YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT A CAUSE FOR CONCERN

The subject of unemployment is a sad story to young people in Zimbabwe. Unemployment is universally recognized as a bad condition. While economists and academics make convincing arguments that there is a certain natural level of unemployment that cannot be erased and elevated.

Misheck Gondo

Unemployment rates still continue to nose dive on a daily basis. This has facilitated to a loud cry in the lives of the youth; because young people are three times more likely to be unemployed than adults and almost 73 million youth worldwide are looking for work.

 The International Labor Organization (ILO) has warned countries of a “scarred” generation of youths facing a dangerous mix of high unemployment, increased inactivity and precarious work in developed countries, as well as persistently high working poverty in developing countries.

 Unemployment occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively looked for work. The unemployment rate is a measure of the prevalence of unemployment and it is calculated as a percentage by dividing the number of unemployed individuals by all individuals currently in the labor force.

To better understand the nature of unemployment, policymakers need information on many aspects of it, including the number of unemployed people, the period of time for which they have been unemployed, their skill levels, the trend in unemployment, and regional disparities in unemployment and so on. Once these statistics have been obtained and interpreted, policymakers can use them to make better informed decisions about steering the economy and countering unemployment. 

Zimbabwe is one such country currently romancing with unemployment; in fact the romance has resulted in unwanted pregnancy of gross economic decline and bustard children of poverty. The economic challenges that rocked Zimbabwe for the past decade have not only left youth bruised, but also hopeless. 

 When the youths are unemployed, their skills lose value, while the nation as a whole loses its contribution to the economy in terms of the goods or services that could have been produced.

The situation in Zimbabwe is epitomized by hyper -unemployment estimated to be above 80 percent. The youth in Zimbabwe constitute of about 67 percent of the total population, which generally indicates that, it is youth who are most affected by unemployment.

The government as the major employer has frozen most jobs in the public service, yet at the receiving end there is an innocent young person with the zeal to work, develop, marry and support parents and other siblings.

The industries are closing-down everyday due to economic hardships and unsustainable environment, at the same time the colleges and universities are offloading graduates into the job market that is characterized by high levels of hostility.

It is sad that young graduates have resorted to vending among other general jobs in quest for survival.

In some instances young people have resorted to array of informal trading, stealing, drug dealing and prostitution. Informal trading is much better a surviving strategy and we are mesmerized by government’s intention to formalize the informal. The rest in the former chain negatively affect the future of youth in Zimbabwe.

Media has been at the cape stage reporting on graduates turning to vending, seriously, this must be a clarion call for the ruling government, if not ashamed of such dynamics, and then people are in a serious crisis that needs urgent political intervention.

The hopes of youth hinges with the ruling party, Zanu PF who promised 2 million jobs in its manifesto, currently it looks like a mammoth task for the revolutionary party which still needs to amend its foreign policy. The ZIM-ASSET mantra can not produce any single job unless the Government swallows its pride and make domestic and foreign policy right.

 If the government stops the barbaric indigenization formula, craft a sober one, stops the look east-policy, start the look world policy that includes the east, south, and the west, in doing so, not compromising  national values.

The risk of not containing youth unemployment will back-fire to the ruling party, taking Tunisia as a case study; a youth called Buazizi  burnt himself and died after realizing that he could not stand life without employment and the revolution started.

These are some of the serious levels that are caused by structural violence when the government fails to provide for its citizens.

Government is best when it serves the interests of its citizens and prioritizes youth issues among other critical elements of the economy.

Youth unemployment is a cause for concern, urgent measures need to be put in place, and our government should declare this issue a national crisis, carry an audit of all projects that were purported to be benefiting youth in the name of indigenization, create real employment, at the same time invoking empowerment mechanism that benefit the youth among others.

There is hope in our motherland Zimbabwe.

Let’s wait and see!!

Misheck is an International Relations Expert with the University of Zimbabwe (UZ)