Addis Ababa, The International Labour Organization (ILO) has reaffirmed its commitment to continue supporting Ethiopia in its endeavors to create decent job opportunities guided by the country’s Home-grown Economic Reform.
In an exclusive interview with ENA, ILO Country Office Director Alexio Musindo said that the organization has been implementing a five-year Decent Work Country Programmes to promote decent livelihood.
The programme mainly prioritizes decent work, which is aligned with increasing productivity for economic growth in Ethiopia.
A number of progressive things have been done in order to fulfill critical things about jobs, the country director said, adding that the organization is working on skills development in Ethiopia.
According to him, ILO is at present looking towards establishing a Sector Skills Council that brings the private sector and others in institutions together to discuss what is needed in terms of the demand and supply of the labour market.
Musindo revealed that ILO is working quite closely with Ministry of Labor and Skills in terms of trying to have an occupational hazard list.
Activities are also underway in achieving a certain number of objectives that include occupational health and safety, addressing forced labour, child labour, creating opportunities for people to have jobs, and discussion on minimum wages.
As of 2020, Ethiopia has targeted to create 3 million jobs each year. Since then Ethiopia has been working to create a total of 14 million new jobs by 2025 and 20 million new jobs by 2030.
The ILO Country Director pointed out that ILO’s “push to member states is to look at the macroeconomic framework and the monetary framework to ensure that those policies are job rich. We push for growth with jobs, whereas we have a challenge in many countries of growth without jobs.”
Musindo noted that addressing the macro policies are targeted towards job creation which has been a major difficulty to many countries for having sufficient and adequate jobs and placement for young people.
In this case, Ethiopia has introduced a development framework which is guided by the country’s Home-grown Economic Reform that would facilitate the creation of decent jobs.
“When you look at the Ethiopian Home-grown Economic Reform, there are moving jobs from agriculture to the service and manufacturing sectors. So, for us it is not just about the quality of the jobs. When you talk, it needs to address the qualitative aspects of the job which means the descent of the jobs comes in. Then you can go very local level,” the Country Director elaborated.
Recall that Ethiopia has been reinforcing a Home-grown Economic Reform to realize decent job opportunities, high-quality economic growth, and create fiscal space for increased public investment in infrastructure, human capital and institutional development.
Moreover, the policy blueprint, which seeks to unlock the country’s development potential, is designed to make Ethiopia an African icon of prosperity by the year 2030.
Stressing the need for ensuring economic growth that could create decent job opportunities, Musindo stated that Ethiopia has been averaging plus six percent economic growth over the last few years.
Despite the economic progress achieved in the last decade, Ethiopia has been challenged to ensure adequate job creation, he added.
Musindo in particular stressed that it is vital to bring together the institutions of higher learning in the labour market together.
IOL is determined to strengthen its support to Ethiopia in its effort to create decent work and employment opportunities in the country.
Source: Ethiopian News Agency