COMMENTARY: Unemployment and our youth Joshua Francis - Monday, September 16th, 2013 at 9:06 AM Facebook Twitter del.icio.us StumbleUpon Print email Google Buzz LinkedIn Reddit Joshua Francis Joshua Francis The global youth unemployment rate, estimated at 12.6 per cent in 2013, is close to its crisis peak, 73 million young people are estimated to be unemployed in 2013 (International Labour Commission). Some countries have experienced improvement over the last fiscal year, some have stagnated and some have worsened significantly. In the absence of recent data for Dominica, we may conclude that Dominica’s youth unemployment is one which has risen significantly. Our young people confidence continues to dwindle in their quest to find jobs. Young people are significant assets—as a catalyst for development- for whom employment must be found. Youth have the potential to positively shape the landscape of the national economy, as well as social, cultural, technological and political development. They play key roles either as workers, innovators, and agent of change. We acknowledge that and aim to have one graduate per household by year 1015 but that should be accompanied by job creation. We may have concluded that the increased government spending on capital projects would have stimulated the economy, but to our disappointment, campaign promises of jobs remain dramatically unfulfilled. Instead, joblessness keeps rising because of a stagnant economy which may not take flight anytime soon. We have also seen the absence of a promised job agency which is meant to help contribute to job recruitment and deal with job related issues. The economy has been so sorry that university graduates are finding a tough time to assume even basic jobs. With the civil service not actively recruiting new entrants, job seekers turn to a ‘limping’ private sector. Saddled with high capital and operational costs and discouraged by too few incentives, the productive sector has remained stubbornly sluggish thus being unable to absorb the growing unemployed class. What good can come of any economy when a sizeable chunk of young people are unemployed? There may be a number of negative consequences, among which is a frustrated group of young people. With job salvation not forthcoming, it may be compelling that some of these persons may venture into the risky ‘underground economy’ to commission income generation activities, this includes scams and the illicit drug trade. Where, one may ask, are the sunny days across the hills on their way to roll away this cloud of youth unemployment away? The answer lies in ‘national economic vision’. We must find our way back on the road of productivity and competitiveness. The public and private sector must receive an injection or boost to get us back into our own production. The administration must ride the stimulus pedals, race to progress, and demonstrate that there is a clear and visionary path of sustainable economic development for our youth in the Nature Isle. Furthermore, we may have to redefine our education and training systems. We should get more people into vocational and technical training. By training our young people to be innovative, they will be able to create jobs for themselves. We have become too academic to a point where we study without thinking of application. At this juncture, the skills demanded in the labour market must include technical training. We need more skilled workers, plumbers, electricians and carpenters to name a few. We should also make agriculture more attractive and to get younger people involved. The biggest challenge in this regard should continue to be vocational training coupled with the provision of initial work experiences. This approach addresses two of the primary causes of youth unemployment: lack of experience and lack of training. The impact of vocational training should be maximized through the use of strategies for targeting and inter-agency cooperation taking a comprehensive approach (by combining training with internships and support for job placement) based on agreements (basically between training entities and firms) and supported by stringent monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. The Dominica State College can maybe take the lead in that regard. It is necessary to understand that entrepreneurship is about growth, creativity and innovation, the pursuit of goals beyond our current resources and has a crucial role to play in resolving the problems of youth unemployment. If young people are to participate in the work force, the onus is also on them to be positive and innovative. Note though, while it is easy to call of them to be more self-reliant, we must also acknowledge that the lack of initial capital and a sluggish economy make self-employment very difficult. Youth unemployment is not simply a problem of its own, but it is a national problem for the future that will incur a huge socio-economic burden. The failure of young people to get into the job market in time will hamper the fostering of human resources of the nation and weaken the foundation for sustained growth. Therefore it is very important that we invest in youth development to abate the negative consequences while we encourage them to stay on our shores to make their national contribution.
Posted on: Mon, 16 Sep 2013 20:24:13 +0000
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