JOBS
The mining industry could create 100,000 jobs this year The Rwandan Extractive Industry Workers Union (REWU) estimates that helping the mining sector recover from the Covid-19 crisis is likely to preserve jobs while also fostering new ones.
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tatistics from the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) show that the mining sector employed about 71,205 people before the Covid-19 outbreak. In 2017, there were 47,727 workers in the sector. The number fell by 19% to 57,379 due to the pandemic's impact on mining and mining processing operations. It was on International Labour Day on May 1 when 36 | SKILLINGS MINING REVIEW May 2021
the global standing of the sector was revealed. Industries in China and Europe had ceased operations or were considerably curtailing their operations, negatively affecting Rwanda's mineral exports and sending the minerals market into a tailspin. In particular, mining operations related to tin, tungsten, and tantalum (3Ts) were adversely affected, resulting in the layoffs of thousands of workers in Rwanda.
“As government helps the sector to recover from Covid-19 effects, there is hope that the number of jobs in the mining and extraction sector could increase to 100,000 jobs in 2021. Following the lesson learnt from the pandemic effects, we urge workers to embrace the saving culture,” Secretary-General of Rwanda extractive industry workers union Andre Mutsindashyaka said. Although mining and extraction jobs are expected to rise in this year, the union reminds mining companies to embrace modern mining technologies to increase efficiency while improving worker wellbeing. “We urge mining and extraction companies to provide written contracts to workers and safety insurance to ensure workers’ rights,” he said. The union is advocating that the retirement age be lowered from 60 to 50 years old,
