Employment in Chad

Chad's labour market is strongly shaped by agriculture, informal work and rural employment. The latest household-survey figures available through ILOSTAT are from 2018: about 76% of jobs were rural, agriculture accounted for about 76% of the workforce, industry for 1.9% and services for 21.2%. Private-sector work represented more than 3.8 million jobs, while public administration accounted for about 117,578 jobs. Around 98% of employment was classified as informal, and the wage-employment share was about 7.9%. These figures describe the historical baseline and are not a current forecast. The reported average working week was 33 hours. Women also had lower labour-force participation than men in the same data, at about 50% compared with 73%, and were more often in part-time or informal work. The public employment service is ONAPE, a national institution with state, worker and employer representation and offices across the provinces. A candidate can register online free of charge, activate the account through an email link, enter personal details, certificates, diplomas, skills, work or internship experience and employment preferences, then browse vacancies and apply. ONAPE also provides placement, career counselling, retraining, mobility and reintegration services. Direct applications to employers and private placement bureaus are additional options. An ONAPE job-seeker card can be relevant for certain programmes. There is no evidenced fixed deadline for online activation or processing. A formal private job commonly uses a written employment contract. A fixed-term contract, called a CDD, states its end date or duration and generally may last up to two years with one renewal. An imprecise term is limited to situations such as replacing an absent worker, seasonal work, a temporary increase in workload or work that is not customary for the company. The Labour Code allows a trial period of up to six months for managers, three months for white-collar workers, technicians and supervisors, and one month for other workers. The General Collective Agreement states different trial periods of 15 days for hourly workers, one month for monthly workers and three months for executives and first-line supervisors. The applicable contract and collective rules should therefore be checked together. An internship is not the same as a trial period. The Labour Code mainly governs private employment. Magistrates, members of the armed forces and police, permanent civil servants and workers covered by specific public-administration statuses follow separate rules. Public-service recruitment is managed by the responsible ministry. ONAPE's mandate also includes employment authorizations, contract visa procedures and national or foreign worker cards. Foreign-worker requirements depend on the case and require a check with the responsible bodies. Pay and working conditions vary sharply by occupation, sector, employer and location. Urban areas, especially N'Djamena, generally offer higher wages than rural areas. A 2018 World Bank analytical marker treated fewer than 35 hours per week or less than CFAF 60,000 per month as underemployment; this is a historical analytical threshold, not a confirmed current statutory minimum wage. Dismissal should be communicated in writing. For an indefinite contract, the default notice period is 15 days, rising to one month after one year of service and two months after at least three years. The employer may pay instead of allowing the notice period to run. Severance generally becomes relevant after at least two years and is calculated from average gross monthly pay: 25% per year for the first five years, 30% per year for the next five years and 35% per year thereafter. Economic dismissal involves consultation with staff representatives and the Labour Inspector, with negotiations lasting up to 30 days. Statutory re-employment priority lasts one year when the former worker applies within one month; the General Collective Agreement states two years. An individual employment dispute first requires prior conciliation before the Labour Inspector and may then proceed to the Labour and Social Security Court. Employment-related questions should be separated from unemployment-benefit issues, which follow a different subject area. Auto-Emploi is also different from dependent employment: the evidenced programme supports Chadian nationals aged 18 to 45 who are available and unemployed, hold an ONAPE job-seeker card and present a job-creating project with a business plan of no more than CFAF 5,000,000, at least 20% own contribution, a guarantor and a 0% repayable loan over one to three years.