[LINK] "Few jobs despite booming Mozambique economy"
Al Jazeera's Sam Cowie describes how, despite strong economic growth, Mozambique is still short of jobs. Personal anecdotes and statistics combine to produce an argument suggesting that potential instability is quite possible here.
A 2012 report by the Open Society Foundation estimated that 70 percent of people under age 35 in Mozambique - who form the majority of the 25 million population - cannot find stable employment.
First-time entrants to the labour market and unskilled youth such as Beto, who is illiterate and speaks Changala instead of Portuguese, Mozambique's national language, are worst off.
Lacking jobs at home, many Mozambicans such as Beto's brother migrate to next door South Africa, which also has high levels of youth unemployment, to work in mining and agriculture.
Relative peace and stability since 1992 when the war ended, make Mozambique attractive to investors, and the economy has grown by more than 7 percent each year over the last 10 years, spurred by projects such as the MOZAL Aluminium plant near Maputo, and from mining by Brazilian company Vale in Tete province.
[. . . T]he mineral and gas extraction projects create few jobs - just 3,800 in 2010, according to a 2014 report by Africa Economic Outlook. The few jobs that Mozambique's "megaprojects" create tend be highly qualified positions that are often taken by foreigners.
Unlike South Africa's mining industry, which needs a huge labour force and provides jobs, the capital-intensive projects in Mozambique use heavy machinery to extract coal and gas and require little manpower.
A 2012 report by the Open Society Foundation estimated that 70 percent of people under age 35 in Mozambique - who form the majority of the 25 million population - cannot find stable employment.
First-time entrants to the labour market and unskilled youth such as Beto, who is illiterate and speaks Changala instead of Portuguese, Mozambique's national language, are worst off.
Lacking jobs at home, many Mozambicans such as Beto's brother migrate to next door South Africa, which also has high levels of youth unemployment, to work in mining and agriculture.
Relative peace and stability since 1992 when the war ended, make Mozambique attractive to investors, and the economy has grown by more than 7 percent each year over the last 10 years, spurred by projects such as the MOZAL Aluminium plant near Maputo, and from mining by Brazilian company Vale in Tete province.
[. . . T]he mineral and gas extraction projects create few jobs - just 3,800 in 2010, according to a 2014 report by Africa Economic Outlook. The few jobs that Mozambique's "megaprojects" create tend be highly qualified positions that are often taken by foreigners.
Unlike South Africa's mining industry, which needs a huge labour force and provides jobs, the capital-intensive projects in Mozambique use heavy machinery to extract coal and gas and require little manpower.