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By: Sylvester K. Pewee
Executive Director
Neo-Progressive Movement of Liberia

In his third State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr. proudly claimed that his administration had “provided over 70,000 jobs,” framing this as a pavilion achievement in 2025. While job creation is undeniably central to economic development and social stability, assertions of such scale require transparent, empirical grounding, especially in a nation where reliable, high-frequency labor market data are scarce. Without public access to the underlying statistics, this claim risks being interpreted as rhetorical flourish rather than evidence-based policy reporting.

But let’s begin by putting Liberia’s Labor Market in context, considering size and trends. Liberia’s total labor force, defined as all persons aged 15 and over who are economically active, was approximately 2.53 million in 2023 and 2.61 million in 2024, the most recent year with complete World Bank data.

These figures suggest that the labor force has grown somewhat year-over-year, but it remains at a magnitude that dwarfs the claimed 70,000 jobs. A simple comparison reveals that the purported new employment equals only about 2.7% of the estimated labor force between 2023 and 2024; assuming all jobs were held by Liberians and were new formal positions (which itself is unverified and unlikely).

In quantitative terms, a 70,000 figure represents 2.8% of a 2.5 million workforce; seemingly substantial in isolation, but modest and uneven when placed against total labor supply and population growth. Further, if such jobs were “new” positions rather than reclassifications or informal engagements (which comprise a large share of Liberia’s labor market) this claim would still warrant more precise taxonomy and sectoral breakdowns.

These concerns are compounded by the absence of published 2025 labor force and employment figures from Liberia’s Statistical Office (LISGIS) or internationally validated sources at the time of this writing. Without disaggregated data by sector, employment status, or age cohort, one cannot empirically validate that 70,000 genuine net jobs have been added to the economy.

What is even more vital is to take a cursory look at unemployment and underemployment realities. Existing proxies for unemployment in Liberia, albeit imperfect, point toward a very low measured unemployment rate: Official series show unemployment at roughly 2.9% in both 2023 and 2024. Such a low unemployment rate can be misleading because it often fails to capture underemployment and the prevalence of subsistence self-employment in the informal sector. The World Bank and other labor indicators suggest that a significant share of Liberia’s labor force remains informally employed or self-employed, conditions that do not align with the notion of stable formal job creation.

In addition, independent reporting has flagged concerns that foreign work permit issuance has displaced Liberian workers in some skilled roles, indicating structural inefficiencies in how jobs are allocated and recorded.

Meanwhile, a critical dimension often overlooked in political speeches on job creation is absorptive capacity: whether the available labor supply has the skills, qualifications, and readiness to occupy the jobs that are supposedly created.

In Liberia, anecdotal evidence and civil society commentary consistently highlight a mismatch between labor supply and formal job requirements, especially in technical and managerial fields. A substantial portion of the workforce survives through informal activities, petty trade, and subsistence livelihoods, rather than formal wage employment. This implies two things:

1. A large fraction of the labor force may lack credentials or experience to take up highly technical positions, even if those are part of the claimed “70,000 jobs.”
2. Many existing jobs, particularly in NGOs, government contracts, or donor-funded projects, are often temporary or project-based rather than permanent employment opportunities.

Without rough data on the type of jobs created (tenure, wage levels, sector, and skill requirements), the figure of 70,000 is insufficient to conclude that Liberia’s economic structure has substantively improved employment outcomes; thus, my demand for empirical transparency and responsible leadership.

Claims about job creation exert political influence and shape public perceptions. However, such statements must be firmly grounded in transparent data and buttressed by credible statistical reporting. Responsible governance demands the publication of labor force surveys and employment statistics on a timely basis, clear definitions of what constitutes a “job” in the context of official claims (formal vs. informal; full-time vs. part-time; duration), sectoral breakdowns to show where and how employment growth is occurring, and independent monitoring from civil society or international partners to enhance credibility. Attributing large job creation figures without this empirical scaffold risks a credibility gap that diminishes public trust in government reporting.

In the absence of detailed, verifiable data, President Boakai’s claim that “over 70,000 jobs have been created” in two years remains unsubstantiated and warrants rigorous scrutiny. The empirical evidence available suggests that Liberia’s total labor force is measured in the millions, and year-on-year changes are modest; official unemployment rates are low but potentially misleading given high levels of informal employment; there are significant structural constraints regarding skills and the absorptive capacity of labor to fill “technical” positions; and claims of job creation must be backed by data on job quality, duration, and sectoral context.

It is therefore imperative for the Liberian government to adopt truth-telling and empirical transparency as marks of responsible leadership. Governance grounded in facts rather than rhetoric not only strengthens public accountability but also enhances the design and delivery of policies that genuinely improve livelihoods.