“Creating
productive employment for Africa’s rapidly growing young population is
an immense challenge but also the key to future prosperity”, say the
authors in the foreword.
Co-written
by the African Development Bank, the OECD Development Centre, the
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the UN
Development Programme (UNDP), the report says youth are an opportunity
for future economic growth.
Between
2000 and 2008, despite world-topping economic growth rates, and a
better educated youth, Africa created only 16 million jobs for young
people aged between 15 and 24.
Today,
youth represent 60 percent of the continent’s unemployed, and of these
40 million youths, 22 million have given up on finding a job, many of
them women.
“The
continent is experiencing jobless growth”, said Mthuli Ncube, Chief
Economist and Vice-President of the African Development Bank (AfDB).
“That is an unacceptable reality on a continent with such an impressive
pool of youth, talent and creativity”.
The
report argues youth unemployment figures will increase unless Africa
moves swiftly to make youth employment a priority, turning its human
capital into economic opportunity. On the other hand, youths can present
a significant threat to social cohesion and political stability if they
do not secure decent living conditions.
High
growth alone is not sufficient to guarantee productive employment.
Youth employment is largely a problem of quality in low-income countries
and one of quantity in middle-income countries, the report says.
“In
low-income countries, most young people work but are poor nevertheless.
In African middle-income countries, on the other hand, such as South
Africa or the Northern African countries, despite better education, more
youth are inactive than working”, said Mario Pezzini, Director at the
OECD Development Centre.
The
report recommends that African countries design better coordinated
strategies to effectively tackle youth employment, focusing on job
creation in the private sector while providing the right conditions for
businesses of all sizes to grow and expand their work force.
In
addition, given the small size of the formal sector in many African
countries, the report finds that a government focus on the informal
sector and rural areas, which contain immense entrepreneurial talent,
can serve as engines for inclusive growth since they can absorb higher
numbers of unemployed youths.
It
also advocates for policies focused on creating the skills that are
necessary for youths to compete in the job market, for instance by
improving the quality of education in agriculture and new technologies.
Increased
policy focus on youth employment must be coupled with measures to boost
investments in social and economic infrastructure and diversify the
continent’s economy.
“Export
diversification beyond raw material and private sector development are
important to mitigate the continent’s susceptibility to external shocks,
but that takes time”, said Emmanuel Nnadozie, Director of Economic
Development at UNECA.
With
the right policies in place, the continent could capitalize on its
recent economic growth to achieve a development breakthrough.
“Youth
employment is an investment in the future. It contributes to reducing
poverty, wealth creation, well-being and social cohesion,” said Pedro
Conceição, Chief Economist at UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Africa.
The
African Economic Outlook presents a comprehensive analysis of the
economic, social and political developments in the region. The report
includes in-depth country notes on 53 of the continent’s 54 economies, a
macroeconomic overview.
The
document also offers a chapter on human development which focuses this
year on the importance of reversing capital flight to achieve
sustainable human development.
Distributed by the African Press Organization on behalf of the African Development Bank.
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