According to the 1997 census data, in 1997, the economically active population in Mozambique was about 5.9 million people, the majority of whom self-employed workers (52%) and unpaid family workers (33.7%); 11.1% were employed, of whom 4.1% in the public sector and 7% in the private sector.

Again, in 2005, the rate of unemployment was calculated to 18.7% through the Labour Force Survey (IFTRAB). Because IFTRAB 2004-2005 was the only official inquiry to employment carried out in Mozambique, it is not possible to make objective statements about the unemployment trend. However, employment data obtained annually from administrative sources indicate a continuous increase of jobs generated by the national economy.

According to administrative data a total of 924,168 new jobs were created in 2005-2009. The total number of new jobs created annually was 64,399 in 2005, 71,060 in 2006, 154,988 in 2007, 247,256 in 2008 and 385,732 in 2009. These data represent a successive growth of 10.34% in 2006, 118% in 2007, 59.5% in 2008 and 55% in 2009, compared to the previous year.

In comparison to the targets defined in PARPA II, the total number of jobs registered is 924,168, exceeding the planned target (900,000 by 2009) by about 2.4%. Of the total number of jobs registered in the course of the five years (2005-2009), the main contribution came from the Local Initiative Investment Budget (OIIL), namely 230,179 jobs, representing 25%, followed by self-employment/production associations with 221,661 jobs, representing 24.1% of the new jobs.

There are still big differences between women and men in accessing labour market. For example, 10,971 jobs were created in 2009 in the scope of employment promotion in the provinces; 6,969 of which benefited men and only 3,948 benefited women (PES 2009 Review, p.122). In the private sector the situation is the same: women represent only 21.4% of the 57,826 direct admissions by private companies (PES 2009 Review, p.122).

From 2005 to 2009, 171,288 beneficiaries - of whom 119,350 men and 51,938 women - were trained at national level in various professional training courses. Considering the level of growth of the performance registered and the achievement in 2009, everything indicates that the target will be met and exceeded.

Constraints on the achievement of the targets for 2015

In the scope of the implementation of the Employment and Professional Training Strategy 2006-2015, the target is to create one million jobs. More than the number of jobs created, the country’s target is to create an institutional and participatory labour market management mechanism, which allows decision making and starting actions that guarantee a balanced labour market and the mitigation of the phenomenon of unemployment and its effects. Starting from this presupposition the following constraints should be considered:

• Lack of resources for job creating investment;
• Weak trade unions in terms of technical capacity and coverage;
• Deficient information system for the labour market (collection, processing and dissemination of information);
• Lack of resources for the development of professional training actions that promote the employability of the national human resources and improve their productivity;
• Incapacity to determine the quality of the created jobs, to allow the definition of actions for their improvement.

Challenges for the achievement of the targets for 2015

• Definition of strategies that allow giving priority to investment for labour-intensive industries;
• Strengthen the mechanisms for the promotion of and support to the development of small and medium enterprises;
• Create and finance the Employment Promotion Fund, which finances employment promotion programmes in the urban areas;
• Continue with the consolidation and operationalization of the District Development Funds, allowing the financing of economic activities in the rural areas, particularly in the districts;
• Continue with the creation of the labour market information system, including the employment observatory;
• Continue with the reform of professional education and guarantee the financing of technical and professional training programmes;
• Strengthen the partners’ technical and negotiation capacity and their participation in the implementation of a national respectable employment promotion programme;
• Increase the capacity of the employers’ and workers’ organizations and of the public sector, to enable them to monitor the labour market to guarantee compliance with the employment quality and safety standards.

Positive factors of progress in the indicators

• The start of the creation of a labour market information system and the employment observatory;
• Creation of the Small and Medium Enterprise Institute;
• Start of the implementation of Professional Education reform;
• Creation of the District Development Fund, which will effectively proceed with the promotion of employment and economic development at district level, started with the implementation of the Local Initiative Investment Budget;
• Public-private partnership for local development through the Local Development Agencies (ADEL);
• Expansion of banking activities at district level.

Source: Report on the Millennium Development Goals - Mozambique 2010