Madam Speaker, according to Statistics Mauritius, as at December 2025, the rate of unemployment among youths, that is, aged between 16 and 24 years, was 16.8%, representing 10,800 unemployed youths, comprising 5,000 men and 5,800 women. The employment rate among the youth is more than three times the rate of employment for the same period, which stands at 5.4%. The National Employment Department of my Ministry also registers interested job seekers, including youths through their 13 Employment Information Centres across the island. At the level of the NED, the definition of “youth” covers job seekers aged between 16 and 35 years. As at 30 March 2026, there are a total of 14,509 registered young job seekers, out of which 5,954 youths were unemployed, comprising 3,738 women and 2,216 men. The remaining 8,555 – it is more than half – registered job seekers, actually, they were in employment, but looking for better job opportunities. Madam Speaker, I am informed that Statistics Mauritius does not produce the youth unemployment rate region-wise, given the relatively low number of households surveyed for Continuous Multi-Purpose Household Survey. However, I am tabling the information relating to the number of youth job seekers registered at the 12 Employment Information Centres district-wise. As regards the education level, according to Statistics Mauritius, out of the 10,800 unemployed youths, some 2,900, representing 27%, possess qualifications below School Certificate level – that is Statistics Mauritius. However, according to information gathered from the 13 Employment Information Centres as regard to young job seekers registered at these centres, the percentage of unemployed job seekers that failed at PSAC level or CPE is 15%, 44% have attained up to Form 4, 22% have reached School Certificate level, 11% have completed HSC, and 8% were graduates. Madam Speaker, with regard to part (b) of the question, youth unemployment among graduates remains a pressing challenge in Mauritius. To address this issue, several employability enhancement programmes are being implemented by my Ministry to promote employment opportunities for young graduates, namely – (i) Youth Employment Programme The Youth Employment Programme provides for up to two years of placement in public or private sector and a stipend. For the period 2015 to 2026, 6,320 young graduates, including 2,533 men and 3,787 women have benefited from this programme, out of which 60% have secured a permanent employment in the private sector after completion of the programme. However, Madam Speaker, the Youth Employment Programme is currently open only for those holding HSC and above, which represents only 19% of the number of young job seekers, thus depriving those having lower qualifications from having an opportunity to join the programme. My Ministry is, therefore, looking into the possibility, with the assistance of the Ministry of Finance, to extend the programme to all registered young job seekers, irrespective of their qualifications, to facilitate their integration into the labour market. In addition, the stipend payable in the public sector, today, varies between Rs6,000 to Rs12,000. Whereas in the private sector, it is between Rs8,000 to Rs15,000, and the private sector contributes another Rs8,000, another Rs10,000, another Rs15,000 to degree holders. So, today, there is a difference in the YEP as far as the stipend is concerned, and as a result, a number of youths are not joining the programme for the public sector because they get only between Rs6,000 for HSC holders and up to Rs12,000 for postgraduate holders. (ii) Trainee Engineer Scheme The other scheme is the Trainee Engineer Scheme. From October 2016 to March 2026, 1,069 placements were made across the public and private sector under the scheme. Despite provision for Rs35 million in the present budget, placement of youths holding degrees in chemical, mechatronics, robotics, electronics, communication, telecommunication, aeronautical, industrial and computer engineering has been challenging due to a dearth of supervisor to oversee their two years training. So, we have the money, we have the graduates, but we do not have supervisors to look after those potential engineers. So, my Ministry has made a request with the employers’ organisation for their collaboration to ensure the placement of these graduates. (iii) Reskilling and upskilling of job seekers To address reskilling and training needs of unemployed job seekers, including young graduates, we are providing training to young unemployed in digital proficiency course, aging and managing disability, smart agri-business and pastry making so as to open up their career avenues. To date, 35 youths are enrolled in these courses. To promote employment opportunities, since early 2025, my Ministry has already organised four regional job and training fairs in different parts of the island, resulting in the employment of 278 job seekers, including young graduates. The next job fair is scheduled in the western region later this month. (iv) Nou Travay Nou Lavenir Programme Another initiative to enhance employment of youth graduates is through Nou Travay Nou Lavenir Programme, broadcasted on the MBC TV and radio, which was launched earlier this year, in February, to inform the public on labour trends and vacancies. An innovative component has been included in the form of a QR Code at the end of the programme which can be scanned by viewers to link them to Mauritius.com platform where they can apply for the advertised jobs. In addition, Madam Speaker, there is a range of activities organised at Employment Information Centres to further support job seekers including young graduates. These includes organising, job dating, how to draft curriculum vitae, interviews, how to conduct interviews and also career guidance sessions. Madam Speaker, over and above these measures, my Ministry is in the process of acquiring a new software with an automatic matching mechanism with AI to increase efficiency in job matching. My Ministry has, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade, sought technical assistance from France and India for the implementation of that project of job matching using AI technology. At the level of my Ministry, we also intend to reinforce collaboration with the Career Guidance Services at the Ministry of Education and Human Resource so that school leavers intending to pursue undergraduate studies, avoid saturated fields of studies and are geared toward emerging sectors. Finally, Madam Speaker, the time has come to revalorise certain professions and my Ministry is working with training institutions to address the issue of skills mismatch to meet the demand of the evolving labour market. Enhanced labour market intelligence and forecasting will also help anticipate future skills requirement and guide policy decision. In the same vein, we are embarking on the implementation of a labour market information system which is the first step towards the setting up of a labour market observatory with the collaboration of the SADC and the International Labour Organisation to enable better mobility of workers at regional level. The above-mentioned measures will ensure that our young people, including young graduates are not just employed but meaningfully engaged in building a bright future for the benefit of the population and the country at large. Thank you.

