Maputo, Sept. 12, 2025 (Lusa) - Mozambique's government wants to reduce the unemployment rate from 18.4% to 17% by 2029, depending on the private sector. Still, it recognises "significant structural challenges" in the labour market, according to a report that Lusa had access to on Friday.
In a recent government document with prospects for the period 2025 to 2029, it is recognised that the "labour market faces significant structural challenges, including a high unemployment rate", as well as youth unemployment, which stands at 33.4%.
"Informality continues to dominate the structure of employment, posing challenges for productivity, labour security and the mobilisation of tax revenues," the government acknowledges in the same document, which also "sets specific targets for boosting the labour market, with a focus on creating formal jobs, reducing unemployment and promoting decent work".
These targets, by 2029, also include increasing the employment rate from 71.4% to 75.4%, reducing the underemployment rate from 8.1% to 5.1%, and reducing youth unemployment to 22.1%.
"The dynamism of the private sector will be decisive for large-scale job creation in the 2025-2029 period. It is estimated that this sector will lead job creation, particularly in the areas of commercial agriculture, agro-industry, manufacturing, construction, transport, energy and modern services," it reads.
According to the document, the role of the state "will consist of ensuring a favourable environment for investment and entrepreneurship, through structural reforms, strengthening economic infrastructure and training the workforce".
Support for the modernisation of the agricultural sector and the integration of small producers into value chains, "stimulating industrialisation and the energy transition", the promotion of public-private partnerships in infrastructure and the expansion of modern services are "strategic interventions" identified.
"In addition, the government will implement specific labour inclusion programmes for young people and women, such as expanding technical-vocational training, supporting entrepreneurship and promoting the formalisation of informal employment," it said, adding that the "achievement of these goals will depend on macroeconomic stability" as well as "the coordinated mobilisation of public and private investment".
"The government will strengthen the mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating the labour market, ensuring that employment policies are continually updated," the report concludes.
PVJ/ADB // ADB.
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