Employment Crisis in Comoros and Importance of Training: Analysis and Prospects

Abstract

Over the past two decades, the employment situation in Comoros has deteriorated. The country has a very young population, but its labor force participation rate remains one of the lowest in the world. This paper proposes to review the root causes of the employment crisis in Comoros and to propose solutions that could help limit the waste of its human capital. During this study, we made use of a methodological triangulation by employing both qualitative and quantitative methods. Thus, we had to conduct surveys by questionnaire, interviews, mostly semi-directive, with the target population, and other techniques such as focus groups and life stories. Our study population includes 251 active young people (workers and unemployed), 16 government officials and 43 Comorian employers, given their importance in the planning and implementation of employment policies. At the end of our analyses, it should be noted that the employment crisis is generally explained by the cyclical socio-political crises that the country has experienced since its independence, in addition to the global financial and economic crises. Moreover, its educational system, inherited from the colonial model, hardly meets the country’s needs in terms of manpower training. It should also be added that the country does not give itself enough means to develop its education, the main tool to fight against chronic unemployment. It is in this sense that a diversified technical and vocational education should be put in place as well as a formal curriculum favorable to entrepreneurship education.