By Precious D. Freeman
The Liberia Chambers of Commerce (LCC) and the Ministry of Labor (MOL) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to provide over 500 jobs for recent college graduate.
The signing ceremony was witnessed by the US Ambassador among other guests at the Liberia Chambers of Commerce head offices on Tuesday, June 1, 2021.
The Minister for Labor (MOL), Charles H. Gibson explained that the initiative started since February and that the Ministry as well as the Civil Servants Agency are the only two government entities responsible to show services.
According to him, they had offer 500 jobs for recent college graduates with a minimum pay of US$350; additionally, they have 200 more jobs which are offered to drivers and technicians from various components.
“Our projection is that within the next 60 days, we will enroll up about a thousand jobs in the private sector and we are reviewing the various conception agreements and insist that those various portions of the conception provide jobs for Liberians,” he explained.
Cllr. Gibson mentioned that this is called a circular economy wherein families will attend to the basic needs of their children which involve health care, food, shelter, among other things.
“This is the indication that the economy is growing and we are trying to discourage people from sitting idle to applying for jobs in government, because the government is already overburdened and with the right negotiation, we can find space in the private sector,” he mentioned.
“Our ambition is that by the end of this year, 3,000 Liberians will be employed in the private sector and this is something that we are going to achieve and we know that we can get to it,” he assured.
He added that they have lots of employment opportunities that they are harvesting for the Liberian people and this is the Pro-poor Agenda which President George M. Weah is pushing to achieve.
“What we are doing here is not just our initiative but it is President Weah who is insisting that all cabinet ministers perform within their scope of operations,” he mentioned.
According to USA Ambassador Michael McCarthy, the problems that are affecting Liberians today cannot be solved by the government except through government’s private partnership or government working with private businesses to solve problems in the communities.
He mentioned that the government cannot create jobs but they can only educate and train the citizens especially youths to more opportunities, adding that government needs to get out of the way so that the economy can grow without putting much regulations and rules.