The Government is working on a comprehensive national employment programme to address youth unemployment. Government officials said this yesterday, while responding to a new World Bank report on African youth unemployment which warned that unless countries create jobs for the youth, economic sustainability could still be a problem in Sub-Saharan Africa. According to the report, 11 million youth are expected to join the labour market every year for the next 10 years. Makhtar Diop, the World Bank vice-president for Africa said investment into large enterprises that create wage jobs in the mainstream ‘formal’ economy is critical for economic development in the sub-Saharan region. “It is only part of the solution to Africa’s youth unemployment. However, the millions of young people surviving in the hidden ‘informal’ sector, need access to land, skills training and credit to thrive,” Diop said. Gilbert Agaba, the labour market economist at the Ministry of Labour, said a number of initiatives are in place to scale up youth employment. “We have geared up efforts to tackle youth unemployment from both the supply and demand side so as to be able to have a long term solution. We are also embarking on the establishment of integrated craft production centres in every district as our long term indicator to deal with youth unemployment,” Agaba said. Agaba said the initiative is expected to generate about 50,000 jobs for the youth in the next three to five years. The minister for Youth and ICT Jean Philbert Nsengimana, said youth employment and productivity has been one of the areas recognised under the second phase of the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS 2). He said his ministry is working on a comprehensive employment programme.
