On 25 June, Liberian President Sirleaf signed into law the Decent Work Bill, the country’s first labour law since the 1950s. The Liberian Federation of Labour Unions (LFLU) is a national trade union center in Liberia. It was formed in 1980 by the merging of the United Workers' Congress and the Liberia Federation of Trade Unions. The LFLU is affiliated with the International Trade Union Confederation. The legal working hours are 8 hours. Work in excess of the number of hours shall be paid for at a rate not less than fifty percent above the normal rate. A lack of qualified youth creates a bottleneck in the supply of labour in the professional occupations sought by employers. There are “hard-to-fill” vacancies identified by employers mainly in the area of higher skilled professionals that youth have no skills and competence to occupy. For professional occupations, there is an expectation on the part of employers for job applicants holding tertiary education. This preference is slightly less for production workers. Also, the lack of entrepreneurial training and the weakness of entrepreneurial culture within the system make limited access to gaining jobs.
Type of Labour |
Local Currency |
USD - $ |
Year/month (USD - $) |
Daily general worker (semi-skilled) |
440,000 |
5 |
1,320 / 110 |
---|---|---|---|
Daily general worker (unskilled casual worker) |
616,000 |
7 |
1,848 / 154 |
Skilled labour |
880,000 |
10 |
2,640 / 220 |