Excuse me, I don’t know if I am the only one who feels very warm. Everybody is feeling warm. I have already asked for… An hon. Member: Save energy!

Yes, maybe. I don’t know. Let’s hope so. I am sorry. Dr. Daureeawo, do you have a question?

I have two questions, Madam Speaker.

Yes, of course!

So, could the hon. Minister state what targeted measures are being implemented to address the imbalance of higher unemployment rate among young women?

This is a real concern and in fact, my Ministry has been working with the Ministry of Gender and also with employers’ group like Business Mauritius and very often, the answer we got is that there are certain issues with certain types employment which are more geared towards men whereas in fact, there is a greater number of qualified women, we can see it from the result of the HSC, SC or even Undergraduate. The other explanation that was given to me is that after being pregnant and after maternity, some of the women do not want to come back to work or find it more difficult to resume work and have to choose to leave their baby behind but we are very conscious about this problem and we are working with the Ministry of Gender and the workers’ organisation to ensure that there is no discrimination on recruitment against women graduates.

Yes!

My second question – can the hon. Minister clarify whether there are significant disparities between urban and rural areas and how is the Government addressing this?

In terms of unemployment, no. When you look at the list that I have tabled, it’s quite evenly balanced. It is evenly distributed but I have to specify something, Madam Speaker. More than half of the young people who register themselves are already employed and most of them, I don’t know why, they have an obsession of being employed in Government or in Local Government. So, there are a lot of jobs available in the private sector, that is why we are having to have recourse to foreign workers because there are jobs available in the private sector but there is unfortunately a tendency for, not just young graduates but generally, for certain job seekers to prefer to go and work in Government Services and Local Government Services.

Okay, one more? Yes!

And what measures are in place to evaluate the effectiveness of the programmes, the schemes, YEP, the engineers?

All the programmes?

All the programmes?

Yes, I mean as I mentioned, this is something that ought to have been done years ago because these programmes had existed, for example, YEP, I just gave you the answer. It’s not working and we are now going to try to extend it not just for people with HSC qualification and above but also those who don’t have the qualification. Similarly for the training of engineers, we are going to work with the training organisation to see how we can facilitate the training of those graduates.

Yes, Dr. Aumeer! PHARMACY BOARD – MR B. N. & MR D. J. – APPOINTMENT – HEALTH SUPPLEMENTS IMPORTATION