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The World Bank has raised the alarm over Sierra Leone’s growing employment challenge, warning that the country’s current economic growth is insufficient to create enough jobs for its rapidly expanding population.
The warning comes in the newly released 7th edition of the Sierra Leone Economic Update, titled “Enabling the Private Sector for Growth and Job Creation”, launched on November 6 in Freetown.
The report highlights a worrying trend: while Sierra Leone’s working-age population continues to grow, labor force participation is declining. Currently, the economy generates about 41,000 jobs annually. To maintain the existing employment-to-population ratio of 51%, at least 75,000 new jobs need to be created each year until 2050.
“The growing population presents an opportunity for a demographic dividend in Sierra Leone but poses a significant challenge for the future if not addressed,” the report warns.
Although GDP is projected to grow by 4.3% in 2025, fueled by improvements in agriculture, mining, and services, this pace is not enough to absorb the expanding labor force. The report emphasizes that job creation has not kept pace with population growth, putting long-term economic stability at risk.
The World Bank identifies the private sector as crucial for sustainable job creation but notes it faces key challenges, including limited access to finance, poor infrastructure, regulatory bottlenecks, and a mismatch of skills in the labor market.
To tackle these issues, the report calls for comprehensive reforms to improve the business environment, enhance vocational training, and foster entrepreneurship. Prepared by the World Bank’s Economic Policy Global Practice and Development Economics Business Environment division, the report serves as both a diagnostic tool and a roadmap for policymakers, development partners, and the private sector.
As Sierra Leone stands at a demographic crossroads, the message is clear: without urgent and sustained action, the country risks missing out on its demographic dividend and facing a deepening employment crisis.
