Unemployment Stats
Unemployment in Yemen currently affects around 44 percent of people that have completed middle school and 54 percent of those holding bachelor degrees. It has thus become one of the main obstacles and an important challenge for the national development of the Republic of Yemen, as well as a priority in the Government’s political agenda, both at the regional and the international level. Amat al-Razaq Hummad, Minister of Social Affairs and Labor stressed these facts during the launch of the National Strategy workshop for held in Sana’a last Tuesday.
The workshop was organized by the Information Unit of Labor Market and the International Labor Organization (ILO) and was attended by the Minister of Industry and Trade, Yahya Mutawakil. Over two days and counting with the participation of the three parties of production (workers, employers, Government) a number of working papers were presented, tackling the integration of the national strategy for the operation in the development plans and its significance in the framework of the private sector’s role.
Minister Hummad stressed that “the governmental and international efforts as well as the plans to reduce the rate of unemployment did not lead to radical solutions. The statistical indicators show an increase of unemployment in Yemen that goes from 9 percent in 1994, to 11 percent in 1998, up to 16 percent in 2005.”
“Launching a national program of decent work in Yemen is part of a strategic framework and an active plan for implementing the recommendations made by the ILO. This plan reflects the joint commitment of the Government, employers, workers, and organizations that aim to provide with decent work opportunities for women and men in better environmental and legislative conditions. These conditions will ensure freedom, equality, and dignity for both genders, supporting applied policies and responding to national priorities,” explained Hummad.
The Director General of the Information Unit of Labor Market Fadhel Mothana, and the Regional Director for Arab States at the ILO, Nada al-Nashif, pointed out the economic challenges faced by Yemen in order to achieve higher levels of development. They confirmed that 25 percent of employees in the labor market are part of networks of hidden unemployment (governmental employees without specified duties), and also stressed the existence of problems in terms of the labor environment, diminution of wages and the lack of necessary skills for the labor market.
Al-Arhabi and al-Nashif pointed out that the education outputs should match labor market demand.
Mothana and al-Nashif pointed out the challenges represented by the new needs of the labor market and the necessity to provide with job opportunities for newcomers to a labor market that now exceeds in 188,000 workers. Finding new job opportunities will lead to reduce the accumulated stock of unemployment, which in terms of statistics means that the market would need 22 thousand jobs annually in order to reduce unemployment by 1 percent, according to an official survey.
