BY MENGISTEAB TESHOME
Unemployment is a challenge that is affecting most countries, both developed and developing. Countries that have ensured in engaging the youth in productive activities are garnering significant social and economic benefits. It is common that the youth unemployment rate is often higher than the unemployment rate of adults which puts more pressure on governments of many countries and face challenges in facilitating the transition from school to work.
When we closely observe closer the issue in developing countries, youth face not only the challenge of obtaining productive employment, but also obtaining safe and acceptable work. The challenge is not different in Ethiopia. According to the World Bank, youth employment presents a particular challenge to the country; the country faces growing youth landlessness in rural areas and insignificant rural job creation, potentially leading to an increase in migration to urban areas.
To undue the problem with unemployment and related scenarios, Ethiopia has also been striving to create job opportunities and engage its productive workforces in various income generating activities by framing various youth friendly policies and strategies. The government, joining hands with partners and stakeholders, is working to set systems that enable the young people engaged in income generation activities, generate their own income and contribute to the national growth, said Public Relations and Communication CEO with the Ministry of Labor and Skills Abebe Alemu.
In an exclusive interview with The Ethiopian Herald Abebe said that, in this budget year, the Ministry has set a plan to create 3.7 million jobs, 3.6 million from locals and one hundred thousand for foreign job opportunities. To cease this advantage and benefit the young people who aspire to go abroad and engage in various activities, a number of works are ongoing, he said referring to the training packages arranged and over 167 thousands of trainees were registered based on their own will.
He also underscored that only trained and certified workforces are going to benefit from the job opportunities created overseas. To this end, 93 Technical and Vocational Education and Trainings (TVETs) are engaged in providing training on a number of competencies. “Owing to the high demand for housemaids in the Middle East countries, housekeeping and related skills building training are the areas we are providing at present. However, we will diversify the training as per the demand of the market. The duration of the training could vary as per the experiences of the trainees; and in general it could take from five days to three months.”
Responding about the accessibility of the services, he remarked that efforts are underway to digitize the services that could let everyone get the services easily and in a safe way. One can register online and; get a job abroad. “Through this kind of approach, we have been able to send over 6 six hundred employees to Middle East countries. The Ministry is also working along with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to further strengthen collaboration and ensure the dignity of workers abroad, according to him.
It is high time to ensure the rights, dignity and self-esteem of citizens who are working in the Middle East and other parts of the globe. “We conducted productive discussion and reached agreements with respective countries on revising wages of workers. In this regard, the outdated Kafala wages system which was drafted twenty years ago is demolished,” he underlined. He further noted that most Ethiopian workers travelling to the Middle East were getting wages under the Kafala system which is absurd. The system lets employers and companies have almost total control over migrant workers’ employment and immigration status.
Under this system, the local individuals or companies get sponsorship permits to employ foreign laborers. The sponsor covers travel expenses and provides housing, often in dorm-like accommodations or, in the case of domestic workers, the sponsor’s home. Rather than hiring an individual directly, sponsors sometimes use private recruitment agencies in the countries of origin to find workers and facilitate their entry to the host country.
Unfortunately, the system usually falls under the jurisdiction of interior ministries, rather than labor ministries. As a result, workers often have no protection under the host country’s labor law. This leaves them vulnerable to exploitation and denies them such rights as the ability to enter a labor dispute process or join a union, he added.
Furthermore, he said that, because workers’ employment and residency visas are linked and only sponsors can renew or terminate them, the system endows private citizens—rather than the state—with control over workers’ legal statuses, creating a power imbalance that sponsors can exploit the workers. In most situations, workers need their sponsor’s permission to transfer jobs, end employment, and enter or exit the host country. Leaving the workplace without permission is an offense that results in the termination of the worker’s legal status and potentially imprisonment or deportation, even if the worker is fleeing abuse.
Workers have little recourse in the face of exploitation, and many experts argue that the system facilitates modern slavery. Luckily, through rigorous discussions with Saudi Arabia, Lebanon among others, the Ministry sealed a deal to improve the wages rate and other rights and benefits packages. “This is a great achievement and an encouraging move; and we will keep on strengthening it.”
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also working to assign a labor attaché that is ready to manage the demands of Ethiopian citizens in each respective nation, because we follow citizen centered diplomacy,” he remarked.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD FRIDAY 28 APRIL 2023
