The health crisis linked to Covid-19 caused the loss of just over 12,000 jobs in 2020 in Gabon. For a recovery in the same context of health crisis, the Ministry in charge of Employment has put in place a strategy based on the government’s emergency plans. Companies selected for contract execution under these plans should prioritize youth employment.
The health crisis linked to Covid-19 caused heavy damage to employment in the private sector in 2020. At the last government conference on Covid-19, on February 12, the Minister of Employment indicated that more than 12,000 jobs were lost in 2020.
Faced with the consequences of this pandemic on the labour market, the ministry of Employment has developed a recovery strategy. “The challenge today is to revive these companies, to enable them to take advantage of the opportunities of Covid-19” declared Madeleine Berre according to whom, certain sectors like that of food and digital still survived the crisis.
“At the digital level, it is exploding”, commented the minister declining the strategy. “With regard to the strategy that we have adopted at the level of the ministry, it is to ensure that the emergency plans that the government has adopted, in particular in Water and Energy and in the Health sector, can generate jobs likely to be captured by young Gabonese, ”she said.
According to her, the emergency plans being “identified and financed”, with the key, Gabonese companies selected to carry out the work, they could over the whole territory absorb many trades. “And we have set up with the National Employment Office (ONE), a strategy to identify all those who are unemployed,” said the minister.
Madeleine Berre assures us that “this strategy also includes a training strategy, of capacity building within our training centers and we are also concerned to strengthen the training of young learners so that these young people can always continue to be absorbed. in the job market ”. According to his words, certain sectors, such as the agricultural sector or the forestry sector and precisely the transport of logs, still escape the nationals.
“We do not have young Gabonese trained in logging trucks. There are not enough of them ”she said, explaining that many companies have reasons to work despite the difficult context, but the country does not have enough young people to respond to job offers. available in these areas. “We have oriented training towards the professional segment, whether nationally or internationally, through the granting of scholarships for these professions,” she said.
