The unemployment rate climbed to 7.6 per cent by the end of 2016 from 7.4 from the beginning of the year, the youth unemployment hovered at 17.3 per cent and working-age groups in Mauritius require adequate safety nets in order to maintain income security. According to the Employment Rights Act of 2008, the Government of the Republic of Mauritius introduced the Workfare Programme in 2009, which provides financial assistance to working-age citizens facing unemployment. An additional voluntary and contributory scheme, under the Workfare Programme, known as the Transition Unemployment Benefit (TUB) is available to working-age citizens in the private sector. The programme is administered by the Ministry of Labour, Industrial Relations & Employment under the Workfare Programme Unit (WPU), and financed on a cost-sharing basis by the employee, the employer and the government.
The Government of the Republic of Mauritius grants the TUB to every worker whose employment has been terminated and who has joined the voluntary and contributory Workfare Programme. Contributions to the Workfare Programme are shared between the employer, who contributes 1 per cent, and the employee, who contributes an additional 1 per cent. In order to be eligible, the claimant’s employment must be terminated due to economic, technical, or structural reasons affecting the enterprise, illegal termination of the employment agreement, misconduct, or poor performance. The claimant must have worked for their most recent employer for at least six months and register with the Workfare Programme within seven days of the dismissal. The Workfare Programme provides those eligible with financial relief, assistance for job replacement, capacity building and entrepreneurship development. Financial relief under the TUB is paid for a minimum period of one month and up to a maximum of 12 months and terminates at the end of the month in which the claimant is re-employed or starts a small business. Coverage under the TUB allows for relative quality of life, covering 90 per cent of the insured's basic wage for the first three months, 60 per cent for the next three months and 30 per cent thereafter, with a minimum of MUR 3,000, or approximately USD 98 a month.
During the 2008 global economic downturn, the TUB served as an instrumental and innovative scheme ensuring income security to the unemployed in the form of direct financial assistance, capacity building and entrepreneurship development. This kept purchasing power relatively stable and assisted active age groups in their return to the workforce, thus reducing the associated risks with longer-term unemployment. Investments in income security, such as the Workfare Programme, for working age groups are essential in building a social protection floor in Mauritius to ensure that all in need have access to basic income security.
Further Reading:
Ministry of Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment of Mauritius Annual Report 2010-2012. Accessed from http://labour.govmu.org/English/Documents/Reports%20and%20Publications/Website%20Annual%20Report%202010-2012.pdf on Dcember 2016.