"The [executive's] measures allowed for the creation of a total of 490,768 jobs out of the 500,000 promised [by the President in the 2017 elections] planned for the five-year period 2018-2022, despite the fact that, due to the covid pandemic -19, registered terms destroyed jobs", said Teresa Rodrigues Dias.
Jobs, she argued, "were destroyed, above all, in the years 2020 and 2021, making a total of 261,596 who lost their jobs".
"It is important to point out that, even so, with all the efforts of the executive, 219,206 jobs were managed to be preserved", stressed the minister, at the opening of the presentation of the "Report on Youth Employment in Angola: Opportunities, Challenges and Policy Guidance", prepared by the World Bank (WB).
According to the Minister of Public Administration, Labor and Social Security, the economic recession, aggravated by the covid-19, was at the base of the high unemployment rate "that devastated" everyone, "with particular incidence in the young population".
"Above all, for those looking for their first job, young people with disabilities and teenage mothers", she pointed out, recalling the executive's measures to reduce the impact of the pandemic.
The executive adopted integrated and large-scale policy measures focused on four fundamental pillars, namely support for companies, employment and income, stimulation of the economy and employment, protection of workers in the workplace and social dialogue to find solutions, she said.
For Teresa Rodrigues Dias, the report, prepared by the WB in partnership with the National Institute of Employment and Professional Training (Inefop), contains a set of political guidelines to be considered in the context of the executive's employment strategy and program.
The report also analyzes Angola's economic structure from the perspective of employment, business activity, job profile, behavior and results, she added.
"The executive is aware that work is essential for the livelihood of Angolan families, the act of working guarantees a position of dignity for the worker, not only to allow the financial maintenance of families, but also to build a factor of integration and social inclusion", she stressed.
According to Teresa Rodrigues Dias, youth unemployment "is an evil that sickens" Angolan society "and must be continuously fought".
For this reason, in the field of labor administration and the fight against unemployment, she highlighted: "We have been making an incessant effort with a view to reducing unemployment levels".
The "effort" takes place "through the materialization of various professional training programs and promotion of employability", she maintained.
"It is this executive's commitment to promote the implementation of a National Employment Programme, as an instrument for coordinating actions aimed at reducing unemployment levels and regional asymmetries, guaranteeing harmonious local development, boosting labor market policies", she pointed out.
Angola currently has 9.1 million jobs and 14.1 million people of working age, with 22 percent of young people unemployed, a situation that "threatens the future economic and social stability" of the country, according to the study.
The presented report reports that in the last decade 3.5 million jobs were created in the country.
There are currently 9.1 million jobs in Angola, namely 55 percent self-employed, 10 percent family, 7 percent employer, 20 percent private and 11 percent public, stresses the document.
According to Teresa Rodrigues Dias, the study, which must be analyzed by the Council of Ministers, "is not yet a finished product", since "it needs contributions from various actors in the labor market, including scholars, civil society and other interested parties".
The WB's regional director, Albert Zeuback said, on the occasion, that youth employment is also an imperative for economic growth, considering that the private sector at a global level "is the most important engine for economic growth, as well as for the creation of job".
"We will be able to see that the Government cannot carry out this alone, the private sector, civil society, development partners as well as youth play a significant role", he advocated.
The WB official also said that the banking unit is "providing technical and financial support" with a view to helping government efforts to increase and improve the macroeconomic environment in Angola.
"We also support the Government's efforts with a view to creating an environment conducive to the development of the private sector and we also support the development of skills so that youth can engage in a productive way", he concluded.
