Work needed to make youth drop their weapons

Unemployment, which is highest in the Northern Province, plays a major role in prompting local youths to take up weapons and commit crimes to fund a lavish lifestyle, civil society leaders observed.

Unemployment doubled from 5.7 per cent in 2015 to 10.7 per cent in 2018.

With no new industrial factories being built and slow-paced private sector investments failing to generate adequate youth employment opportunities in the region, many agitated youths prefer to migrate abroad or secure slots in the government sector.

In Jaffna district alone, 3,483 graduates registered with the District Secretariat to seek employment opportunities either from state or private sector, figures compiled in January 2018 said. Most unemployed (20,787 people) lack any vocational training or skills, the report added.

Officials at the Jaffna Secretariat noted that a significant problem to finding jobs was that many people preferred to enter the state sector and shunned private sector jobs because of their heavier workload, poor allowances and non-flexibility in conditions.

A recent report, “Economic Development Framework – For a Northern Province Master Plan”, commissioned by the Central Bank, indicated that emigration will continue to rise without a concerted effort to increase the quality and quantity of work opportunities in the Northern Province.

“Continual investment in upgrading the quality of human resources, particularly of youths, is required to enable higher long-term levels of productivity and better returns to labour from small agricultural producers to skilled labour and professional business and financial management required for industries and service sector firms,” the report added.