Arbeitslosigkeit und Unterbeschäftigung in Tibet. Politische Druckmittel oder Folgen sozialen Wandels?

Abstract It is regularly written that unemployment is one of Tibet's major problems in communist China and is intentionaJly used by the Chinese government to exclude Tibetans who oppose the system from working opportunities. The problem of un- and underemployment has certainly become serious within Tibetan society. It is, however, of a more complex nature. Traditional society having been almost entirely agrarian and pastoral the growing population meets the same social and economic problems as do other traditional societies which find themselves increasingly embedded in a globalized world. But this also offers new chances. With a population that has, within four decades, more than doubled and a limited natural endowment the Tibetans need to find new kinds of employment. With this aim, the land and its mineral resources are being prospected, new industries and commercial sectors introduced and the infrastructure improved. Tibetans find it difficult to grasp the new opportunities. An inadequate education system, lack of investment funds and structural problems within the Chinese state place them at a disadvantage.