Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente, on September 9, outlined efforts to meet Rwanda’s target to create at least 1.25 million decent (productive) jobs for Rwandans under the Second National Strategy for Transformation (NST2) — a five-year government programme which runs from 2024 through 2029.
The figure means that the country has to create at least 250,000 per year, he said while delivering a presentation on NST2 to a joint session of Parliament.
This target is higher than that of NST1 (which ran from 2017 through June 2024 – a seven-year programme) which was to create slightly over 214,000 annually.
NST2 builds on the achievements of NST1 and aims to drive Rwanda towards Vision 2050, focusing on prosperity, well-being, and inclusivity for all Rwandans, according to the Office of the Prime Minister.
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Ngirente indicated the jobs under the new target will be a result of various interventions and growth of all sectors of the country’s economy, including services, agriculture, and industry.
One of the interventions will be increasing opportunities for internship and skills development by especially focusing on Rwandan youth, he said.
To that end, he pointed out, efforts will be scaled up in developing private small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that provide employment to many people.
There will also be an improvement in supporting and facilitating entrepreneurs and private entities to get services that help them expand their operations.
Some of the services are related to training, advisory, finance, and access to relevant equipment, Ngirente indicated.
Main areas to be focused on under the new productive job creation drive include manufacturing, especially agro-processing, services sector including cross-border ones, small firms providing ICT services, as well as arts and entertainment, he cited.
Access to information related to employment on the market will also be enhanced, Ngirente said, observing that it will help link job providers to job seekers, especially the youth.
In line with scaling up job creation, Ngirente told parliamentarians that training and provision of needed skills will be improved in the implementation of major projects.
They include Bugesera International Airport, aviation academy, industrial parks, and the milk powder factory located in Nyagatare District, Eastern Province.
He added that more efforts will be invested in providing special skills needed on the labour market through short-term training.
The needed skills include repairing and handling vehicles and other electric equipment, and ICT.
"All this will help us to increase job creation in the services sector,” he said.
The attainment of the goal will be facilitated by improving the principle of integrating creating jobs in the public, private sector and others, he said, adding that an effective way of monitoring the job creation programme will also be put in place.
NST2 is part of Rwanda’s broader vision that targets to lower unemployment to 7 per cent in 2035, and 5 per cent in 2050.
The overall unemployment rate among Rwandans was 16.8 per cent in May 2024, according to the 2024 quarter 2 Labour Force Survey by the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda, which added that unemployment was more pronounced among the youth (20.5 per cent) than adults (14.1 per cent).
Overall, under NST2, Ngirente said, Rwanda wants to have a sustainable and stable economy that is resilient to global economic disruptions in general. Rwanda's economy is expected to grow by at least 9.3 per cent annually, indicating that this will be realised through increasing output of every sector of the country's economy.
The country’s economy registered an average growth of 7 per cent on average under NST1.