Youths with no jobs a concern: Luio

 A STRONG policy is needed to ensure that youth unemployment is addressed in all sectors of the country, the National Youth Development Authority says.

Director-general Norito Luio said a large number of students had dropped out of formal education and did not have jobs and although there were programmes that promoted youth activities, there were no proper guidelines on how to encourage youth employment.

“Every year about 24,000 young people come out of grade 12 with only four thousand spaces in tertiary institutions, and there is a huge crisis that is brewing where about 80 percent of our young people are disengaged with no opportunities,” he said at the opening of the Youth Entrepreneurial Summit

“We need to shine the spot light on these young people and get the nation to become aware and to provide for them to sustain themselves.

“We need to get them involved in all sectors of the country’s development, including agriculture, tourism and fisheries.

“The way forward is to come up with a strong policies and frameworks in addressing youth unemployment because independent programmes and activities will not work. Youth unemployment is a critical issue in PNG.

“We need cohesive policies that would ensure that all stakeholders from both government and the private sector will come together and provide solutions to these problems being faced by our youths.”

Speaking at the opening of the Youth Entrepreneurial Summit yesterday, Luio said that the current government had a focus on delivering assistance for youths and engaging them in the development of the country.