Export Sector Crisis: Nearly 3,000 Jobs Lost in Nine Months

The Mauritian export manufacturing landscape has faced a sharp downturn as new figures reveal the loss of 2,972 jobs during the first nine months of 2025. This latest slump follows a difficult 2024, which saw 1,887 positions eliminated, signaling a sustained contraction within the industry.

Total employment in the sector now stands at 28,434, a significant drop from the 44,160 recorded in 2019. Over the past six years, the sector has shed a staggering 15,726 posts.

Clothing Manufacture Hit Hardest

The decline has been particularly severe over the last twelve months. Between September 2024 and September 2025, the sector lost 3,770 jobs—a contraction of 11.7%.

Data shows that the workforce reduction has impacted both local and foreign staff:

• Mauritian workers: 2,595 jobs lost.
• Foreign workers: 1,175 jobs lost.

The “wearing apparel” (clothing) manufacturing sub-sector bore the brunt of these losses, accounting for 2,504 of the vanished positions.

A Shrinking Industrial Base

The crisis is not limited to staffing; the number of operational firms is also dwindling. Since 2019, the total number of companies in the export sector has fallen from 239 to 224.

While some businesses have managed to expand—creating 478 new jobs in the third quarter of 2025—these gains were heavily offset by the 776 jobs lost due to contractions in other firms during the same period.

Long-term Decline

Despite a brief rebound in 2022, the overall trajectory for the sector remains downward. The net loss of 15 companies over six years, paired with the continuous erosion of the workforce, paints a challenging picture for an industry that once employed over 44,000 people.

Total employment fell by a further 1% in the last quarter alone, decreasing from 28,732 in the second quarter to the current figure of 28,434 by September 2025.

Source: Defi Media