Government strategy for one million more jobs by 2015

Government has launched a program to create 1 million new jobs by 2015, particularly in the private sector, according to local press reports. The government’s Strategy for Employment and Professional Training expects the target to be reached by improving the efficiency of private and public employment offices and through professional training schemes set up in the private sector. The program also includes increased training for young people and encouragement of self-employment, through creation of micro and small companies, according to Jerónimo Mahoque, director of Mozambique’s employment and professional training institute (INEFP). Mahoque also said that applying the plan required an investment of around US$19 million per year, or a total of US$175 million by 2015.

Currently, 16 percent of Mozambique’s active population is unemployed, most of whom live in the south of the country, according to figures from a survey by the country’s National Statistics Institute (INE). The plan for creating new jobs, which was recently approved at a Cabinet Meeting, aims to create 500.000 jobs in its first five years. Around 250.000 jobs are expected to be created in the public sector and the remaining 750.000 in the private sector. (Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique, Maputo)