President Joseph Boakai’s State of the Nation Tackle sought to reassure Liberians that the nation is on a gradual path towards restoration, reform, and shared prosperity. Delivered with confidence and strengthened by a gradual stream of statistics, the deal with painted an image of progress in macroeconomic administration, institutional reform, and nationwide planning.
But, behind the encouraging tone and thoroughly organized figures lies a deeper unease, particularly surrounding the administration’s declare of making greater than 70,000 jobs. In a nation the place unemployment and underemployment outline each day existence for a big section of the inhabitants, this declare invitations skepticism, reflection, and severe public debate.
At its core, the deal with introduced Liberia as a nation benefiting from cooperation between the Government and the Legislature. The passage of a number of legal guidelines and the articulation of formidable growth frameworks had been highlighted as proof of momentum.
Nonetheless, legislative productiveness and coverage formulation, whereas needed, don’t robotically translate into financial safety for atypical residents. For a lot of Liberians, governance is judged much less by the variety of legal guidelines handed and extra by whether or not these legal guidelines end in meals on the desk, faculty charges paid, and secure employment secured. On this measure, the deal with leaves many unanswered questions.
The President emphasised financial development of over 5 %, declining inflation, elevated exports, and improved overseas reserves as proof that Liberia’s financial fundamentals are strengthening. Whereas these indicators matter to traders and worldwide companions, they continue to be distant ideas for almost all of residents.
A rising economic system that fails to soak up its labor power dangers turning into an unique success story, one which exists on paper however not in on a regular basis life. The central situation, subsequently, is just not whether or not the economic system is rising, however who’s benefiting from that development and the way.
That is the place the declare of 70,000 jobs turns into pivotal. Employment is the bridge between macroeconomic progress and lived actuality. It’s by means of jobs that development turns into significant to households. But, the deal with gives little element about how these jobs had been created, who holds them, how lengthy they final, or what stage of revenue and safety they supply. With out this info, the quantity stands alone, spectacular in look however hole in substance.
Liberia’s economic system has lengthy been characterised by informality. The vast majority of employees survive by means of petty buying and selling, informal labor, subsistence farming, and short-term public works. When short-lived actions resembling highway brushing, neighborhood clean-up initiatives, or donor-funded social applications are aggregated and labeled as jobs created, the end result generally is a deceptive image. Such actions might provide non permanent reduction, however they don’t signify the type of employment that lifts folks out of poverty or gives a basis for long-term financial stability.
For younger Liberians, the difficulty is especially acute. Annually, hundreds of graduates go away universities and vocational establishments with hopes of significant employment. As a substitute, many encounter a labor market with restricted alternatives, low wages, and few prospects for development.
In opposition to this backdrop, a declare of tens of hundreds of jobs naturally raises expectations. When these expectations usually are not visibly met, frustration deepens, and belief in public establishments erodes.
The President pointed to future initiatives, together with youth entrepreneurship applications and employment acceleration methods, as pathways to improved job outcomes. Whereas such plans are encouraging in precept, they continue to be projections slightly than outcomes. Liberia has no scarcity of methods, agendas, and frameworks. What it lacks is a constant observe report of implementation that delivers measurable and lasting employment. Guarantees of future jobs can’t substitute for clear accounting of current realities.
The deal with itself accommodates an inner pressure that deserves consideration. On one hand, the administration claims vital job creation. Then again, it acknowledges that cuts in donor help led to job losses, diminished incomes, and widespread hardship. This contradiction underscores the necessity for readability. If jobs had been misplaced resulting from funding disruptions, what number of had been gained to offset these losses? Have been the 70,000 jobs gross figures, or do they signify web employment positive factors? With out such distinctions, the narrative stays incomplete.
Price of residing points additional complicate the image. Though inflation has reportedly declined and costs of some important items have eased, many Liberians proceed to battle as a result of their incomes haven’t saved tempo with even modest value modifications. Decrease costs provide restricted consolation to households with out secure earnings. On this context, employment figures turn out to be greater than statistics; they turn out to be a measure of whether or not financial coverage is really bettering lives.
Public debt and reliance on exterior financing additionally elevate issues in regards to the sturdiness of job creation efforts. When employment is pushed largely by donor-funded initiatives or authorities spending financed by means of borrowing, sustainability turns into unsure. As soon as funding ends or fiscal pressures mount, jobs disappear, and communities are left no higher off than earlier than. A reputable employment technique should be anchored in personal sector development, worth addition, and home manufacturing, areas the place progress stays gradual and uneven.
The ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Improvement is introduced because the blueprint for Liberia’s future. Its ambition is simple, and its scope is broad. Nonetheless, its success will finally be measured not by the variety of interventions listed, however by whether or not it delivers tangible enhancements in employment and revenue. If job creation continues to be communicated by means of broad, unverifiable figures, the agenda dangers dropping public confidence earlier than it absolutely takes root.
President Boakai’s deal with displays an administration wanting to exhibit competence and progress, and a number of the achievements cited are actual. Nonetheless, the difficulty of employment calls for higher honesty, precision, and transparency. Jobs usually are not simply numbers to be introduced; they’re livelihoods that outline dignity, stability, and hope. When official narratives emphasize figures that residents can’t see or really feel, skepticism turns into inevitable.
Within the ultimate evaluation, Liberia doesn’t merely want extra job bulletins. It wants a transparent, credible, and verifiable account of what number of jobs exist, what number of have been misplaced, what number of are sustainable, and what number of provide a path out of poverty. Till such readability is offered, employment claims will proceed to be questioned, and optimism will stay fragile.
For a nation craving for real progress, counting jobs should imply greater than counting numbers. It should imply counting lives actually modified.
