The Timor-Leste labour market presents both challenges and opportunities to national poverty reduction efforts. In recent years, waged employment in the services and industrial sectors has contracted. Urban youth unemployment is on the rise, coupling with the exclusion of women's economic participation. During 2005-2008, the employment services programme implemented by the Secretariat of State for Vocational Training and Employment has helped 9,333 job seekers gain employment and over 70,000 have participated in labour-intensive employment programmes. As 49 per cent of the country's population live below poverty line, ensuring the Timorese labour market is able to generate jobs is a national concern.