The latest issue of Economic and Social Indicators (ESI) presents a set of estimates of labour force, employment, and unemployment for the first quarter of 2023, based on the results of the Continuous Multi-Purpose Household Survey (CMPHS) from January to March 2023. The estimates refer to the Mauritian population aged 16 years and above.
Compared to the corresponding quarter of 2022, the labour force has increased by 41,100. Employment increased by 49,300 while unemployment decreased by 8,200. The number of persons outside labour force declined by 36,400 during the same period.
At the first quarter of 2023, unemployed youth aged 16 to 24 years was estimated at 13,800 (7,000 males and 6,800 females) compared to 14,000 (7,100 males and 6,900 females) at the previous quarter and 18,100 (8,900 males and 9,200 females) at the first quarter of 2022.
The youth unemployment rate decreased in the first quarter of 2023 to 20.0% from 28.9% in the corresponding quarter of 2022. During the same period, the rate for young men decreased by 6.8 percentage points to 18.1%, and that for young women decreased by 11.9 percentage points to 22.3%.
Compared to fourth quarter 2022, the youth unemployment rate decreased from 21.3% to 20.0%, with an increase of 0.4 percentage point for young men compared to a decrease of 4.8 percentage points for young women.
When compared to fourth quarter 2022, the total number of unemployed persons increased by 600, with increases of 300 among males and 300 among females.
Total unemployment rate decreased by 0.1 percentage point from 6.8% in the fourth quarter of 2022 to 6.7% in the first quarter of 2023. Male unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage point from 5.3% to 5.4% and female unemployment rate decreased by 0.6 percentage point from 9.1% to 8.5%.
The number of persons aged 16 years and over, not forming part of the labour force (inactive population) was estimated at 422,900 at the first quarter of 2023 compared to 441,000 in the fourth quarter of 2022 and 459,300 in the first quarter of 2022.
The population outside labour force comprised 145,800 males and 277,100 females. Among males, around 54% were retired/old persons and 25% were students. Among females, 54% were homemakers and 24% were retired/old persons.
The main characteristics of the unemployed as at first quarter 2023 were as follows:
- The 39,400 unemployed comprised 18,600 males (47%) and 20,800 females (53%).
- Around 21,500 (55%) of the unemployed were single; males (75%) and females (36%).
- Some 20,700 (53%) of the unemployed did not have the Cambridge School Certificate (SC) or equivalent and among them 3,700 had not even passed the Primary School Achievement Certificate (PSAC)/Certificate of Primary Education (CPE) or equivalent.
- Around 27,400 (70%) had been looking for work for up to one year and the remaining 12,000 (30%) for more than one year.
- About 27,300 (69%) had working experience and 12,100 (31%) were looking for a first
- Around 17,300 (44%) were registered at the Employment Service Information Centre.
- There were 6,800 (17%) young persons aged 16 to 24 years, not yet married and looking for a first job. Some 3,400 possessed a qualification below
- Some 4,700 or 12% of the unemployed were heads of households.
- Around 7,300 (19%) lived in households with no employed persons.
