808 jobs are currently available on Mauritius’ popular myjob.mu. Out of which, 754 are permanent positions and 54 are temporary. What does this data indicate about the state of our economy?
International Monetary Fund (IMF) Data Mapper shows that the unemployment rate was at 10.9% at April 2021. However, since April, the local job market has grown increasingly buoyant. According to Hon. Minister of Industrial Development, Sunil Bholah, in a recent press-conference, 235 export-oriented manufacturing companies are actively looking for no less than 2,000 recruits. The Minister announced that should vacancies remain unfilled; the government will give green light to these companies to turn to foreign workers to bridge labour gaps.
Is this sudden need in semi-skilled and skilled workers in the manufacturing sector a pattern that repeats itself in other areas of the economy? How far can online recruitment platforms help provide an answer to this question?
According to data available on myjob.mu, 24% of the 808 vacancies published on its platform were in the IT industry, 16% were in accounting, 14% were in BPO/Call Center, 13% were in tourism and 12% were in marketing.
Only 5% of available jobs published on the website were in manufacturing.
A closer look at the type of opportunities being offered in the ICT sector shows that out of the 10 most recently published, 2 are low value addition and low paid jobs (Rs 10,000-Rs. 20,000), according to industry standards. 6 had to do with programming and software development.
In the Accounting sector, 6 out of the 10 most recent job opportunities were low value addition jobs. In the BPO/Call Center sector, 4 out of the first 10 can be deemed as low value addition jobs.
What are low value addition jobs in the New Normal?
According to the Future of Jobs Report 2020 by World Economic Forum, among the jobs that are set to become redundant by 2025 include roles that can be displaced by new technologies: data entry clerks, administrative and executive secretaries, accounting, bookkeeping and payroll clerks, accountants and auditors, assembly and factory workers, as well as business services and administrative managers.
2021 as compared to 2020
According to the Labour Market Survey 2021, done by the Ministry of Labour, Human Ressource Development and Training, who happens to have its own online recruitment platform called Mauritius Jobs; most vacancies in 2021 were in construction sector (21%), ICT (16%), textile (15%), other manufacturing sector (12%), while in 2020, most vacancies were in the accommodation and food sector (25%) and ICT sector (18%).
Despite the national lockdown in March 2021, 16% of the employers participated in the survey and intended to fill 4,679 vacancies by end of 2021.
