The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has decried the rise in joblessness among the youth in Malawi and other low-income countries in Africa over the last two years heightened by the Covid-19 pandemic.

ILO has since warned that projections show that the trend will continue to rise this year as the effects of Covid-19 continue to be felt.

In its Global Employment Trends for Youth 2022 titled Investing in Transforming Futures for Young People, the United Nations agency said youths were especially affected because firms that survived the Covid-19 crisis sought to retain workers first while new recruitment collapsed.

The report,  which is an update on key youth labour market indicators and trends focusing on the impact of the Covid 19 crisis and the youth, said in lower-income countries such as Malawi, youth unemployment rates are projected to remain more than one percentage point above pre-crisis values.

This is in contrast to high-income countries, which according to the report, will likely see a recovery in youth unemployment levels close to those of 2019 by the end of this year.

Reads the report in part: “In Africa, specifically low-income countries, the continent’s youth unemployment rate of 12.7 percent masks the fact that many youths have been withdrawn from the labour market.

“In this same part of the world, over one in five young people were not in employment, education or training in the given period and the trend has been deteriorating.”

The ILO report indicated globally, the number of young people who cannot find a job this year is set to reach 73 million, which is six million more than before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Speaking in an interview on Sunday, Employers Consultative Association of Malawi executive director George Khaki said the ILO findings are a true reflection of the Malawi labour market where job losses in the last two years centred on the youth. 

He said: “During the last two years, terminations due to redundancies mostly affected young persons. This is because it is cheaper to pay off inexperienced workers that have just entered the workforce rather than experienced workers. 

“Secondly, companies faced with decreasing profits had to reduce operations. This was coupled with the Covid-19 restrictions that required workplaces to be decongested. Faced with this challenge, companies opted to work with experienced workers that tend to be older workers and, therefore, young workers with no or little experience were let go.”

Khaki was, however, quick to mention that the industry is playing its role to contribute to youth employment by providing workplace readiness opportunities to the youth like offering internships and apprenticeships.

Minister of Youth and Sports Richard Chimwendo Banda on Thursday admitted that high unemployment among the youth is a big challenge in the country, but said the government has programmes to ensure that youths are empowered and that they contribute to the development of the country.

“We have put in place programmes to catalyse youth productivity and link them to opportunities in business, employment, education, strengthening initiatives and partnerships,” he said.

The Tonse Alliance administration promised to create one million jobs in the first year of its five-year tenure.

However, two years down the line, unemployment and business opportunities have remained a challenge, particularly for the youth and there are no clear indications on where the jobs have been created. 

The Malawi Labour Force Survey compiled by the National Statistical Office in 2013 indicated that unemployment rate among all economically active population in Malawi based on the ILO broad definition was at 21 percent.

ILO defines unemployment as the share of the labour force that is without work but available for and seeking employment.

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