Job Creation and Social Conditions of Labor in the Forestry Agro-Industry in Mozambique

Abstract

This chapter offers an analysis of the relationship between employment generation, social conditions of work, and the current pattern of growth in Mozambique. Following a political economy approach and a triangulation between qualitative and quantitative data and focusing on the organization and patterns of work, the chapter explores the contradiction between employment creation and better social conditions in the current productive structure in the country through the lens of a case study in the forestry agro-industry in Niassa province. This research shows that the type of employment created reflects the prevailing mode of organization of production and work, in which the profitability of the companies relies on low wages and insecure working conditions with implications for the well-being, sustainability of livelihoods, and the economy broadly.