Quality jobs crucial for economic growth – report

Investing in quality jobs and tackling poverty among the working population are key to economic growth, according to a report released by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on Tuesday. The report titled; “World of Work 2014: Developing with Jobs”, is an in-depth analysis of the economies of 140 developing and emerging nations. It found that countries that invested in quality jobs during the early 2000s grew faster compared to other developing and emerging economies. “Quality jobs are a prerequisite for development,” said Guy Rider, the organisation’s director-general. He added that although many say developing countries should focus on trade and investment, the report showed that such policies cannot lead to development unless accompanied by dedicated efforts to boost decent work opportunities. Investment in high quality jobs was also found to be linked to a reduction in wage inequality and vulnerable employment, a situation when someone is self-employed or does unpaid labour for their family. According to the report, at 3.4 per cent, Rwanda’s unemployment rate is only half the global average of 6 per cent. The report also commended Rwanda for developing social protection systems such as Community Based Health Insurance, which covered 91 per cent of the population in 2010. But despite its success in tackling unemployment, according to the research, a high percentage of Rwandans live in working poverty. This means they live on less than $2 a day. To tackle the problem, the Rwandan government has been working on strategies to create quality jobs. “We have invested increasing the standards, making sure the faciilities for training are available and having qualified trainers,” said Jerome Gasana, the director-general of the Workforce Development Authority. “We are trying to make sure that there are training and job creation programmes out there based on the needs of the market,” he explained, adding that the programmes target the working poor. One of these initiatives is the National Employment Programme, which will be implemented in a month’s time. The programme will employ skills development trainings and labour market interventions such as paid public works projects to help employ the poorest in the community. While talking about the programme, Minister for Public Services and Labour Anastase Murekezi, said it would create 200,000 new off-farm jobs annually.