The government of Cameroon through the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training has adopted a National Pact for Employment.
Job creation and employment have remained some of the major preoccupations of African governments south of the Sahara. Cameroon has fully been involved in this fight that is in conformity with the road map that emanated from the first African colloquium on decent work held in June 2009 in Ouagadougou-Burkina Faso. In pursuant of that move, Cameroon’s Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training yesterday organised a forum on the appropriation of the World Employment Pact. Unemployment is on the rise as more and more people of the working age do not have jobs. The global pact is a response to the employment crisis conceived to orientate policy makers to stimulate economic revival, create employment and protect workers.Dr Samuel Inack Inack, head of Studies and Cooperation Unit in the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training says about 6 million Cameroonians are employed. Out of this number, 70 % work in the informal sector. This labour force involves people of ages between 15 and 64.
Following the International Labour Organisation (ILO) statistics, the cumulative drop in revenue result stood at more than 50 million US dollars in 2009 for African countries south of the Sahara. The number of unemployed persons rose from 23.6 million in 2007 to 27 million in 2009. While the number of poor workers moved from 168 million in 2007 to 205 million in 2009. Between 2007 and 2009, the number of people involved in precarious jobs has passed from 211 million to 236 million. The same ILO ranks unemployment as one of the major challenges of the age posing a threat at both national and the international levels. The organisation warns of the possibility of an alarming increase in precarious jobs with half the world’s labour force performing unstable jobs in 2010.
The Yaounde forum marks the beginning of permanent discussions to put in place an employment pact that reflects national realities.
