Local Content Policies in the Mining Sector: Stimulating direct local employment

When a mining company arrives in an area, the promise of local employment is central to public debate in least-developed, developing and developed countries alike.

For local communities, decent mining company jobs that are safe, stable and fairly compensated allow employees and their families to plan ahead to improve livelihoods and financial security. For host governments, local employment in the mining sector supports national priorities and political promises for job creation, human capital development and inclusive economic growth. For mining companies, employing local people drives cost efficiencies and helps in the ongoing process of gaining and maintaining a social licence to operate.

Recognizing these opportunities for social and economic development, governments use a wide range of policies and strategies to promote direct local employment in the mining sector. This paper reviews these policies and strategies as part of a broader set of inputs on enhancing local content in the mining sector prepared in collaboration with the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) for the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF).