DR:Congo: Tshisekedi Sets Ambitious Target For Job Creation.

By Badylon Kawanda Bakiman

By the end of his second five-year term, President Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo is determined to create 6,400,000 jobs in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to curb unemployment.

The President of the Republic made the announcement at a recent meeting called "matinée de l'emploi" (employment morning) with a number of players in this sector, as well as officials from the Office national de l'emploi (ONEM) in the capital, Kinshasa.

"Creating more jobs is one of my campaign commitments (...) This commitment, which is based on a proactive approach using solutions drawn from the daily lives of the Congolese people, requires accelerating the promotion of entrepreneurship in order to meet the challenge of creating 6,400,000 jobs over the next 5 years", declared Félix Tshisekedi.

He added: "This morning is also an opportunity to inform the next government of my firm determination to place people and employment at the heart of public policies, with a view to reducing poverty, unemployment and underemployment. And this in perfect harmony with the Sustainable Development Goals".

The Kinshasa meeting looked at ways of absorbing unemployment in the country. The Rapport quinquennal des statistiques des marchés d'emplois en RDC published a few days ago indicates that from 2019 to 2023, out of 51% of jobseekers in long-term unemployment, women represent less than 30%.

This meeting revealed that access to formal employment in the DRC represents a rate of 8.6%. The number of job offers received by ONEM in five years was 21,954.

The Head of State, who welcomed the conference, also spoke of the need for the future government to create a policy and "an effective strategy to significantly reduce youth unemployment", in consultation with all stakeholders in the employment sector.

"I would also like to remind you of the need to revitalize labor market structures, which inevitably involves improving the quality of service provided by the ONEM", said the President of the Republic.

"We want to see concrete action. For me, this announcement reflects first and foremost the intention that the Head of State has for his second five-year term.  In itself, the intention is not bad. What I know is that in the DRC we've already heard promises and good intentions, but they've gone unheeded", reacts Jean Mukanda Tibi, one of the country's human rights activists.