eight pillar industries, including fintech, wellness tourism, and green technology.
102. Gelephu Mindfulness City covers more than 2,500 square kilometres and is intended to accommodate 150,000 residents within 7–10 years before eventually growing to one million.
103. Gelephu Mindfulness City’s international airport is designed to handle approximately 1.3 million passengers annually during its first phase.
104. Gelephu Mindfulness City launched its first recruitment drive in May 2025, seeking professionals in architecture, engineering, urban planning, and finance.
105. GMC’s second recruitment drive in October 2025 attracted nearly 750 applicants in Thimphu, demonstrating significant interest in emerging employment opportunities.
106. GMC Law No. 1 of 2024 integrates Singapore common law and ADGM regulations relating to employment and taxation within Gelephu Mindfulness City.

Macroeconomic Context Affecting Hiring

107. Bhutan’s real GDP grew 4.8% in FY 2024–25 and was forecast to expand 5.2% in FY 2025–26, supporting a positive backdrop for employment demand.
108. The Asian Development Bank forecast Bhutan’s GDP growth at 8.1% in 2025 and 6.0% in 2026, pointing to continued economic expansion.
109. Bhutan’s real GDP growth accelerated to 9.1% in Q4 2024 and remained strong during the first half of 2025, according to the dataset’s IMF figures.
110. Bhutan’s economy grew 7.0% in FY 2024/25 according to another measure, with industry and services driving economic expansion.
111. Bhutan’s year-on-year inflation rate reached 5.76% in January 2026, an important factor for wages, household purchasing power, and employer compensation planning.
112. Bhutan’s GNI per capita reached USD 3,563 in 2025, more than twice the USD 1,306 threshold used for its Least Developed Country graduation assessment.
113. Bhutan graduated from the United Nations’ Least Developed Country category on December 8, 2023, becoming the seventh country to achieve the transition.
114. India accounts for more than 80% of Bhutan’s imports and exports, demonstrating the strong economic relationship between the two neighbouring countries.
115. Bhutan’s Bitcoin holdings were estimated at more than USD 600 million as of April 2025, equivalent to roughly 30% of the country’s GDP.
116. Bhutan’s international reserves stood at USD 940 million in June 2025, equivalent to approximately 6.3 months of FY 2024/25 imports.

Gender, Education & Labour Market Equity

117. Women remain underrepresented in leadership and managerial positions in Bhutan, highlighting an important gender-equity challenge within the labour market.
118. Bhutanese workers with bachelor’s degrees earn approximately 25% more than diploma holders, while master’s degrees add an estimated further 30% earnings premium.
119. Women’s labour force participation in Bhutan is strongly influenced by marital status, the presence of young children, and family role models.
120. Bhutan’s labour market remains heavily segmented by gender, geographic location, and education, influencing access to jobs and economic opportunities.
121. Self-employed women represented 18.2% of self-employed workers in 2022, highlighting the role of female entrepreneurship and independent work in Bhutan’s labour market.
122. Bhutan’s poverty rate declined from 23.2% in 2007 to 12.4% in 2022, while extreme poverty was eliminated by 2022, reflecting substantial long-term socioeconomic progress.

Conclusion

Bhutan’s recruitment landscape in 2026 reflects a labour market that is improving in headline employment indicators while undergoing significant structural change. With the employment rate reaching 96.6% in 2025 and unemployment falling to 3.4%, the overall picture appears resilient. However, youth unemployment of 18.0%, lower female labour force participation, persistent skills shortages, and substantial outward migration reveal important challenges beneath the national figures.

For employers and recruiters in Bhutan, talent availability is becoming increasingly uneven. Agriculture and services together account for the vast majority of employment, while shortages affect construction, tourism, production, agriculture, creative industries, healthcare, education, and digital technologies. Brain drain adds further pressure, particularly because 53% of Bhutanese migrants hold university degrees and significant numbers of skilled professionals have left public services.

