TATIZO LA AJIRA LAZIDI KUA KUBWA MIONGONI MWA VIJANA

TATIZO LA AJIRA LAZIDI KUA KUBWA MIONGONI MWA VIJANA

Youth Employment Challenge in Africa

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One-third of the world’s population, approximately 1.7 billion people, is between the ages of 10 and 24 years.  Today’s generation of young people is the largest the world has ever known. Young people are three times more likely to be unemployed than adults and almost 73 million youth worldwide are looking for work (ILO 2013a). 


With almost 200 million people aged between 15 and 24, Africa has the youngest population in the world. And it keeps growing rapidly. The number of young people in Africa will double by 2045. Between 2000 and 2008, Africa’s working age population (15-64 years) grew from 443 million to 550 million; an increase of 25%. In annual terms this is a growth of 13 million, or 2.7% per year (World Bank 2011a). If this trend continues, the continent’s labour force will be 1 billion strong by 2040, making it the largest in the world, surpassing both China and India.

Yet high growth is not sufficient to guarantee productive employment for all. This is an opportune time to reset the policy agenda of African governments towards an inclusive, employment-creating and sustainable growth strategy, aimed particularly at addressing the special needs of the young. Grievances among the young are most likely to be expressed violently, if non-violent political channels are not adequate or responsive, and these grievances revolve around unemployment, involving considerations of both income and social cohesion. One in two young people who join a rebel movement cites unemployment as the main reason for doing so; as it did in a number of North African countries.
Sub-Saharan Africa is the second fastest-growing region of the world today, trailing only developing Asia.  Performance varies across countries, and the region has seen growth at two different speeds, growth was very strong among oil-exporting and low-income countries. Exports such as oil, minerals, agricultural products, and tourism supported demand in these countries. Speed is not everything it might also be about who benefit (does it benefit the young people/the African majority) and the prosperity of economic growth from proper use of natural resource investment for the current and future generation.

Although many jobs have been created, there have not been enough to accommodate the number of young people in search of work. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that between 2000 and 2008 Africa created 73 million jobs, but only 16 million for young people aged between 15 and 24. As a result, many young Africans find themselves unemployed or, more frequently, underemployed in informal jobs with low productivity and pay. Of Africa’s unemployed, 60% are young people and youth unemployment rates are double those of adult unemployment in most African countries. If this significant gap remains, they could also present a significant risk and threat to social cohesion and political stability
The costs of inadequate employment are high. There have been a number of other contributing factors to instability in African countries, driven by a combustible mix of ethnic divisions, predatory elites, terrorism, corruption and competition for the profits from natural resources, today it is unemployment that is seen as a major risk to stability. Poverty is the most obvious consequence. On average 72% of the youth population in Africa live with less than USD 2 per day. The highest rates of poverty can be observed among young women and young people living in rural areas. The costs go much deeper; it can create a refugee population, disrupt trade, provoke an arms race, provide a haven for rebels and itself become theatre of a new war.

Africa’s education and training systems need to be fit for the purpose. Failure to tackle the twin crises of access to school and the quality of learning will not just limit the right to education, undermine prospects for economic growth and waste human potential; it will render countries all the more vulnerable to the political and social instabilities that inevitably accompany urbanization and youth unemployment. Education need to reach more youth since human capital need to be developed, there is a need to improve access to education especially for girls and women, and ensure the education young Africans receive equips them with the skills they need to work.

SOURCE...........UNITED NATIONS.