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Rwanda economy under scrutiny over failure to create jobs

Saturday October 15 2016
jobs

The capacity of Rwanda’s economy to create productive and better remunerating jobs has come into question as a huge labour force continues to join the market, adding to the existing mass of the unemployed and underemployed. FOTOSEARCH

The capacity of Rwanda’s economy to create productive and better remunerating jobs has come into question as a huge labour force continues to join the market, adding to the existing mass of the unemployed and underemployed.

Despite official figures indicating a positive trend in job creation and economic growth, thousands of graduates and youth of working age spend long hours in search for work to no avail.

Official data from the National Institute of Statistics shows that the unemployment rate stands at 3.4 per cent nationally, and that only a third of those considered employed are underemployed.

The statistics show that the number of jobs grew by 35 per cent between 2011 and 2014 thanks to the continuous growth of the number of businesses and enterprises by 24 per cent, as per the 2015 establishment census.

For the fourth consecutive year, Noel Uwamungu, 29, is one of the many struggling to cope with rising cost of living in Kigali as efforts to find employment have not yielded fruit.

The graduate in crop science from the former National University of Rwanda said there are very few job opportunities available compared with the number of people entering the labour market.

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“The problem is even exacerbating as universities churn out many more graduates because a position that could attract 100 applicants by the time of our graduation now gets 300, including graduates of years before us, who are yet to find jobs,” explained Mr Uwamungu.

Unlike Mr Uwamungu who is undergoing a mechanic training in a bid to diversify his future chances for employment, fellow disappointed graduates have been forced into informal trade activities like hawking or casual jobs for survival.

Kigali and provincial urban centres have many more former and fresh graduates spending long without employment along with the mass of rural-urban migrants.

Their growing number has left employers inundated with applications, compelling recruiters to schedule examinations at local stadiums and city auditoriums to accommodate them.

However, while this is done by institutions with huge budget for staff recruitment, job advertisements by most private companies underline that only selected candidates will be contacted to avoid incurring such costs.

Recounting his years of sending out resumes, filling out applications, interviewing for positions as well as engaging in other job-search activities in vain, Emmanuel Musabyimana, a 2012 monetary economy graduate expressed fears that chances of getting employed have become increasingly minimal as the market get inundated with fresh jobseekers.

Mr Musabyimana said unemployment forced him to seek a six-month teacher training course for him to be temporarily hired at a rural-based school, for Rwf80,000 when his peers earn up to Rwf450,000.

The latest statistics indicate that over 203,492 off farm jobs were created last year, with projection indicating that additional 203,134 will be created in the year 2016/17.
Experts argue it should prompt a look into the cause of the mismatch, and whether the jobs recorded as created are real, sustainable and why they are not making a significant impact.

While job creation statistics are majorly sourced from figures by workers’ institutions and employment-related service registers, or directly from surveys, analysts argue that it fails to reflect the reality on the ground.

Albert Muragijimana, the workforce readiness professional with a non-governmental organisation said many of the jobs continue to count in statistics even after the initiatives that led to their creation are no longer operational or when they are not remunerative at all to sustain the jobseekers.

“It has now become easy to register businesses, so companies will indicate they have a certain number of workers just to impress, and this goes directly into the database regardless of whether they are physically existent, or whether they are the kind of jobs someone can depend on,” he said.

Muragijimana also points out the mismatch between the nature and areas where new jobs are created vis-à-vis the qualifications and needs of employment seekers.

The Ministry of Labour and Public Service admitted that the capacity of the economy to create new jobs is yet to meet the labour supply side.

“The private sector growth is not yet strong enough to consume all labour market entrants and some new entrants, namely graduates have tendencies to go for white collar jobs which are not sufficient,” a ministry officials said.

The 2014 Integrated Household Living Conditions Survey indicated that the economy was able to generate 146,000 jobs on annual basis.

The Ministry of Labour said the government banks on promotion of technical and vocational training by aligning skills demanded and skills supplied, and making employment policies supportive to smooth the transition in the labour market.

This includes the National Employment Programme’s vocational reconversion training programme aimed at helping graduates get hands on skills in trades which have high viability in business and employment potentials.