At the same time, Bhutan is creating new opportunities for employment and recruitment. Growing manufacturing activity, foreign investment, expanded technical and vocational training, and major developments such as Gelephu Mindfulness City could generate demand for new skills. GMC alone targets 100,000 jobs by 2030 across industries including fintech, wellness tourism, and green technology.

Ultimately, these 122 recruitment statistics, data points, and trends in Bhutan highlight a labour market defined by both opportunity and transition. Employers that understand changing salary expectations, workforce migration, demographic pressures, skills gaps, youth employment, foreign-worker dependence, and emerging industries will be better positioned to attract and retain talent. For recruiters, HR professionals, businesses, investors, and policymakers, following Bhutan’s recruitment and employment trends will be increasingly important as the country builds its workforce for the next stage of economic development.

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People Also Ask

What is the employment rate in Bhutan in 2026?

The latest dataset shows Bhutan’s employment rate reached 96.6% in 2025, recovering from 94.1% in 2022. This provides an important benchmark for understanding Bhutan’s recruitment market entering 2026.

What is the unemployment rate in Bhutan in 2026?

Bhutan’s latest annual unemployment rate was 3.4% in 2025, down from 5.9% in 2022. Q4 2025 recorded unemployment of 3.8%, showing that conditions can vary between annual and quarterly measurements.

What is Bhutan’s labour force participation rate?

Bhutan’s overall labour force participation rate was 64.9% in 2025, compared with 69.1% in 2021. Male participation was 73.5%, while female participation was considerably lower at 55.6%.

How many people are employed in Bhutan?

Bhutan had 381,584 employed people in 2025. About 66% of employed people lived in rural areas and 34% in urban areas, illustrating the importance of rural employment to Bhutan’s labour market.

What is the youth unemployment rate in Bhutan?

Youth unemployment among people aged 15–24 stood at 18.0% in 2025, down substantially from 28.6% in 2022. Despite the improvement, young workers accounted for 45.1% of Bhutan’s unemployed population.

Is female unemployment higher than male unemployment in Bhutan?

Yes. Female unemployment was 4.5% in 2025 compared with 2.6% for males. The gender difference is also visible among young people, with female youth unemployment reaching 21.9%.

Which area of Bhutan has the highest unemployment rate?

Thimphu recorded the highest unemployment rate at 6.2%, followed by Sarpang at 5.3%, Chhukha at 4.5%, and Paro at 4.4%. Gasa had the lowest rate at 0.6%.

Is unemployment higher in urban or rural Bhutan?

Unemployment is considerably higher in urban Bhutan. The urban unemployment rate was 6.0%, compared with 2.0% in rural areas, highlighting significant geographic differences in employment opportunities.

Which sector employs the most people in Bhutan?

Agriculture was Bhutan’s largest employment sector in 2025, accounting for 43.6% of workers. Services represented 42.2%, while industry employed the smallest share at 14.2%.

How important is the service sector for employment in Bhutan?

Services accounted for 42.2% of Bhutan’s employment in 2025, making the sector almost as important as agriculture. The country also had 24,463 active service-sector business licences in 2025.

What is the average salary in Bhutan in 2026?

The dataset estimates Bhutan’s average monthly salary at approximately BTN 25,720 in 2026. Actual earnings vary considerably depending on occupation, experience, industry, location, and employer.

What is the median salary in Bhutan in 2026?

Bhutan’s median monthly income is estimated at approximately BTN 23,000 in 2026. The dataset also places monthly earnings at around BTN 10,000 for low earners and up to BTN 83,010 for high earners.

What is the minimum wage in Bhutan in 2026?

Bhutan’s minimum wage is listed at BTN 3,750 per month, effective from January 1, 2025. This represented an increase from the previous BTN 3,000 monthly minimum that had been in place since 2013.

Are salaries higher in Thimphu than elsewhere in Bhutan?

