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Of course there are demand-side factors involved in joblessness in the Caribbean, we have mentioned a few. But the supply side factors are what we could and should be doing something about immediately. In 2001, studies of Jamaica, St. Vincent & The Grenadines and Dominica (by the Caribbean Youth Employment Dialogue Secretariat) found that there are significant deficiencies in training that explain the co-existence of unemployment and unfilled vacancies in certain areas. A 2001 Commission on Youth in the same islands found that education and training was lacking in terms of relevance to modern technology and multi-skilling.
An attitude problem?
The Commission also found that today’s young Caribbean citizens have very high occupational and wage aspirations, lack of work experience and inappropriate attitudes. Some would therefore jump to lay blame for unemployment at the feet of the youth themselves. But what shapes our attitudes? How do some 13-15 year-olds, classified as too young to receive employment training, fall out of school into that limbo? We can’t assume everyone has the guidance of their families. In one employment training programme, it was reported that sexual abuse by family members was experienced among 5-10% of the student intake. There was also a significant correlation between sexual abuse and the young people getting involved with drugs. These problems within the nuclear family are a result of the extinction of the extended family. The Caribbean used to know that it takes a village to raise a child, but this has been eroded by our becoming engrossed in accumulating material things: our focus on the individual prize has obscured the communal.
For all the talk of “male marginalization,” unemployment among young women is generally twice as high as among young men. Early pregnancy and discrimination are both factors. On the other hand, technological change and the economy’s shift toward the service sector is expected to lift women’s employment and earning beyond men’s in the late 20s age bracket. Women do seem to be seizing more opportunities for training – perhaps driven by the legacy of exclusion itself.
Bring youth centre-stage
Youth policy in the Caribbean has tended historically to be located within the Ministry of Education and hence part of the formal education system; or to be linked to the Ministry of Sport or Community Affairs. These Ministries do not benefit from large allocation of funds. In real terms spending on the education system has long been on the decline in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and perhaps, more recently, in Barbados. Moreover, youth policy, and particularly youth employment training policy, is often reactive, and informed by the desire to be able to report on large numbers of trainee intakes. The increase in youth crime has also precipitated “quick fix” solutions, many times targeting, in practice, young people who are outside the at-risk group. There is virtually no private sector assistance to youth at risk; with the exception of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce whose programmes are above the norm. A range of non-governmental organizations, particularly church-based groups have had a much longer and consistent involvement in youth programmes. However, they have always reached relatively few due to limited resources.
What a lot of us in National Youth Councils have been calling for is a Caribbean Youth Dialogue on youth employment: a regional Dialogue of leaders of national youth organisations. This would seek to improve knowledge of the youth employment situation – reliable and timely data is scarce – and forge partnerships in the civil society sphere to stimulate and inspire the development of programmes and policies in all Caribbean countries. The focus needs to be on access to quality education and training programmes, credit, and other resources needed to build productive and sustainable livelihoods. Among the objectives would be to
· Establish and support the work of the Youth Employment Networks;
· Lobby for national youth policies, national action plans for youth employment, national youth employment funds and other structures to address and implement the recommendations of the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on youth employment;
· Harness the media to create public awareness and place the burning issue of youth unemployment on the global agenda;
· Foster friendships, and the exchange of information, cultural knowledge and understanding.
Political renewal
Why are education, training and employment so important? Looking beyond the workplace, none of our policy-making and institution-building processes can succeed if they permit a dwindling of human resources – the opportunities presented by Information Communications Technology (ICT), for one, will be missed. Our region will move forward only by pursuing the economic and social base; political will; adequate resource allocation and supportive legal and administrative frameworks for youth development; a stable environment of equality, peace and democracy; and a positive value system.
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Damien E. Hughes, ESQ
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