“We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future”. – Franklin D. Roosevelt.
A generation without steady employment and disadvantaged employment in the early phases of a young person’s career can hurt job prospects for life.
Work deficit does not only put young people at risk, it may build more load and responsibilities for the society and possibly increase social conflicts and political unrest due to the lack of job opportunities.
Not only do underutilized young people incur significant losses by not fulfilling their potential, but this underutilization of young people in the labour market can trigger a vicious circle of intergenerational poverty and social exclusion.
Harnessing the potential of youth population to become an asset in their own societies is of paramount importance.
In harnessing the potential of youth, we must consider empower youth who contribute to the development of their societies/communities productively and economically and engaged and responsible youth who embody and embrace leadership.
To achieve these, we need to address these challenges on education, employment, entrepreneurship and effective engagement:
Unemployed or underemployed youth will hurt economics and employer because they will have less to spend as consumers or to save and invest.
Entering the workforce requires young people to adapt to new social realities. Some of the new realisms that are shaping the scenarios for youth employment and training needs that will ensure young people to successfully enter the workforce.
It include the highly complex and open society driven by the processes of globalization and more highly changing labour markets that are reshaping the concept of work as opposed to stable employment and the complexity of work.
Youth must be encouraged to explore their career option early and must be adequately prepared to enter the labour market whether in urban, semi-urban, rural or remote communities.
