The Labour Market: A Mismatch in the Clothing and Textile Industry in Mauritius
The economic transformation of Mauritius has impacted on its labour market with the implementation of the Export Processing Zones in the 1970’s whereby the primary objectives were to reduce unemployment. A shift in the skills was noted from low-skilled jobs to cope with the expansion of the EPZ to high-skilled job sover time. This resulted into the rise of unemployment among low-wage workers in the 1990’s with the closure and delocalisation of many enterprises in the Clothing and Textile Industry (C&T) to cheaper countries. Many articles have demonstrated that the local workers have been snubbing jobs in the C&T industry at the expense of newly developed sectors such as the Tourism, ICT and Services sectors. Our study reveals the reasons for the unwillingness of local workers to join this industry and provides an insight of the current labour market situation that will be useful for policy decisions.
