UN chief calls for empowering young people with jobs

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon on Monday called for empowering young people with jobs in a bid to offer them opportunities to contribute to world peace and development.

"A lack of jobs feeds insecurity," said Ban. "When we give young people decent jobs, political weight, negotiating muscle and real influence in our world, they will create a better future."

Ban made the remarks at a high-level event on "the demographic dividend and youth employment" which aims to find ways to harness demographic dividend and create jobs for young people worldwide.

Demographic dividend, defined by United Nations Population Fund, means "the economic growth potential that can result from shifts in a population's age structure, mainly when the share of the working-age population (15 to 64) is larger than the non-working- age share of the population (14 and younger, and 65 and older)."

UN data shows that the global population of adolescents and young people is at its highest ever, with 1.2 billion people between the ages of 15 and 24 this year, and 1.9 billion young people projected to turn 15 years old between 2015 and 2030.

"The more young people grow into well-educated adults with fewer dependents and new opportunities to acquire wealth, savings and purchasing power, the more they will be able to accelerate economic growth and development," noted UN General Assembly President Sam Kutesa.

Kutesa proposed to strengthen policies that target investments in young people and expand access to quality education and skills development at vocational and tertiary levels so as to prepare young people for work in occupations more in-line with the job market needs.

"In doing so, we will be laying the foundation for a more prosperous future not only for ourselves, but for generations to come," he said. Endite