Primary source: PRWEB

According to Ezega.com, a web portal that lists new jobs in Ethiopia, the sectors that registered the most new jobs were in the following broad categories: Engineering, Accounting and IT Ethiopian jobs.

1. Engineering – This category attracted the most vacancy ads during this time. Roughly 20% of all jobs posted at Ezega.com were engineering jobs. In this category, Civil Engineering took the lion’s share of new jobs, distantly followed by Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering.

2. Accounting and Finance – The next largest number of jobs were in Accounting & Finance. This area accounted for about 14% of all jobs posted at Ezega.com. Accounting jobs were the single largest group in this category, followed by Finance, Auditing and the like.

3. Information Technology – IT jobs made up the third largest jobs group in Ezega jobs database. It accounted for about 10% of all jobs posted at Ezega.com. Software Engineers and Networking professionals seem to be in equal demand in this category, followed by the rest of Computer Engineering jobs.

As one might expect, salaries vary widely from company to company, job to job, and region to region. Most companies do not advertise what they will pay ahead of time. Typically, in Ethiopian vacancy ads, salaries are posted as negotiable and/or dependent on experience. However, based on interviews we conducted with some job hunters, in the private sector, graduates in IT and Engineering with 2-3 years of experience may expect, on average, 3000-4000 ETB per month. Workers with longer experience and/or higher degrees may command a lot more money.

Although Ethiopia’s economy did well in last few years and the job market improved, some employers we contacted do not appear to be happy with the pool of talent they are getting. The most common complaint appears to be shortage experienced and disciplined workforce. And even if they get such employees, they seem to be frustrated by the fact that these workers change jobs so frequently and, in some cases, with little or no advance notice at all.

“I had an employee who quit on me on the spot the other day”, said one contractor. “To add insult to injury, this fellow came back a few days later to ask for a letter of recommendation, totally oblivious to the disruption he created.” This problem was also voiced by other investors who, in a survey conducted for World Economic Forum, ranked “poor work ethic in national labor force” among the top five biggest problems in doing business in Ethiopia.

Due to global economic slowdown, the jobs market in Ethiopia appears to be cooling of late. However, the long-term prospect looks good. The trend in outsourcing and the move towards low cost labor and resources should favor countries like Ethiopia. But this will also depend on whether the country can provide the necessary infrastructure and good business climate to support growth. Although much has been done and achieved in recent years, there is a lot more to be desired in this regard.

Internet service remains very poor and expensive in Ethiopia. One line dialup internet service that works intermittently can cost a company as much as 1,500 ETB per month. And if you can withstand ETC (Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation) bureaucracy, 128Kbs broadband internet service will cost you 7,500 ETB for installation and 3,140 ETB per month thereafter. 2Mbps broadband costs 103,400 ETB to install and 41,500 ETB per month for service, roughly 200 times what it would cost in the USA. Sadly, the government has been unable to provide a decent service so far and unwilling to cede control in this area, depriving the country the incredible power of this new medium.

Note: Ezega.com advertises on Tadias Magazine.