By Amin Kef Sesay
The United Nations Social Policy and Development Division identifies “inequalities in income distribution and access to productive resources, basic social services, and opportunities” and more as causes for poverty.
With more and more youths (both educated and illiterate) coming every year into the job market, thus any coming Government’s biggest challenge is job creation.
Figures are not available from the Ministry of Labor of how many unemployed youths there are in the country. However, it can be guessed that over 60 percent of youths of both sexes are not formally or gainfully employed – large percentage of women in particular remain outside the workforce.
What this means is that the Government is under considerable pressure to create the environment for the private sector to create more and better jobs to meet growing demand.
The need for jobs will intensify social and political pressures, as it will contribute to illegal migration. Above all, job creation will be the key factor to reduce poverty, improve people’s lives, and reach the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
Creating more and better jobs requires economic transformation: moving workers from lower to higher productivity activities.
It also means a longitudinal transformation with urbanization pulling villagers into secondary towns and cities. This shift will need to be led by the private sector, the main engine of job growth.
For this to happen on a large enough scale, we need to look at what has worked best to create jobs, focusing on sectors that have the highest potential.
Agriculture still accounts for almost 70 percent of total employment in the country.
A central challenge for agriculture and the food system is to generate high value-added jobs across the value chain, especially for women and youth.
Manufacturing, which has driven economic growth in many countries, is changing with new technologies.
While some industries remain feasible entry points for low-skill employment, technological innovations could cause substantial job losses.
Political factors or Government policies and administrative practices, can have a great impact on economic development, which is the movement from farming-based cultures to industrialized societies. Political factors influence economic development by influencing positively or negatively the process of development.
The World Bank’s recent study, “Trouble in the Making: The Future of Manufacturing-Led Development”, urges that we consider economic competitiveness, capabilities and connectedness against shifting international trade patterns, market demands and financial strengths.
Beyond these traditionally important sectors, it is essential to harness the technological innovation and entrepreneurship that the digital age has unleashed.
As start-ups and digital platforms mushroom across the world, from Silicon Valley to Beijing’s Zhongguancun to Kenya’s “silicon savannah”, there are amazing examples of how innovations are creating new and different jobs.
Government needs to take public policy actions to create an enabling environment. It needs to invest in tec-voc education, from early childhood to adulthood, to build the human capital needed for a rapidly evolving global economy.
It needs to build quality infrastructure to connect domestically and globally. Most importantly, it needs to set up the right ecosystem for private investments, especially for smaller businesses and entrepreneurs.
China’s experience is one such example. In recent decades, China has succeeded in creating millions of employment opportunities and absorbing millions of new entrants into its labor market, while transforming its economy and society. China’s path offers useful lessons for others.
By looking closely at China’s success in job creation, we can identify what Government can do to generate incomes and create jobs, by engaging the private sector and unleashing people’s energy and creativity.
