Keeping Thimphu Running: The Lives and Livelihoods of City Workers

Abstract

This article examines the lives and livelihoods of Thimphu’s municipal daily wage workers – primarily low-income migrants employed by the Thimphu Thromde – who carry out critical maintainance and cleaning tasks essential to the city’s daily functioning. Despite their indispensable role, these workers face profound precarity marked by gaps between formal labour protections and everyday realities. Based on mixed-methods fieldwork, this article explores their migration pathways, living conditions, work challenges, and adaptive strategies.