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Africa should invest in youth to reap demographic dividends: official
Last Updated: 2018-11-30 10:53 | Xinhua
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Africa could miss its opportunity to reap demographic dividends if the continent's youth are not put into productive jobs, an official said Wednesday.

Hopolang Phororo, director of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Country Office in Harare, Zimbabwe, made the remarks during a meeting of Southern African Development Community (SADC) Ministries of labor, finance, trade, and industry which ended here in Namibia's capital Windhoek on Wednesday.

The three-day meeting was aimed at coordinating efforts to maximize employment creation and productivity in the SADC region, and further deliberate on employment and economic development dimensions.

According to Phororo, youth on the African continent are less likely to be employed, with unemployment amongst youth being three times higher than that for adults.

"This rapid unemployment amongst Africa's young populace would negatively impact social and economic development," she said.

The ILO official said that addressing the challenge related to Africa's youth bulge would require robust investment, and labor market policies that promote stable industrial relations as well as employment sensitive plans.

"With member states faced and largely characterized by high unemployment and underemployment amongst its youth, it is therefore critical for the region to probe further into the narrative about the youth demographic dividend, budgeting, sound policies, and undertake broad tripartite consultations," she said.

Meanwhile, Maxwell Parakokwa, senior programme officer at SADC secretariat, said that youth in the SADC region are also in a dire situation of job insecurities.

Apart from unemployment, the region is also battling with employment insecurities, particularly the massive retrenchment in the mining sector and informal economy, according to Parakokwa.

A 2017 report by the International Labour Organisation shows that about 76.7 percent of youth work in the informal sector, compared with 57.9 percent of working adults.

"We should advance economic growth to the level that can create and sustain more and better employment for the youth of our region and Africa as a whole before it is too late," he said.

Namibia's Deputy Minister of Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment Creation, Tommy Nambahu, said that the meeting agreed on the development of a new momentum with a particular focus on youth to create employment and address socio-economic challenges through policy reforms and coordinated efforts.

Africa is ranked as the world's youngest continent, as the United Nations Development Programme places 60 percent of Africa's population under the age of 25.

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