KABUL (TCA) — The International Labor Organization (ILO) said the unemployment rate in Afghanistan is around 30 percent, which is the highest recorded in the world at present, Afghan broadcaster TOLOnews reports.
ILO on December 9 said that currently Afghanistan has the highest number of unemployed work force in the world.
Talking at an event organized around a project titled “Start and Improve Your Business”, ILO head in Afghanistan, Manzoor Khaliq, said unemployment is one of the reasons behind insecurity, insisting that if the problem of unemployment is not addressed by the Afghan government, it will create more challenges in terms of security.
Khaliq said findings by different organizations show the rate of unemployment in Afghanistan is between 25 percent and 30 percent.
“The current situation is not good. Government should have plans in this regard to create job opportunities for the people,” said Khaliq.
Officials from the Afghan Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled, at the same event, said their findings show the rate of unemployment and lack of sufficient work is at 35 percent.
Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled Minister Faizullah Zaki said they are trying to overcome the problem of unemployment.
“One of the solutions to end unemployment is that the youth should be encouraged to show their talents in investing and starting their own businesses,” said Zaki.
“For creating jobs for the people, especially youth, new models of employment should be used to help the hundreds of thousands of unemployed people to get jobs. The private sector will cooperate in this respect,” Atiqullah Nusrat, CEO of the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries said.
The “Start and Improve Your Business” is an initiative launched by certain international organizations to train 18 Afghan traders and entrepreneurs on how to launch businesses and make them successful. The 18 people who receive training through this project will then be able to train more Afghan traders and young people who wish to launch their own businesses.
ILO raised concern over unemployment amid government statistics which indicate that, in addition to the current number of unemployed, about 400,000 new people enter the work force and market yearly.
