By Rabindra Rooplall
“WE ARE having some bad economic times and generally in times like these there will be increased unemployment, especially at the youth level. And indeed our youth unemployment level is pretty bad and this causes the young and even old people to start getting idle and criminality begins to be on the upsurge if and when we don’t contain it with other means; and this is what we are doing to help in that process,” Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan has noted.He made this disclosure after receiving forensic video analysis equipment and software packages under the Justice Education Society project from the Canadian government yesterday in the boardroom of the Ministry of Public Security on Brickdam.
The Security Minister said the government has been receiving support from the Americans, Canadians, British, Russians and Chinese in gaining resources to combat criminality. He also noted that within the last two years, the ministry has had the highest number of officers on training programmes overseas to enhance their outlook on policing and security.
“Interactions with police around the world with training seminars are all helping and of course I am not interfering with this process, if there is any interference is that I want the rogue cops to be caught,” he declared.
A 2015 Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) study stated that Guyana’s unemployment rate was at 40% and based on a quantitative assessment, the cost of excess youth unemployment runs into US$ millions for government.
The study entitled “Youth are our Future: The Imperative of Youth Employment for Sustainable Development” noted in-depth interviews conducted in the region, a number of causes and consequences of youth unemployment.
Among factors identified were the state of the economy; structure of the labour market, lack of relevant skills, lack of experience, lack of knowledge of vacancies, constrained opportunities due to health status or disability, location, stigma and discrimination due to age, ethnicity, criminal record, gender, motherhood, poverty, area of residence, disability; a reactive approach to gaining employment due to negative experiences of employment (by self or from others), lack of work ethic, belief that opportunities are limited due to social class or political affiliation.
Direct personal consequences of youth unemployment identified included the lack of means to support self, participation in anti-social behaviours, participation in negative behaviours as a consequence of social exclusion, low self-esteem, hopelessness and ambivalence. And at the household level, the impact included a reduction in disposable incomes to support unemployed youth and a greater burden on caregivers and other household members.
CONSEQUENCES
The consequences at the community and national levels were high youth crime rates, poor health, poverty, community degradation (as shown up in graffiti, vandalism, and unsafe environments), lost revenue from employment taxes and lost national output, as well as higher public expenditure to address causes and consequences.
The study finds that despite the existence of several core components for addressing youth unemployment across the region, the overall system is fragmented and disjointed.
