With the dismal growth and expansion of the manufacturing sector, Nepal has a very limited number of employers. According to the Population Census 2021, there are only 212,370 employers among people aged 10 years or above who are engaged in economic activities. The number of employers accounts for just 1.4 percent of the total economically active population who were involved in economic activities in the past 12 months before the census was conducted. According to the census, there are 14,983,310 economically active people engaged in certain economic activities over a year.

“The low number of employers suggests that the country has failed to produce entrepreneurs adequately,” said a senior official of the National Statistics Office. “With the country failing to industrialize, the number of employers has also not grown."

Manufacturing industries are considered mass employers but the share of the manufacturing sector in the country's gross domestic product (GDP) has been on the decline for the last several years. As per the Economic Survey 2021/22, the share of manufacturing in GDP stood around just six percent. The National Economic Census 2018 showed that the number of establishments in the manufacturing industry is 104,058 and this comprises 11.3 percent of all industries in Nepal. According to the Population Census 2021, among the employers, 160,292 are men and 52,078 are women. The largest number of employers are in Bagmati Province which is the center of the country’s major economic activities. The province has 70,289 employers followed by Koshi Province with 34,213 and Lumbini with 33,472. Then, the turn comes for Madhes provinces followed by Gandaki, Sudurpaschim, and Karnali as the number of employers comes down gradually. The number of employers is in line with business establishments and service providers in each province. According to the National Economic Census 2018, there were a total of 900,924 business establishments with Bagmati topping the list with 30.6 percent of enterprises being established in the province. There are 18.3 percent establishments in the second followed by Lumbini with 16 percent. The lowest number of business establishments is in Karnali where only 4.6 percent of total enterprises have been set up, according to the Economic Census. Most of Nepal's population engages in their own work. According to the population census, as many as 55.3 percent of the population aged 10 years and above who were involved in economic activities in the past 12 months, are engaged in their own work. The share of the population engaged in work for others stood at 28.6 percent. Bagmati once again tops in the number of people who work for others. As many as 36 percent of the total population aged 10 years and above, in the province work for others, according to the census.