International Labour Organisation

Liberia
AGENDA: TACKLING THE UNEMPLOYMENT DELEMMA
: COVID EDITION
POSITION PAPER

Aditya Modi-Position Paper-ILO-Liberia

Republic of Liberia is a country on the West African coast ,bordered by Sierra leone to the
north-west, Guinea to its north Cote d’lvoire to its east and Atlantic Ocean to its south-
west. It has a population of around 5 million and covers an area of 111,369 square-
kilometers. The country’s capital and largest city is Monrovia.
Our formal employment rate is 15%gdp per capita peaked in1980 at US$496, when it was
comparable to Egypt’s(at the time). In 2011 the country’s nominal GDP was US$1,154
billion, while nominal GDP per capita stood at US$297 , the third lowest in the world.
Historically the Liberian economy has dependent heavily on foreign aid ,foreign direct
investment and exports of natural resources such as iron ,rubber, and timber.
April 6,2020
The recent outbreak of COVID-19 is the gravest health crisis the world has seen in a
century. The death toll and the number of patients in urgent need of hospital treatment
however is still exponentially increasing in most parts of the world resulting in the drastic
decrease in the employment rate.
Country’s Stance:
As a country with one of the lowest GDP and economically poor ,it creates a huge
dilemma choosing between to keep our citizens safe or to strengthen the countries
economy by solving employment problems. Liberia is a “young” country fully half the
population is under age 18 and only 2 out of 10 working people over the age of 15 are paid
employees as 2/3 of the work force is in the “informal economy”. According to our
economic models GDP in liberia is expected to reach 2.80 USD Billion by the end of
2020,2.70 USD Billion by the end of 2021, 3 USD Billion by the end of 2022. Its effect on
the unemployment rate in the years have shown no such drastic change, talking about the
figures it was 2.80% in 20119 and is 2.81% 2020

For the first time in the country’s history an international team oraganised by liberias
ministry of labour and the stestical institute known as “LISGIS” with technical assistance
from the International labour Organisation is systematically surveying liberias labour
market and work force its been a massive under taking for three months , 170
interviewers and superviser spread out across the country . members of nearly 6500
households were interviewed in all of liberias 15 counties some of the stories are tragic
for the reason of unemployment. For the first time the survey is helping the government
to understand the current true state of the labour market, a clear picture of the
characteristics of the work force Liberians economic activities and working condition is
available .
Liberias government now has a firm stastical foundation for policies that lead to job
creation and help the next generation move away from informal work into paid
employment , building liberias emerging prosperity by 2022.
Liberia was a founding member of the League Of Nations and the organisation of African
unity for increasing employment .
Possible solution:
1- Create a granual view of who needs help to keep their job or find new work
countires can develop a view of where jobs are at risk and where there is
additional demand for labour-by sector,occupation and demographics. That view
needs to put special focus on small buisnesses and the most vulnerable workers
,including those in the gig economy and the informal sector.
2- Build smart,cross-sector solutions to get that help to them fast . As governments
prepare to reopen economies post lockdown ,they need to find smart ways to
maximize employment and protect against new infections , following global
guidelines ,those of their local public-health agencies and rapidly build the skills
neede for their new roles.

References :
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberia
-https://www.ilo.org/africa/countries-covered/liberia/lang--en/index.htm
-https://tradingeconomics.com/liberia/unemployment- rate#:~:text=Unemployment
%20Rate%20in%20Liberia%20is,macro%20models%20and%20analysts%20expectations