Fouad Diouman
Why is work such an emotional subject (to be polite) in Mauritius? But are we talking about ‘jobs’ or ‘positions’?
A lot of bad blood is involved when it comes to getting a job here: politics, racism, religion, caste, gossip, acquaintances, sometimes bribes and even… hunger strikes. Whilst this might have been understandable in the early 80s with unemployment at 30-40%, we are today close to ‘full employment’. Indeed, in some sectors, the current shortage requires foreign labour, not only for hard menial tasks but also, as we witness daily, for relatively lighter tasks, from supermarket cashiers to petrol station attendants. So, why are some people so motivated that they might be desperate to go on a hunger strike just to… work against wages? And in a country where it is unable to find enough workers?
Let us remind ourselves of the basics. Fundamentally, work is a supply of labour against a remuneration. So once the skills, competencies and (hopefully) some passion the incumbent should bring are identified, it is then a rather ‘dry’ matter of an exchange. No excess profit should be gained from either party in a reasonable, balanced employment contract. Indeed, if either party feels what it gets is inadequate, it may search for another employee/employer. This is how the labour market works. In a normal society.
The problem arises when a candidate feels entitled to get a ‘job’ (at worst), or rather a ‘position’ (at best) – and its crucial corollary: he believes that he will extract much more value from that position compared to the service he will provide in return. Or when the ‘employer’ decides to distribute such largesses to a client group for obvious reasons, eg. loyalty and allegiance translating into votes. Which has been the case in Mauritius for 50 years. Talking about ‘employment’ in this case merely boils down to a red herring. It is rather about a situation of ‘economic rent’.
Very briefly, economic rent refers to the payment gained in excess of what is required. For example, a company abusing its monopoly to charge more enjoys a situation of economic rent. In Mauritius, it is also about some workers who want to be in this situation (in government in some cases) whilst thousands of vacancies go unfulfilled (mostly in the private sector). Since in the latter case we are closer to an equilibrium in the exchange of work for pay, the job is intrinsically less attractive.
In the examples of the LGSC, and even the NEF recruitments (where contrary to thousands of workers, it is about much higher-ranking positions), despite all the bad blood seen in the media, or maybe because of it, I have never heard any mention of the challenges of the roles per se. What the incumbents will bring to the party, what the country needs, the competencies, the skills, the vision, the passion. Are these not what taxpayers will be paying for? “Great people think about ideas, ordinary people think about what other people are doing.”.
As the French joke goes, a candidate was extremely keen at the interview stage… only to do absolutely nothing once he finally succeeded in getting the job. When his Manager asked him why he remained idle all day, he replied: ”Je recherchais un emploi, pas du travail.”.
