Papua New Guinea (PNG), one of the world’s demographically youngest countries, has been struggling to combat youth unemployment in urban areas. Of the country’s total population of about 8 million, 67% are below 35 years old and 25% are between 16 and 35. Yet, annually, only 10% of the 80,000 youths who graduate from education institutions find employment.
The situation is particularly complicated in urban areas where 60% of youth are unemployed and less than 7% of those employed are in formal waged jobs. The COVID-19 pandemic has played its part by causing these statistics to grow. Although there is as yet no official data, general economic activity has declined since 2020 as the country took measures to halt the spread of the coronavirus.
Port Moresby, PNG’s capital, and Lae, the nation’s industrial hub, and the second-largest city, each year witness an influx of additional youths seeking employment with more than half lacking the required skills to become employable.
“Youth unemployment and poverty is a critical problem in PNG,” said Sonya Woo, Senior Social Development Specialist for East Asia & Pacific of the World Bank. “Youth between the ages of 16 and 25 living in the cities have dropped out of school, have no work experience, and are living in poverty,” she added.
At the same time, Sonya Woo noted that another part of the problem exists in the development of the labor market.
“For at least the past decade, the labor market in PNG has not grown fast enough to absorb the increasing number of youth that are available to work, especially those with limited skills and experience,” she said.
“Conventional policies and approaches undertaken to date have proven to be ineffective to address the vast needs of this group,” Woo said.
This situation turned many young people highly vulnerable. With no support, a growing number of youths are engaging in criminal and delinquent activities. The implications present a tremendous and immediate challenge for the government, in particular, city authorities, who are on the frontline of dealing with the fallout.
The Urban Youth Employment Project (UYEP) was the most significant intervention to address the issue of unemployed youth in the country- commencing in 2010. Funded jointly by the PNG and Australian governments and the World Bank, the project has provided more than 18,500 unemployed urban young people (aged between 16 and 35 years) with income, training, and temporary employment opportunities aimed at increasing their employability, 41 percent of them young women.
