Why the soaring youth unemployment in this digital era and what can we do?

The fragility of the youth labour market is a global phenomenon, not least since the global financial crisis of 2008. There are challenges of our young people entering the competitive formal labour market despite being in a digital-youth friendly era. It is said that the scarcity in employment opportunities for young individuals have been harmed by structural changes in the labour market. Before World War II, and during the very first decades after the war, school leavers often entered the labour market in simple jobs in labour intensive sectors. Globalisation has created a massive amount of new jobs but not a commensurate increase in jobs, presumably our education system has taught young people to be job consumers instead of job creators! While this labour explosion has happened practically overnight, the shift in mentality to becoming job creators is a slow, incremental process, and sometimes painful process, resulting in our current employment imbalance. A globalised economy means young people are competing for jobs on a world-wide level. However, it has not been possible for our youth to dominate our local job market. An often overlooked reason why young people are squeezed out of the workplace is that the global financial crisis that happened almost a decade ago, forced many older workers to hold onto their jobs longer than they would have under better circumstances. The number of people who voluntarily left a job was as high before, as a result, the rate of job openings were also relatively higher than what we have today across the globe, and new entrants into the job market were at a good advantage. As our take long before getting employed, it means all workers are getting their first jobs much later in life. As a result, by the time they do enter the workforce, they would cling to it and not to let go; for those in public offices will work until the day that corresponds to their birthdays at the constitutionally allowable retirement age. While those in private sector would go until someone else or the organisation empathizes with their age. Further changes in consumer behavior related to the food crisis and hard economic times also contribute to youth unemployment. A widespread lack of confidence in the economy means people are spending less and less money. The era of internet and superb technological advancement which everyone embraces has enabled a number of efficiencies that lower expenditures for customers, but also reduce the need for labour. This means that some job opportunities that existed before are now closed up and only preserve of machines with one operator or two. So with relatively few labour opportunities out there, the question young people should ask is: Where are the jobs? Unfortunately, young people are not always properly equipped to answer this question. Education is actually the hallmark for our young people. There is a serious mismatch between young job-seekers and employers. Our universities are not as career-oriented as they should be. The distance between the skills workers possess and the skills employers actually need has a big gap, seemingly because universities and employers are largely operating on two separate tracks. Universities are not held sufficiently accountable for the career success of their graduates, and that needs to change. Both educators and employers need to be on the same page in order to provide students with employable skills that build a healthy pipeline of workers with training relevant to the 21st century jobs. The way we approach education is changing, which means we need forward-thinking innovators to improve how we learn. Today, the challenge educators face is not a scarcity of information but rather too much information, so the management and customized delivery of knowledge will play an important and changing role in our educational system. In addition to streamlining the education sector, there is need to encourage young people to take the plunge and give job creation a try. Let’s create a cultural enthusiasm for being a job creator. This is the right approach to reducing the skills gap and solving the challenge of youth unemployment. To cater for young people willing to be entrepreneurs, we need to create funding mechanisms that are contingent on mentorship and financial education. It is said that capital without mentorship is lost capital. Therefore, young entrepreneurs must be mentored by experienced role models and gain access to financial literacy programmes. Indeed with requisite skills acquisition from our education system, urge for self-job creation and willingness of the young generation to embrace entrepreneurship are among ways of curbing this global phenomenon. oscar.kimanuka@yahoo.co.uk

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Why the soaring youth unemployment in this digital era and what can we do?