It’s not just important that jobs are created, but that the jobs created are sustainable for the foreseeable future.
So it is important that jobs are in the truest sense of the word “created” literally where none existed before, because that means the job marketplace and the economy as a whole can expand, increasing the size of the proverbial “pie” rather than just slicing up the existing pie into smaller and smaller pieces.
This is good news for us as well in Lesotho. There’s no need to rant about the despairing situation regarding employment initiatives which seem to be taking time to be established.
Inclusively, there’s hope that we will also have a broad base of economically productive citizens who can buy goods and services, and generate additional demand for products which in turn drives additional economic growth. That’s one aspect of it.
Here’s an excerpt from the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) regarding creation of jobs for the next 10 years:
The President of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, has launched the Presidential Youth Advisory Group (PYAG) to provide insights and innovative solutions for job creation for Africa’s youth, as outlined in the Bank’s Jobs for Youth in Africa Strategy (JfYA).
The Jobs for Youth in Africa initiative aims to create 25 million jobs and benefit 50 million youth over the next 10 years by equipping them with the right skills to get decent and meaningful jobs. It is currently the largest effort going on for youth employment in Africa today.
The advisory group, inaugurated on the sidelines of the 6th EU-Africa Business Forum in Abidjan on Monday, November 27, will work with the Bank to create jobs for Africa’s youth.
“This is a huge opportunity for Africa. If we fix the youth unemployment challenge, Africa will gain 10-20% annual growth. That means Africa’s GDP will grow by $500 billion per year for the next 30 years. Africa’s per capita income will rise by 55% every year to the year 2050,” Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) said at the inauguration of the Group.
Adesina, who identified Africa’s greatest asset as its youth, observed that out of the 13 million youths that enter the labour market each year, only 3 million (about 33% of African youth) are in wage employment, while the rest are underemployed or in vulnerable employment. The annual gap of more than 8 million jobs is going to worsen, with the number of youth expected to double to more than 800 million in the next decades.
“Africa has an unemployment crisis among its youth,” he stressed, noting that unless employment opportunities are created for them, Africa’s rapidly growing population of youths can give rise to serious social, economic, political and security challenges.
Africa’s youths, though strong and dynamic, cross the desert or the Mediterranean Sea because they do not find decent jobs in Africa. Graduates are wandering in the streets, jobless. The low level of employment opportunities is also fueling violence and extremism in Africa. “Forty per cent of African youths engaged in armed violence join gangs or terrorist groups because of limited opportunities in their countries,” Adesina said.
“Sixty-six million African youths earn less than $2 a day, less than the price of a hamburger,” the Bank President emphasized. “Sixty-six million is 8 times the population of Switzerland, 6 times the population of Belgium, the same as that of the UK, France or Italy, and 80% of Germany’s population,” he added.
On the rationale behind the setting up of the advisory group, President Adesina explained: “We recognize the enormous amount of energy, creative and innovative thinking, and entrepreneurial excellence that many of our youth bring to the table. For this reason, the Bank must ensure that it is well advised by cutting-edge youth representatives on its policies, actions and programmes, for the benefit of Africa’s youth.”
The Presidential Youth Advisory Group is an opportunity for leading young voices in Africa to develop new and fresh perspectives and recommend innovative solutions that will shape AfDB’s support to African countries, and reduce the scourge of youth unemployment.
The Bank is fully committed to working with the PYAG to scale up and expedite results that deliver decent and sustainable jobs for African youth, through formal employment and successful youth entrepreneurship that allows African youth to become their own drivers of economic prosperity, social stability and environmental sustainability.
The African Development Bank has made great progress toward implementing its strategy through three key pillars: innovation, integration and investment. In terms of integration, the Bank entered into partnership with the International Labour Organization to strengthen the capacity of African countries to harmonize youth employment into national policies.
The Youth Entrepreneurship and Innovation Multi-Donor Trust Fund will serve as a financial and operational instrument for the Jobs for Youth in Africa Strategy, with initial support of US $4.4 million from Denmark and Norway.
The African Development Bank is also developing the Enabling Youth Employment (EYE) Index to measure youth employment outcomes and enabling policies at country levels.
“With this amazing group of very diverse young individuals, we even hope to exceed the Bank’s goal to create 25 million jobs and 50 million youth equipped with the right skills,” said Thakkar. “It is time to change the narrative about Africa’s youth!”