64,700 Mauritians have been driven outside the labour force and have been made economically inactive between December 2020 and March 2021. Statistics that will raise eyebrows again.
According to figures recently published by the Mauritius Statistics, 68,500 jobs have been lost between December 2019 and March 2021. During the same period, the Mauritian economy created some 8,900 new jobs. The number of people economically inactive has also increased dramatically from 408,900 in the first quarter of 2020 to the staggering amount of 470,200 in 2021’s first quarter. In December 2020, the figures amounted to 405,500 meaning that in total, 64,700 of the population was made economically inactive in the first three months of 2021 only.
Since 2018, official figures show that economically inactive population has remained relatively stable. In December 2019, the total population outside the labour force amounted to 405,600 while in March 2020, there were 408,900, meaning that the number of people falling in this category rose by 3,300.
From 3,300 people made inactive between December 2019 and March 2020, Mauritius Statistics reported that 64,700 souls were made inactive between December 2020 and March 2021. In terms of percentage, as the above shows, as compared to the same period last year, there has been a 1860% increase.
According to the report, the increase in the number of persons considered to be outside the labour force is explained by the fact that many individuals, mainly self-employed persons, could not work in March 2021 due to the lockdown. According to international classification, since these individuals were not looking for work during the lockdown, they are classified as (temporarily) ‘inactive’ and not as ‘unemployed’. Although they were classified as inactive, they received the support provided by Government under the Self-Employed Assistance Scheme. With the end of the lockdown, the number of inactive persons is expected to decrease to its normal level.
This sudden and shocking rise in the population described by the Mauritius Statistics as outside the Labour force and economically inactive stands in sharp contrast to the national unemployment rate that has decreased, from 10.2% in December 2020 to 9.8% in March 2021.
