National Study of the Labour Market in Côte d’Ivoire

According to the African Development Bank’s 2018 report, in Côte d’Ivoire the cumulative share of vulnerable jobs and unemployed people ranges from 70 per cent to 90 per cent. In addition, gender norms create disparities in decent employment for women and men in the labour market. Women are more exposed to unemployment and precarious employment in Côte d’Ivoire. These difficulties of integration into quality jobs translates into a scarcity of welfare for young people. One of the reasons given for the difficulties of integration into quality jobs is the mismatch between the demand for skills from companies and the supply of skills among young people on the labour market. Faced with these integration difficulties, young people are increasingly resorting to irregular migration in search of decent jobs abroad. This irregular migration subjects them to the violation of their human rights. The Maghreb countries are now among the destination and transit countries for Ivorian migrants. Among sub-Saharan migrants, the largest number of victims of trafficking, abuse and slavery in these countries are Ivorians.

The aim of this study is to analyse the Ivorian labour market in order to identify potential market imbalances and the drivers of migration. Based on this, IOM in Côte d’Ivoire has implemented the project Strengthening the Ivorian Government’s Capacity to Effectively Manage Labour Migration to facilitate intergovernmental dialogue for regular, safe and orderly migration. The first step of this project is to conduct a national labour market assessment for Côte d’Ivoire, which will establish a basis for better informing discussions on skills mobility in international labour markets.