The ‘Seychelloisation’ of the Seychelles labour market: Policy and constraints of island labour market reform

Abstract

This article explores how the Seychelles post-independence labour market has experienced gradual demographic shifts, due in part to the islands' sustained economic expansion, which has resulted in an increasing dependence on foreign or expatriate labour. The article uses the split labour market theory, in combination with a descriptive research approach based on a single case study qualitative methodology to make sense of the present configuration and some of the structural problems that beset the Seychelles labour market. The main objective of the study is to build on previous analyses of labour market reform initiatives, which are aimed at both alleviating human resources shortages and at the same time control the growing use of expatriate labour. This research also fills a gap in literature from the perspective of the 'Seychelloisation' of the domestic labour market. Research findings demonstrate that the labour localisation (Seychelloisation) quota policies have been constrained by structural barriers such as policy contradictions, perception and tacit social exclusion, an emerging 'mudir syndrome' and rent extraction. The paper also demonstrates that national employment policies alone are not enough to achieve policy targets.

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