By Alex Ababio
It is the dream of every rational human being on any part of the world to have a descent job to do to take care of themselves and their immediate family. Unfortunately due to several reasons Millions of adults around the world who are willing to work to earn income in order to have a meaningful lives, and provide a guaranteed and better retirement with stable living conditions are unable to achieve their lives aspirations.
Many developed countries who were once faced by this catastrophic phenomenon have been able to nib the situation in the bud . Now , they have been able to reduced unemployment to its berest minimum as they have through well tasted economic policies backed by good programs created a good number of jobs to their abled young people in particular who are willing to work to better their lives.
However, what is disturbing is that when you come to Africa the leaders are struggling to to turn the situation around as far as job creation is concerned.
Many African countries are unable to create jobs for their citizenry because of corruption, lack of vision and tenacity of purpose.
Millions of able-bodied adults on the continent who willing to work to improve their lots have been given no hope to work for a sustainable livining . Many of the African leaders have failed to salvage the situation because they themselves are depending on foreign donors and support to their local economies without finding an appropriate means to wean of themselves from the dictate of these Western countries.
According to Britannica ,
“unemployment, is the condition of one who is capable of working, actively seeking work, but unable to find any work. It is important to note that to be considered unemployed a person must be an active member of the labour force and in search of remunerative work”
The problem in Africa is the majority of productive force who are supposed to work are young people,yet they are roaming on the street without any guaranteed program to take them of the street .
According to a 2017 article published by the United Nations’ Africa Renewal Magazine, Africa’s youth unemployment crisis had become a nightmare to the continent’s economic growth. The reports estimates that as much as 60% of the youth population across Africa are unemployed
In recent times , Foreign Policy further cautioned that Africa’s unemployment situation has been tipped as a major thing of global concern. The report indicated that “Africa has the world’s youngest population, with a median age of 19.7 years. However, Such an untapped youthful population which arguably symbolizes an enough and energetic workforce, a promise for the development and economic prospects of the continent are being wasted away .Yet the consequences of employment situation for young people across Africa continues to become a time bomb waiting to be exploded in no time.
Nonwithstanding these warnings, Africa’s unemployment crisis has reached its limit , with rates across countries soaring.
Bellow are the 6 African countries with the highest unemployment rates.
Statistics agencies of different African countries as well as other reliable sources such as Statista, Trading Economics, Reuters, The World Bank, International Labour Organisation among others were consulted for this list .
South Africa: per the findings regarding the Statistics South Africa’s unemployment rate is 35.30% as of December 2021.
Nigeria: Latest report by Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) noted this West African country’s unemployment rate is at 33.3%.
Lesotho: Figures from the International Labour Organisation has Lesotho’s unemployment rate at 24.60%.
Gabon: The unemployment rate in Gabon increased to 22.30% in December 2021.
Somalia: According to The World Bank, Somalia’s unemployment rate is currently at 19.8%.
Tunisia: According to Tunisia’s National mInstitute of Statistics, unemployment rate stood at 16.10% as of March 2022.