Unemployment in Mozambique rose by 1.8 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2024, with a total of 190,558 people unemployed, compared to 187,149 in the third quarter. The figures were released by the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security in the Labour Market Information Bulletin.
According to the document, job centres registered 91,215 candidates looking for their first job, while the rest were looking for a new position.
The Centre of the country had the highest unemployment rate, with 36.1%, followed by the South, with 33.4%, and the North, with 30.5%. In terms of gender, the South registered 38.1% of unemployed women, the Centre 36.9% and the North 25%.
The bulletin also indicates that 47.9% of the candidates registered at the job centres were looking for their first job opportunity, with the provinces of Nampula (22.9%), Tete (14%) and Zambézia (11.5%) standing out. Among those looking for a new job, Nampula led the way with 17.5 per cent, followed by Tete (14.1 per cent) and Maputo (13.4 per cent).
In the same period, the creation of new jobs fell by 13.7%, with 103,834 new vacancies, compared to 120,252 in the previous quarter. The centre of the country accounted for 43.6% of the jobs registered, followed by the north with 30.8% and the south with 25.6%. The provinces with the highest rates of new jobs were Nampula (51.2 per cent), Sofala (40.9 per cent) and Gaza (39.6 per cent).
The report also reveals that the hiring of foreign labour increased by 2.1%, from 5316 workers in the third quarter to 5426 in the last quarter of 2024.
The wholesale and retail trade sector was the one that hired the most foreign workers, accounting for 43.8 per cent of the total, followed by the construction sector (14.8 per cent) and the mining industry (11.5 per cent).
In addition, the government registered 22 cases of illegal foreign workers, an increase of 29.4 per cent on the 17 identified in the previous quarter. Maputo city led the way with 11 cases, followed by Sofala (6 cases), Manica (3 cases) and Maputo province (2 cases).
Most of the suspensions occurred in the commerce, restaurants and hotels sector (63.6 per cent), followed by the construction and public works sector (22.7 per cent) and the manufacturing industry (13.7 per cent).
