Even though the implementation of the Plan for an Emerging Senegal (PSE) and the Priority Action Plan (2014-2018) have significantly increased the number of jobs available, unemployment among women and graduate/skilled workers is still high in the Senegalese labour market. Although there is a decline in the level of unemployment for all categories of workers identified, women and skilled workers remain the most vulnerable to unemployment throughout the 2015-2018 period and remain unemployed longer. This high and persistent level of unemployment among women and graduates, undermines their level of participation in economic activity and inevitably reduces labour productivity while further reinforcing poverty, food insecurity and inequality in Senegal. In addition, according to the ILO (2020), the Covid-19 crisis is worsening the living conditions of the already vulnerable groups in the Senegalese labour market. This situation contributes to increasing existing inequalities in the labour market and requires targeted interventions in favour of the vulnerable groups. This decline in productivity is moreover what justified the equitable promotion of the economic participation of the different categories of workers in the PSE, defined in 2014.
