US-based Group Outlines Strategy To Deal With Youth Unemployment In The Caribbean

By Nelson A. King
Caribbean Correspondent 

WASHINGTON, D.C. CMC – Even as Caribbean governments have put forth a number of initiatives aimed at providing young people with basic skills and opportunities to find gainful work, much more still needs to be done, according to a major Washington-based think tank.

The Council of Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) notes that in 2012, nearly 75 million young people between the ages of 15 and 24 were unemployed worldwide, with 14.3 per cent of them living in Latin America and the Caribbean.

As a result, COHA argues that at a time of considerable economic decline, youth entrepreneurship and careful monitoring of programmes maybe “promising solutions because these measures provide young people with the means to be self-employed and to remain so for an extended period of time.

“It could be argued that entrepreneurship is just one of a number of factors that should be attended to in the struggle to alleviate youth unemployment and that other methods, such as teaching marketable skills through education, reforming the punitive justice system, addressing economic issues, and providing more systematic loans, should take precedence,” COHA said.

“This is a valid concern; however, youth entrepreneurship should be a priority alongside these other considerations, despite a paucity of resources, as it is an important means of achieving self-sufficiency that can be maintained in spite of the economic downturn,” it added.

Director of Youth in the Ministry of Youth Sports and Culture in the Bahamas, Darren Turnques, agrees, saying that a diverse use of interventions, entrepreneurship included, will help to develop “secure, valued and empowered adolescents who can realize their full potential and contribute to a sustainable Caribbean Community”.

COHA said programmes like “Digital Jam 2.0” are exemplary models of success, and that the present generation of young Caribbean people, will “soon be the leaders of their countries, and their governments should encourage them to realize their potential through the development of their own businesses.

“Furthermore, it is not enough to merely encourage entrepreneurship. The government should promote and foster quality businesses, which offer unique products and services that could be sold at higher prices, and at international markets” COHA said, adding that the existence of innovative and successful businesses will help support flagging economies and disrupt the negative consequences, like youth violence and distorted self-image, caused by high youth unemployment.

Nonetheless, COHA warns that it is important to monitor the effectiveness of these programmes, so governments do not waste time and resources.

In identifying several reasons why young people have such high unemployment rates throughout the region, COHA said the recent global economic downturn, characterized by recession, debt service obligations and declines in development assistance “significantly decreased the number of job openings available”.

COHA said as a result of the crisis, Jamaica’s overall labour force decreased by 2.7 per cent in 2010, resulting in the loss of 16,000 jobs for youths between the ages of 14 and 24 from October 2009 to October 2010.

Barbados, while the overall unemployment rate had been pegged at 11.2 per cent in 2011, COHA said the youth unemployment rate has now more than double, reaching a figure of 28.9 per cent.

“It is evident that youth are especially vulnerable to being out of a job during times of general economic hardship,” COHA said, noting that a general lack of preparation leads to unemployment among the young “as they often do not have the skills needed to compete against older, more experienced workers”.

The Washington-based think-tank said this is especially true in low-income communities, where there are fewer resources.

Even if they manage to secure employment, COHA said younger workers were likely to be fired first under the assumption that they have fewer dependents, “and thus the impact of their lost income would be less severe.

“In other words, vulnerability on account of a strained economy, added to limited experience, makes it more difficult for youth to acquire and keep a job.”

COHA said that given that about 25 per cent of the Caribbean population is between the ages of 10 and 24, an increase in unemployment has “greater consequences for youth, their families and society” and that people who are suffering from unemployment are likely to have a “lower sense of self-worth because they are not actively contributing to society”.

COHA said high rates of unemployment and idleness among youth in general are correlated with increased violent crime, pointing to a study by the World Bank that found in Jamaica, in 1998, 80 percent of all prosecuted crimes were committed by young people aged 17 to 29, and the involvement of youth in criminal activity is still apparent in Jamaica, “as evinced in the government’s prodigious resources allocated to controlling gangs.

“The individual impacts are evident and go on to influence those who live in close proximity to that person,” COHA said, adding that there have been numerous programs across several countries, as well as some regional seminars, to address youth unemployment in the Caribbean.

In Barbados, there is the Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme established in 1995 with the goal of promoting “youth empowerment and development through the establishment of viable and sustainable micro and small businesses”, while in 2000, Trinidad and Tobago launched “Youth Business Trinidad and Tobago” with the purpose of “helping young persons to work for themselves by providing access to business loans and business mentoring”.

Most recently, the Commonwealth Youth Progamme Caribbean Centre and the International Labour Organization (ILO) held a regional seminar in St. Lucia on the theme, “Addressing Youth Employment Changes in Times of Crisis”.

The think tank notes that the focus of these programmes, and others, is multifaceted, with concerns for problem-solving, financial acumen and entrepreneurial development.

But it said they “fail to encourage the skills that are necessary to survive in and to transform a region with a lackluster economy”.

COHA pointes to Jamaica as “a good example of how youth unemployment and the programmes meant to solve this issue are seen as falling short”.

It said Jamaica has the lowest average annual per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the Caribbean outside of Haiti (negative 0.1 per cent), adding that it recently signed an agreement with the International Monetary Fund, with funding from the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank, for nearly two billion US dollars  in loans throughout the next four years.

In terms of violence, a UN Human Development Report found that Jamaica has the “highest homicide rate in the Caribbean and the third-highest murder rate worldwide in recent years, with about 60 murders per 100,000 inhabitants”

COHA said the impacts of increased violence are considerable, with US$529 million spent on costs associated with crime every year.

“There are approximately 800,000 young people in Jamaica, and given the country’s waning economy, it is not surprising that youth are negatively impacted,” COHA said, adding that as of July 2012, unemployment for Jamaicans aged 14-19 was at 47 per cent “virtually unchanged from the previous year”.