Yes. The dataset indicates that Thimphu salaries can be around 25% higher than the national average for government, finance, and corporate positions, making the capital an important market for professional recruitment.

How much do software developers earn in Bhutan?

Software developers in Bhutan earn approximately BTN 30,000–35,000 per month according to the dataset. Salaries vary by experience, employer, technical skills, and location.

Is there a gender pay gap in Bhutan?

The dataset estimates that male employees earn around 9% more than female employees across professions. Women also have substantially lower labour force participation, at 55.6% compared with 73.5% for men in 2025.

What are the biggest recruitment challenges in Bhutan?

Bhutan faces labour shortages across construction, tourism, production, agriculture, creative industries, and digital technologies. Skilled-worker migration, youth unemployment, gender disparities, and limited quality job creation add to recruitment pressures.

Is Bhutan experiencing a brain drain?

Yes. Skilled migration is a major labour-market issue. About 53% of Bhutanese migrants hold university degrees, while nearly half of migrants were previously employed in the civil service.

Why are Bhutanese workers migrating overseas?

Career progression, education, compensation, and access to suitable fields of study are important factors. The dataset reports that 49.5% of aspiring migrants identified the absence of suitable fields of study in Bhutan as a key driver.

How many Bhutanese live in Australia?

Bhutan’s population in Australia more than doubled between 2020 and 2024 to over 25,000. More than 13,400 Bhutanese students were also enrolled in Australian universities during the first nine months of 2024.

Which industries in Bhutan face worker shortages?

Reported labour shortages affect construction, tourism, production, agriculture, creative industries, and digital technologies. Healthcare and education have also experienced staffing pressures linked to resignations and migration.

Does Bhutan have a shortage of healthcare workers?

Yes. A 2024 Ministry of Health report cited a shortage of 172 doctors and specialists and 824 nurses. Healthcare has also been affected by outward migration and civil-service resignations.

Does Bhutan have a teacher shortage?

Yes. Bhutan announced plans in March 2025 to fill 1,126 teacher vacancies created by resignations. Education and health together represented nearly 70% of voluntary civil-service resignations in 2024.

How important are foreign workers to Bhutan’s labour market?

Foreign workers are particularly important in construction and major development projects. Bhutan approved 137,324 foreign-worker applications in 2023, with construction among the leading sectors for approvals.

Where do most foreign workers in Bhutan come from?

Indian workers represented approximately 99.1% of foreign workers in the dataset. Indian migrant labour is especially important to construction and major infrastructure projects such as road development.

What skills will be in demand in Bhutan?

Demand is emerging across digital technology, construction, tourism, production, agriculture, creative industries, healthcare, education, fintech, wellness tourism, engineering, finance, urban planning, and green technology.

How is Bhutan addressing its skills gap?

Bhutan aims to increase technical and vocational education and training coverage to 50% of the workforce by 2029 and 80% by 2033. Youth-focused initiatives include the De-suung Skilling Programme and Gyalsung training.

What is the recruitment outlook for Gelephu Mindfulness City?

Gelephu Mindfulness City targets 100,000 jobs by 2030 across eight pillar industries. Recruitment drives have already sought professionals in architecture, engineering, urban planning, and finance.

Which jobs could Gelephu Mindfulness City create?

Gelephu Mindfulness City is expected to generate opportunities across areas such as fintech, wellness tourism, green technology, architecture, engineering, urban planning, and finance as the development expands.

What are the main recruitment trends in Bhutan for 2026?

Bhutan’s 2026 recruitment trends include falling overall unemployment, persistent youth unemployment, skilled-worker migration, sector-specific talent shortages, reliance on foreign labour, expanded skills training, and new hiring opportunities linked to major development projects.

Sources

National Statistics Bureau of BhutanMinistry of Industry Commerce & Employment BhutanRoyal Civil Service CommissionWorld BankInternational Monetary FundAsian Development BankU.S. Department of StateBhutan Broadcasting Service