Republic of Mauritius- Government is addressing skills mismatch to attain goal of High Income Economy, says Minister Callichurn

This was the gist of the message of the Minister of Labour, Industrial Relations, Employment and Training, Mr Soodesh Satkam Callichurn, during the opening ceremony of a workshop focusing on Demography, skills mismatch and openness, this morning at the Caudan Arts Centre in Port-Louis. The workshop is a joint endeavour of the Economic Development Board and the World Bank.  The Minister of Agro-Industry and Food Security, Mr Mahen Kumar Seeruttun, was also present on the occasion.

Minister Callichurn highlighted that Government recognises that the labour force has always been our main asset, making the economic miracle that the country is enjoying today a reality, hence it seeks to give further recognition to its contribution and place our human capital at the centre of discussion. On that note, he underlined that in order to make the leap to a High Income Economy, it is imperative to address key structural issues such as skills mismatch.

This phenomenon, he said, exacerbated by additional challenges including unemployment and brain drain, remains a key challenge to the local economy  that requires high skilled people in niche areas such as smart agriculture and ocean economy to accelerate its transformation into a high income economy built on high value added sectors. In line with Government’s objective to address this challenge and to increase the employability of the present and future generations, around 23 000 persons including youth and women have been placed under the various programmes being implemented by the Ministry, and various trainings are being offered.

Another main hurdle, pointed out the Minister, remains the alarming growing ageing population along with the decreasing fertility rate that result in increasing dependency ratio. He indicated that according to the United Nations Human Population Prospects 2017, Mauritius’ working age group population is expected to decrease by 150 000 by 2050 and the population level is expected to reach 665 000 in 2100, which will inevitably lead to a worsening of the dependency ratio. He said that if this demographic challenge remains unaddressed, it will result in potentially critical implications for the economy resulting in shortage of workers, declining productivity, pressure on pension and welfare system and the need to increase taxes.

He pointed out that in the Budget 2015-2016, Government introduced the Mauritian Diaspora Scheme with a view to attract members of the Mauritian diaspora back to Mauritius to participate in the economic development of the country, adding that some 250 persons actually came back.

Other measures include: Amendments being  brought to the Permit Regime to attract more highly skilled entrepreneurs and large investors; Changes in the work permit system to facilitate the entry of low skilled labour; Reduction in time frame for issuance and renewal of permit to 15 days; Extension of  eight-year work permit policy; ratio of expatriates to local workers being reviewed to enable entrepreneurs to import more expatriates for the same number of local workers; and the revision of the Stay Abroad policy in order to allow expatriates to return to Mauritius and resume employment after only three months instead of 12 months.

Speaking about the Amendments brought to the Non-Citizens (Employment restriction) Act, Minister Callichurn observed that Government has the responsibility to protect the integrity of our jurisdiction and take necessary steps to prevent the proliferation of sham marriages. He also announced that consultations with several countries including Madagascar, Bangladesh, India and Nepal are currently being carried out for the signing of agreements for the importation of foreign labour.

As for the Minister Mahen Kumar Seeruttun, he underlined that the changing world economic and social order as well as globalisation and the drastic emergence of new technologies and international economic and financial crisis, have an impact on our social and economic structures and systems that necessitate a complete transformation and overhauling. Skills mismatch, he said, is one of the major challenges that the Mauritian industry is currently facing in terms of human capital.

He highlighted the significant economic and social cost of Skills Mismatch namely structural unemployment and sluggish GDP growth as a consequence of workforce under utilisation and a decrease in productivity, affect negatively labour market outcomes, workers productivity, enterprise competitiveness and economic growth.  He added that human resources are undoubtedly at the heart of every economic development process, hence the need to foster the skills and competencies of people for competitive economic advantage. 

Mr Seeruttun underlined on key Government measures in this regard, namely the setting up of the National Economic and Social Council to promote dialogue to achieve consensus for social integration, to keep pace with economic development and make appropriate recommendations to Government for the promotion of social integration and national development.

He observed that as Mauritius is at the crossroad of development, it is essential to have a synergy among all stakeholders to formulate proposals in view of defining sustainable roadmaps for the economy to ensure their long run survival and improve their contribution to national income.