Liberia: Jobs at the Fence Line: Over 4,600 Liberians Employed Across 73 Companies Contracted by AML

YEKEPA, Nimba – Records unveiled by the Contractors Compliance Section of the Human Resources and Development Department indicate that from January to October 2025, 4,635 Liberians, both skilled and unskilled, have been provided employment by 73 companies under contractual agreement with AML.

According to the records, 2,883 of the amount are skilled, and 1, 558 of the skilled are from fenceline communities. At the same time, unskilled people amount to 1, 752, of which 1, 229 are from fenceline communities. In October alone, the Contractors Compliance Section disclosed that 739 Liberian contractors were recruited. Of the 739, 389 are skilled with 196 from fenceline communities, while 350 are unskilled with 290 of them coming from fenceline communities. The Contractors Compliance Section disclosed that between January and October 2025, 54% of skilled workers have been contracted with 70% unskilled, all from fenceline communities. With authorization from his direct Manager, Ahmed Gmaqulue, Coordinator for Contractors Compliance, clarified that contractor companies are required to channel their job adverts for Liberian nationals through AML’s Community Relations Section, who in turn take them to communities and post them on bulletin boards erected by AML. Community Relations then collect applications that come in and verify them to ensure that the applicants are truly from the communities. After the verification, the hiring company sends the list of candidates to the Contractors Compliance Unit for onboarding, who also submits a monthly report to Management. Prioritizing fenceline communities in employment came as a mandate from ArcelorMittal Mining Vice President and CEO for Mining, Kleber Silva, following community disenchantment in 2024.

According to Gmawulue, the implementation of this mandate has subsided grievances of community dwellers as many people from there are either employed directly with AML or contracted by a sub-contracted company. “The threshold for contractors in fenceline recruitment as per the mandate is 50% Skilled, 100% Unskilled. This mandate was launched in January 2025, and from February to October, we have always ensured 50% or more Skilled and at least 70% Liberians (contractors) are recruited monthly from the Fenceline Communities. It is important to note that this trend has brought a great deal of relief on the series of grievances AML had for “no-inclusion” from the fenceline community dwellers,” Gmawulue noted.” Gmawulue, on the other hand, also noted that while the mandate prioritizes fenceline communities, there are equally Liberians from other parts of the country including the three counties of operation who are not from fenceline communities but also deserve employment under the Liberian law.

He said they are therefore mindful not to deprive such Liberians of employment opportunities as they monitor the companies operating under AML.

While AML has the mandate to prioritize fenceline communities for employment, the Contractors Compliance Coordinator observes that skills needed in AML are not found in most of the job seekers. “Additionally, we would like to encourage fenceline community dwellers to prepare themselves more for the numerous opportunities that AML and its contracted companies have to offer, because some of the skills needed are nearly impossible to be found within the Fenceline Communities, as such, those recruitments are done from nonfenceline communities,” Gmawulue said